The Emperor Justinian Augustus to Epiphanius, most holy and most blessed archbishop of this royal city, and patriarch of its entire district. The life of monastic conversation is so honourable, it knows so to commend to God the man who comes to it, that it wipes away every human stain of his, and renders him pure and befitting his rational nature, and operating in many things according to the mind, and loftier than human thoughts. If therefore anyone is to be a perfect monk, he has need both of instruction in the divine eloquences and of integrity of conversation, that he may be made worthy of so great a change. We believe therefore that we too explain what ought to be done by them, and constitute them true contenders unto the sacred way.
And thus the intention of the present law is ours, that after those things which we have sanctioned concerning the most holy bishops, and those which we have ordained concerning the most reverend clerics, we should not leave even that which is monastic outside its competent form. This therefore before all else must be said: that whensoever and in whatsoever place anyone shall wish to build a venerable monastery, let there not first be license of doing this, before he summon the bishop of the place, beloved of God. And let him stretch out his hands to heaven, and by prayer consecrate the place to God, fixing in it the sign of our salvation (we mean the cross, to be adored and truly to be honoured); and so let him begin the building, laying in this some good and seemly foundation;
and so let the beginning of the fabric of pious and venerable monasteries come to be. But hence we must also take thought concerning individual monks, in what manner it is fitting it should be done, and whether free men only, or perhaps even slaves, inasmuch as divine grace has alike received all, openly proclaiming that, as concerns the worship of God, there is neither male nor female, neither free nor slave; for all alike receive one reward in Christ.
We therefore decree, following the sacred canons, that those who profess the solitary life are not at once to receive the monastic habit readily from the most reverend prelates of the venerable monasteries, but are to undergo a full three years (whether they happen to be freeborn or slaves), not yet earning the monastic habit, but using and retaining the tonsure and the garb of those who are called laymen, and so learning the divine words.
And their most reverend abbots are to inquire of them, whether they are free or slaves, and from what motive the desire for the solitary life has come upon them; and learning from them that no evil occasion has led them to this, they are to keep them among those who are still being taught and admonished, and to ascertain by trial their endurance and integrity. For the change of a man's life is not easy, but comes about with great labour of the soul. And when they have remained in that way of life for a full three years, showing themselves excellent and bearable to the other monks and to their superior, these are to earn the monastic garment and tonsure; and whether they be free, let them remain without slander, or slaves, let them in no way be molested as they pass over into the common life of all.
And we say that they are snatched away unto the heavenly Lord, indeed unto liberty. For if in many cases this is done even by the law, and a certain such liberty is granted, how shall not divine grace prevail to release such men from these bonds? But if within the three years someone should come and wish to drag off as a slave one of these who have professed the solitary life — that very thing which Zosimus, beloved of God, lately reported to us from Lycia, a man most renowned in his manner of life, nearly one hundred and twenty years of age, yet strong both in virtues of soul and in works of body, since so great a grace of God flourishes in him.
If therefore anyone (as we said before) should come within the three years intending to drag into servitude one of those who wish to be and to persevere as monks, and should say that the man has carried off certain goods and has therefore taken refuge at the monastery, we decree that he is not to proceed rashly, but is first to prove according to the truth both that the man is a slave, and that perhaps for theft, or for an evil life, or for the worst vices he has indeed fled, and on account of his own vice has come to the monastery.
And if indeed he is shown to be truthful, and it appears that for such a cause the man feigned the monastic manner of life, or that on account of the baseness of his life he fled, and did not for the sake of true holiness desire the habit, this man is to be restored to his master, together with the things he perhaps carried off, if these too are found in the monastery. But he who is approved as master is also to give an oath that he will do the man no harm, and that, having received him back, he will bring him home.
But if he who claims to be master should prove nothing of the kind, and the one who is accused in such matters appears, from his very manner of life, honourable and gentle, and perhaps has the testimony of others that even while living with his master he was eager to learn and a lover of integrity — then even if perchance the period of three years is not yet completed, nevertheless let him so remain in the venerable monastery, freed from the harshness of those wishing to drag him off. And once the three-year term has been fully completed, being judged worthy of monastic integrity, let him remain in the monastery. For we in no way grant license to anyone whatsoever to scrutinize what belongs to him; but whether free or slave, we will that he remain in the monastic life.
For even if perhaps some fault was committed by him in his former life (for human nature in some manner slips into offences), nevertheless the testimony of a three-year period suffices for a moderate purgation of sins and for the increase of virtue. But the things that were stolen, in whosoever's hands they may at last be found, are by all means to be restored to the former master. But if, fleeing the necessity of servitude, he should attempt to abandon the monastery and to follow another pattern of life, we grant license to the master to draw him back, and, having proved his case, to keep him among the slaves. For he will not suffer so great an injury when dragged back to true servitude as he himself inflicted by fleeing the worship of God.
And this indeed we decree concerning the lot of those who wish to make profession among the monks. But we must consider how we may show those who dwell and abide there to be worthy contestants of the monastic philosophy. For we will not have, in any monastery established under our dominion, whether it be of many men or of few, the monks who are there divided from one another and using their own separate dwellings; but we decree that they eat in common, and that all sleep also in common, each one lying down within a certain space of his own, but placed together in one house — or, if perchance one house does not suffice for the multitude of monks, in two perhaps, or more.
yet not apart and by themselves, but in common, that they may be mutual witnesses of one another's integrity and chastity. And let them not have slothful sleep, but even in sleep let them be mindful that the body be well composed, out of regard for those who observe them. Unless indeed certain of them, living in contemplation and perfection, lead a secluded life in retreat — those whom men are accustomed to call anchorites and hesychasts, as being taken up from the community to better things. Otherwise we will that the others, whoever have their manner of life among the multitude, be in what are called cenobia. For thus their zeal for virtue increases, and especially in the young, if they are placed together with the elders. For the manner of life of the elders shall become a perfect education for the young.
