Works & Councils of Toledo 104

The same Augustus to Epiphanius, most holy archbishop of this most fortunate city and universal patriarch. We most certainly believe that the purity of priests, and their dignity, and their fervor toward the Lord God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, and the perpetual prayers offered up by them at the Mass, afford much favour and increase to our commonwealth — through which it is granted to us both to subjugate the barbarians and to bring under our dominion those whom we did not formerly obtain; and the more there accrues of honour and dignity to their affairs, the more do we believe our commonwealth also to be increased.

For if these men exhibit an honourable life, irreproachable on every side, and instruct the rest of the people, so that the people, looking to their honour, may abstain from many sins, it is plain that thence the souls of all will be the better, and a fitting clemency will easily be granted to us by the most great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. § 1.

To us, therefore, as we considered these things, it has been reported — beyond the common belief of affairs — that certain of the most reverend deacons, and likewise priests (and, what we are the more ashamed to say, even those most beloved of God, namely bishops), certain of these, I say, do not fear: some indeed by themselves to handle the dice or gaming-pieces, and to take part in a spectacle so shameful and frequently forbidden by us even to ordinary laymen; while others do not denounce such play, but either associate with those who do it, or sit as spectators of the unseemly act; and they watch with utter eagerness the most importunate of all things; and they hear blasphemous speeches, which must needs occur in such places;

they pollute also their hands, and eyes, and ears with games thus condemned and forbidden; while others, neither obscurely nor secretly, mingle themselves in horse-races, or even back certain parties upon the defeat or victory of the horses, whether by themselves or through certain others; so that — since they engage in such things unbecomingly — they become spectators of the games of actors (scenici) or of stage-performers (thymeliotae), or of those combats of wild beasts contending in the theatres; nor do they consider how they themselves proclaim to those who have just and recently been initiated and counted worthy of the adorable mysteries: that they should renounce the worship of the adversary demon, and all his pomps, of which such spectacles form no small part. § 1.

Often indeed have we proclaimed that they ought to keep such rules: but seeing that a report has been made to us about these matters, we have fallen into the necessity of coming to the present law, both because of our zeal concerning religion, and also for the benefit of the priesthood itself together with that of the common commonwealth. — § 3.

And we decree that no one — neither deacon, nor priest, and much more, nor bishop (a thing which indeed might perhaps even seem incredible, since for these, in their ordinations, prayers are sent up to the Lord Christ our God, and there is invocation of the Holy and adorable Spirit, and upon their heads or hands are laid the most holy of those mysteries which are among us, so that, namely, all their organs of sense may be made pure and consecrated to God) — that none, therefore, of these dare henceforth, and after our divine law, either to play at dice (that is, to game with gaming-pieces or dice) with any kind of dice or game, or to associate with those who so play, or to consort with them, or to take recreation together, or to act together with them, or to bear witness for them, or to be present at such plebeian spectacles as we have mentioned before;

or to do any of those things which are forbidden in them, but to abstain henceforth from all participation in them. For what has already gone before — although it would have been fitting even to investigate it, nor was it fitting to take part in it unbecomingly — nevertheless, on account of humanity, we pardon, enjoining upon all the observance of the present law for the time to come. For it befits them to give themselves to fasts and vigils and meditations, or exercises in the divine oracles, and to prayers to be poured forth for the salvation of all: but as for those who shall not have forsaken such things, nor have ceased altogether to handle polluted and forbidden things.

For we decree the same also concerning the remaining clergy (namely subdeacons and lectors), since they too are appointed ministers and workers of the sacred table and of all the adornment about the most holy churches, and handle the sacred words: while the one group reads to us the sacred Scriptures from our holy Bibles, the other sings hymns and odes. — § 1.

But if anyone shall hereafter be caught doing any such thing and be reported — whether in this happy city to your Holiness, or in the provinces placed under it, to the metropolitans most beloved of God and the other bishops whose ordination the throne of your Beatitude performs — and some such accusation shall arise, whether against a deacon or a priest, and much more against one of the bishops beloved of God: then your Beatitude here, and the metropolitans most beloved of God placed under you in the provinces, and the bishops who are under them, must with all diligence, according to the order of ordination, inquire into and investigate these matters, and not make a perfunctory inquiry, but both hear trustworthy witnesses and proceed by every way to the unearthing of the truth.

For just as we forbid such things to them, so also we prohibit calumny from being attempted by certain persons:

and if, an examination having been made on every side with the divine words set before them, the accusation shall appear to be truly grounded, and the deacon or priest shall have been convicted either of being a dice-player, or a partner of dice-players, or of sitting beside such vanities, or of attending the aforesaid spectacles — or even if perhaps some one of the bishops beloved of God (a thing which indeed we trust will not come to pass) shall have been altogether a partaker of some such spectacle, or shall have endeavored henceforth to sit together with dice-players and to arrange and bargain, or to make wagers — then, if indeed he be one of the aforesaid clergy, let him forthwith be separated from the sacred liturgy by your Beatitude, or by the metropolitan, or by the bishop most beloved of God under whom he was ordained; and let a canonical penalty be imposed upon him, and a time be appointed within which it is fitting that he, employing fasts and supplications, propitiate the great God concerning such a transgression.

