Note, however, that in order to understand the
present Canons more easily, one ought to be acquainted with these
axioms which are applicable to all the Canons, namely:
1. Canons differ from definitions, from laws,
from decrees, and from decretal epistles (or what are often called
simply decretals). For the Canons of the Councils contain mainly,
not dogmas of the faith (exceptionally, though, in rare instances
they do), but the normality (or good order) and proper state of
the Church. The definitions of the Councils contain mainly dogmas
of the faith alone. Notwithstanding that canons are sometimes
improperly called definitions, as is plain from what is said in
various canons of other councils, and especially in the fifth
Canon of that held at Carthage, and in the records thereof, where
it is said that the twenty "definitions," i.e., the
twenty Canons, of the Council held in Nicea, were read. Canons
differ from laws, in that what are properly so called are the
civil laws and external laws of kings and emperors. Canons, on the
contrary, are internal and ecclesiastical and possess a validity
superior to that of laws of all kinds that emanate from human
sources, as we shall state herein below apart from the present
observation. Canons differ from decrees, in that, as Gratian (an
Italian authority on Canon Law) teaches (in his "Division
III"), canons were adopted by a local (or partial) council
(or synod) or were ordained or ratified by an ecumenical council.
A decree, on the other hand, is a decision pronounced by the
Patriarch together with his synod, without being intended to
advise or answer anyone. They differ furthermore from decretal
epistles, in that the latter are prescribed either by a Pope or by
a Patriarch, or in conjunction with his synod or council, for the
purpose of giving dogmatic advice.
2. One ought to know that so far as concerns
canons that do not specify any penance, or penalty, for violation
of them, they implicitly give the regional bishop or other prelate
permission to fix a proper and suitable one dispassionately,
wherever he sees fit, as Balsamon states in his interpretation in
connection with the Sixth [Ecumenical Council]. See also the
penances of the Faster prescribed after his Canons and not
mentioned in the other Canons.
3. One ought to know that one and the same sin
is penanced in some Canons for a longer time, and by others for a
shorter time, because, in proportion to the amount of the
repentence of a sinner, his penance is prescribed to be severer or
lighter as the case may be... and in proportion to the greater or
lesser growth and strength of the Church...
4. Everyone ought to know that, according to ch.
4 of Title I of Photius, canons are not promulgated by a single
bishop, but by the consensus and synod or council of the bishops;
as Basil's XLVII prescribes, saying: "a plurality of bishops
must meet together," and Nyssa's VI, saying: "the
opinion obtaining with us has not the authoritativeness of
canons."
5. That when anyone is speaking out of the
contents of conciliar or synodical canons, his words are
authoritative, according to Nyssa's VI.
6. That whoever acts in accordance therewith,
is free from danger, according to Basil's same c. XLVII.
7. That whoever transgresses a conciliar or
synodical canon must do penance as directed in the canon he
transgresses, according to [Canon] II of the Sixth [Ecumenical
Council]. What are called conciliar or synodical canons are,
respectively, those promulgated by the ecumenical councils and
indeed those promulgated by the regional councils (also called
synods); and, in addition thereto, those which have been written
privately by certain saints. Accordingly, those promulgated by
regional councils, as well as those composed by individual saints,
have indeed the power of ecumenical canons. For they were examined
and sanctioned b ecumenical councils--I am refering to the fourth
and the sixth and the seventh--as appears in the first canon of
the Fourth and of the Seventh and in c. II of the Quinisext.
8. That what is not explicitly state must be
judged and inferred from similar things stated in the canons. In
this connection... consul the writings of individual Fathers, or
rely on the discernment afforded by right reason.
9. That as for all rare and accomodative and
necessitous or nefarious acts, and, in sum, all things done
contrary to the canons, they are not to be construed as a law or
canon or example of the Church... Note, too, that once this matter
of accomodation or necessity has passed, the canons are again in
force...
10. That the most penances ordained by the
canons, being of a third person, there being no one present to
impose them, necessarily need the presence of a second person
(which is the council or synod), in order to be enforced...