And let them so be in the cenobia, obedient to their own proper abbot, and observing blamelessly the manner of life handed down to them. But if anyone, having once been consecrated and obtained the habit, should afterward wish to depart from the monastery, and perhaps to choose a private life, he himself shall know what satisfaction he will render to God for this; but whatever goods he had when he entered the monastery, these shall be the property of the monastery, and he shall carry off absolutely nothing thence. This too we decree: that he who wishes to enter a monastery shall, before he enters the monastery, have license to use his own goods in whatever manner he wishes; for to one who enters, his goods altogether follow him, even if he did not expressly say so when he brought them in.
And he shall no longer in any way be the owner of them. But if he should have children, if indeed it happens that he has already given them certain goods, either through an ante-nuptial donation, or has conferred them by gift on some occasion, let these make up a fourth part of his estate as if from intestacy, and let the children have no share in the remaining goods. But if he has given them nothing, or less than a fourth, then after he has renounced the world and dwelt among the monks, nonetheless a fourth part is owed to the children, so that either it be given to them in full, or, if it happens that they have already received something, it be made up to that amount.
But if a man having a wife, then leaving her, enters a monastery, let the dowry also be preserved for the woman, and the settlement upon death, as we decreed in another of our constitutions. And all that has been said concerning monks shall hold good also for women entering a monastery. But if, leaving the monastery, he comes to some military service, or to another pattern of life, his property even so remaining in the monastery, according to what was previously said by us, he himself shall be placed among the officials of the most distinguished judge of the province, and this shall be the fruit of his change: that, for the sake of the sacred ministry he has despised, he observes the service of an earthly tribunal.
But if, leaving the monastery in which he had his manner of life, he passes over to another monastery — even so let his property remain and be claimed by the former monastery, where, in renouncing, he left it. And it is fitting that the most reverend abbots not receive him who has done this. For such a life is errant, and in no way close to monastic endurance, nor of a constant and persevering mind, but holds the judgment of one who wanders about and seeks one thing after another. Therefore let the bishops beloved of God and those named archimandrites forbid this also, preserving monastic integrity according to the sacred canons.
But if anyone of those professing the monastic manner of life should merit ordination as a clergyman, let him even so remain, preserving his manner of life pure. But if, having been made a clergyman, he should abuse his confidence, and presume to come to marriage (since being placed in such a rank among the clergy that permits him to take a wife — we mean of the cantors or lectors, for to all others we wholly forbid marriage according to the sacred canons), or to keep concubines, or to give over his life to debaucheries, let him be excluded by us all from the clergy, as one who has confounded his former and solitary manner of life, and let him be a private person henceforth. He may not presume to come to military service, or to any other office, unless he be willing to lie subject to the penalties long since threatened by us.
But when it happens that a monastery has need of the ordination of an abbot, we command that the abbot not be made according to the rank of the most reverend monks, nor by any means he who is next after the first, nor he who is second after that one, nor the third, nor the rest — as another law of ours also says — but that the bishop of the place, beloved of God, run through all consecutively (for time, and the order derived from it, is by no means to be dishonoured), and that he who appears foremost, established as the best among the best monks, worthy of presiding over them, this one he is to choose; because human nature is such that neither are all who are by rank among the highest good, nor again are all who are placed among the lowest evil, but let the inspection of the prelate proceed according to grade.
But he who, being foremost, at once appears the best among those reckoned, let him be abbot, having both rank and virtue together in his favour. For it behoves those who discern what is better from what is worse, to release the one for ruling, but to bid the other be bent down, and little by little, through instruction, to lead this one too to better things. But whatever has been decreed by us in all things, both those formerly and those now set forth in our sacred constitutions, concerning clergy, or monks, or monasteries, these we lay down as common both to males and to females, and to monasteries and to convents, not distinguishing (as far as these are concerned) male or female, because (as we said before) all are one in Christ.
Let therefore the most holy patriarchs make all these things manifest to the metropolitans beloved of God established under them. And let those declare them to the bishops beloved of God subject to them; and let those make them known to the monasteries of God established under their ordering, so that in all things the worship of the Lord may remain everywhere uncorrupted. For the greatest penalties shall threaten those who transgress these things — we mean those penalties from heaven which must threaten the despisers of right doctrines. And let also the judges of our commonwealth, if these things be reported to them, strive by all means to procure that what is contained in the sacred canons, which our law follows, be carried into effect; for neither does this penalty desert those who neglect them.
Quaproptersequentemhanctuamsanctitatemdecetomnibussubsepositissanctissimismetropolitanishaecfaceremanifesta. Dat. xivKalend. April. Constantinop. Bilisariov. c. coss.
Wherefore it befits Your Holiness, who follows this, to make these things manifest to all the most holy metropolitans placed under you. Given the fourteenth day before the Kalends of April, at Constantinople, in the consulship of Belisarius, most distinguished man.