And if, throughout the appointed time, the one who has undertaken such a penalty perseveres in tears and penitence, and fasting, and prayer to the Lord God, beseeching the remission of his fault, then the one to whom he is subject, having diligently ascertained this and carefully inquired into it, shall straightway take care that a common prayer be made for him, and shall with all diligence enjoin upon him that he abstain hereafter from such a dishonouring of the priesthood; and if he judges that the man has come sufficiently to repentance, then let him deign to restore him to the clemency of the priestly office;

but if, even after excommunication, he be found neither to have employed true repentance, and to have otherwise also despised the matter, and to be manifestly ensnared in mind by the adversary [the devil], then let the priest under whom he lives remove him from the sacred registers, deposing him altogether. And let that man no longer in any way have permission to come to the sacerdotal rank; but if indeed he has means, the curia (city council) of that city in which he was first consecrated — or, if that city has no curia, another curia of the province which most lacks a decurion — shall receive him to serve the curia hereafter together with his means: but if he has no means...

Let the official thereafter be made one of provincial rank because of that for which he was formerly consecrated; and for this very reason, because he forsook the service of God, he shall be a provincial official, bringing upon himself this disgrace in place of his former honor. § 5. All these things, therefore, we ordain: that in this fortunate city your Holiness should keep watch, together with the defenders and stewards (œconomi) of the several churches, whose care it shall be to investigate these matters, to give notice of them, and to deprive those convicted of the allowance of the provision granted to them by the holy churches;

and in the provinces which are under your blessedness's jurisdiction—the metropolitans most beloved of God, and besides these the most religious bishops who are subject to them, together with their ecclesiastical advocates (ecclesiecdici) and stewards—let these likewise, employing the same procedure that has been prescribed, and everywhere keeping the sacred reverence blameless and irreproachable, preserve this same order. Thus also the most glorious prefects of our sacred praetoria (we mean those who preside over the East with the nations subject to their jurisdiction, likewise of Illyricum, and also over the diocese of the Africans), and the offices obedient to them, and the most illustrious governors of the provinces and the defenders of the cities—they indeed who administer the greatest magistracies, standing in awe of our indignation;

and the offices that do not obey them shall suffer the penalty of ten pounds of gold; while the provincial governors, both the higher and the lower, and the offices obedient to them, and moreover the defenders of the cities, fearing a penalty of five pounds of gold if, having learned of these matters, they themselves do not report them to the priests (that is, either to the bishops beloved of God, or to the most holy metropolitans, or to the most holy patriarchs of each diocese, according to each one's region, so that they, understanding these things, may, according to what has previously been defined, set themselves against and resist all offenders); and after the one convicted of these matters has been deposed by them, let him not see to it that he be handed over to the city council or to public office;

and the most glorious prefect of this fortunate city shall observe these things, if indeed the offense be committed in this our royal city, together with the office obedient to him—he indeed standing in awe of our indignation, and his office fearing a penalty of ten pounds of gold. § 6. These things, then, we have framed in the manner of legislation. But this is acknowledged beyond dispute: that they have been consecrated to God by us for the integrity of His priests.

But if these same persons transgress what has been ordained, and dissemble, and fail to vindicate it, but are caught up in a certain misplaced and unpraiseworthy clemency, then besides the heavenly punishments they shall have condemnation also from that quarter, which shall be set before them at God's own tribunal, which shall reprove and avenge their unseemly dissembling. And if any of the civil magistrates, whether of the higher or the lower rank, or of the officials, or of the defenders, when he has learned of these things, fails to pass judgment, or, when it was permitted to vindicate them, neglects to do so, or betrays the matter for a bribe, let him know that, besides the unbounded penalties imposed by us, he shall have also a punishment to follow from our supreme God, and shall be liable to all the curses that are contained in the sacred books. § 7.

And just as these things have been ordained by us for no other reason than for the summit of the Lord's honor, so we add this also: that the inquiries be conducted with the utmost diligence, and that no calumniator rise up against any persons, either to accuse them falsely, or to bear false testimony concerning these matters; for just as upon the priests, if they have committed any such thing, we have imposed such penalties, so also upon those who attempt to slander them we will that punishments hang from heaven and from our laws, if, the accusation having been begun but not pressed to a declaration, they either refuse to prosecute, or do not rest from persevering in accusations of this kind. Given on the day before the Nones of November at Constantinople, in the consulship of Justinian Perpetual Augustus for the fourth time and of Paulinus, most distinguished man, 543.