11. That the canons and laws were made with
regard to common matters, and not to individual affairs, and for
the most part with regard to eventualities, and not to cases that
rarely follow.
12. That canons of ecumenical councils override
those of regional, and those of regional override those of
individual Fathers, especially when the latter have not been
confirmed by an ecumenical council. In this connection read the
dictum of most holy Photius concerning this point...
13. That whenever there is no canon or written
law, good custom is to be followed when it has been sanctioned by
right reason and many years' prevalence, and is not contrary to
any written canon or law, so that it takes the rank of a canon or
law...
14. That neither a canon, nor a law, nor time,
nor custom will sanction whatever has been wrongly decided and
printed, according to jurists.
"That the divine Canons must be kept
rigidly by all. For those who fail to keep them are made liable to
horrible penances."
"These instructions regarding the Canons
have been enjoined upon you by us, O Bishops. If you adhere to
them, you shall be saved, and shall have peace; but if you disobey
them, you shall be sorely punished, and shall have perpetual war
with one another, thus paying the penalty deserved for
heedlessness." (The Apostles in their epilogue to the
Canons.)
"We have decided that it is right and just
that the canons promulgated by the holy Fathers at each council
hitherto should remain in force." (c. I of the Fourth.)
"It has seemed best to this holy Council
that the 85 Canons accepted and validated by the holy and blissful
Fathers before us, and handed down to us, moreover, in the name of
the holy and glorious Apostles, should remain henceforth certified
and secured for the correction of souls and cure of diseases. Of
the four ecumenical councils according to name. Of the regional
councils by name, and of the individual Fathers by name. And that
no one should be allowed to counterfeit or tamper with the
aforementioned Canons or to set them aside."
"If anyone be caught innovating or
undertaking to subvert any of the sad Canons, he shall be
responsible with respect to such Canons and undergo the penance
therein specified in order to be corrected thereby of that very
thing in which he is at fault." (c. II of the Second.)
"Rejoicing in them like one who has found
a lot of spoils, we gladly enbosom the divine Canons, and we
uphold their entire tenor and strengthen them all the more, so far
as concerns those promulgated by the trumpets of the Spirit of the
renowned Apostles, of the holy ecumenical councils, and of those
convened regionally... And of our holy Fathers... And as for those
whom they consign to anathema, we anathematize them, too; as for
those whom they consign to deposition or degradation, we too
depose or degrade them; as for those whom they consign to
excommunications, we too excommunicate them; and as for those whom
they condemn to a penance, we too subject them thereto
likewise." (c. I of the Seventh.)
"We therefore decree that the
ecclesiastical Canons which have been promulgated or confirmed by
the four holy councils, namely, that held in Nicea, and that held
in Constantinople, and the first one held in Ephesus, and that
held in Chalcedon, shall take the rank of the laws." (Novel
131 of Justinian.)
"We therefore decree that the
ecclesiastical Canons which have been promulgated or confirmed by
the seven holy councils shall take the rank of the laws."
(Note: The word "confirmed" alludes to the canons of the
regional councils and of the individual Fathers which had been
confirmed by the ecumenical councils, according to Balsamon.)
"For we accept the dogmas of the aforesaid holy councils
precisely as we do the divine Scriptures, and we keep their Canons
as laws." (Basilica, book 5, Title III, ch. 2, in Photius
Title I, ch. 2.)
"The third provision of Title II of the
Novels commands the Canons of the seven councils and their dogmas
to remain in force, in the same way as the divine
Scriptures." (In Photius, Title I, ch. 2.)
"Leo the Wise (in book 5 of the Basilica,
Title III, ch. 1) says: 'I accept the seven holy ecumenical
councils as I do the holy Gospel'."
"It has been prescribed by the holy
Fathers that even after death those men must be anathematized who
have sinned against the faith or against the Canons" (Fifth
Ecumenical Council in the epistle of Justinian, page 392 of the
second volume of the conciliars)...
"Anathema on those who hold in scorn the
sacred and divine Canons of our sacred Fathers, who prop up the
holy Church and adorn all the Christian polity, and guide men to
divine reverence." (c. held in Constantinople after
Constantine Porphyrogenitus, page 977 of the second volume of the
conciliars, or, in other words, the Volume of the union.)
"That the divine Canons override the
imperial laws."
"In act IV of C. IV it is written; and
most glorious rulers have said: It pleased the most divine Despot
of the inhabited earth (i.e., Marcian) not to proceed in
accordance with the divine letters or pragmatic forms of the most
devout bishops, but in accordance with the Canons laid down as
laws by the holy Fathers. The council said: 'As against the
Canons, no pragmatic sanction is effective. Let the Canons of the
Fathers remain in force.' And again: 'We pray that the pragmatic
sanctions enacted for some in every province to the detriment of
the Canons may be held in abeyance incontrovertibly; and that the
Canons may come into force though all... all of us say the same
things/ All the pragmatic sanctions shall be held in abeyance/ Let
the Canons come into force... In accordance with the vote of the
holy council, let the injunctions of Canons come into force also
in all the other provinces'."
"It has seemed best to all the holy
ecumenical council that if anyone offers any form conflicting with
those now prescribed, let that form be void." (c. VIII of the
Third.)
"Pragmatic forms opposed to the Canons are
void/" (Book I, Title II, ordinance 12. Photius, Title I, ch.
2.)
"For those Canons which have been
promulgated, and supported, that is to say, by emperors and holy
Fathers, are accepted like the divine Scriptures/ But the laws
have been accepted or composed only by the emperors; and for this
reason they do not prevail over and against the divine Scriptures
nor the Canons." (Balsamon, comment on the above ch. 2 of
Photius.)
"Do not talk to me of external laws/ For
even the publican fulfills the outer law, yet nevertheless he is
sorely punished." (Chrysostom, Sermon LVII, on the Gospel of
St. Matthew); and again: "For emperors often fail to adapt
all the laws to advantage." (Sermon VI, on the statues.)
"Blastares says, however, that laws that
tend to favor piety lend a great impulse (i.e., aid or help) to
the divine Canons, on the one hand, by concurring with them and
affording them support, and, on the other hand, by supplying
things that they may be lacking in some place or other." (ch.
5 of canto XX.)
"That the divine Canons override even the
Rituals, when the latter happen to be at variance with them,
especially if individual or regional."
For Blastares says: "From the Novel 131 of
Justinian you can tell that rituals made by the [founders] in the
monasteries are to be tolerated or welcomed unless they are
opposed to the Canons somewhere." (ch. 16 of canto XXX.)...
Of St. Gregory the Theologian
"How absurd is it not that one is not
permitted to be ignorant of any law of the Romans, not even if he
be exceedingly boorish and unlearned, nor that there is any law to
help one who does anything because of his ignorance: whereas, on
the other hand, mystagogues may be ignorant of salvation, of the
principles of salvation, notwithstanding that in other respects
they are among the more simple and possess no deep
intellect?" (Discourse addressed t Athanasius the Great.)
Of St. John Chrysostom
"I heard and failed to observe... You
failed to observe? Why, then, you have condemned yourself! Though
you observe not, yet if you but say, 'I failed to observe,' you
have kept a half part. For anyone who has condemned himself for
not observing, is earnestly trying to observe." (Sermon IV on
Repentance, page 785 of volume 6 of the Etonian editions.)
Of St. Cyril of Alexandria
"Therefore let all of us listen who
neglect to read the Scriptures, and learn what great injury we are
suffering, what great poverty; for we can never have any actual
experience in matters of statecraft unless we know at leas the
laws in accordance with which we ought to conduct ourselves both
publicly and privately." See his commentary on the Gospel
according to St. Matthew, ch. 13, verse 52, interpreting the words
"Therefore every scribe," etc.
Of St. Maximus the Confessor
"There are many of us who say, but few who
do. Yet no one ought to garble the word of God because of his own
negligence; on the contrary, he ought to confess his own weakness,
and not try to hid the truth from God--lest we be brought to trial
on charges of misexplaining the word of God besides transgressing
His commandments" (ch. 85 of the fourth cent. of things
concerning love, page 329 of the Philocalia).
