But if any of them offends in this, we command that for three years he be barred from all sacred ministry and be sent into a monastery. But if in the meantime he shows a fitting penitence for his error, let it be in the power of the priest under whom he is placed both to lessen the time and to restore him again to his own ministry: the most religious bishops likewise, who ought to punish these things, being aware that if, having learned of any such thing, they do not punish it, they themselves shall render an account to God for this cause. Yet no bishop is to be compelled against his will to dismiss from his own clergy any cleric whatsoever appointed under him.
But we forbid all bishops and presbyters to separate anyone from holy communion before the cause is shown for which the ecclesiastical canons command this to be done. But if anyone, contrary to this, separate someone from holy communion, then he indeed who was unjustly separated from communion, the separation being annulled by a higher priest, shall be held worthy of holy communion. But he who has dared to separate someone unjustly from holy communion shall in every way be separated from communion by the priest under whom he is placed, for however long a time shall seem good to him, so that what he unjustly did to another, he himself may justly endure.
Nor is it lawful for anyone to strike a bishop with his own hands, since this is alien to priests. Assuredly, if any bishop, when according to the ecclesiastical canons he has been cast out of the priesthood, dares to enter the city from which he was cast out, or to leave the place in which he was ordered to dwell, we command that he be handed over to a monastery established in another province, so that, dwelling in the monastery, he may amend the offenses he committed in the priesthood.
But we grant that clerics be ordained not otherwise than if they know letters, and are of right faith and honorable life, and have neither had nor have a concubine or natural children, but are such as either lead a celibate life, or have had or have a lawful wife—and that one only and his first—neither a widow, nor one separated from her husband by divorce, nor otherwise forbidden by laws or sacred canons. But we do not grant that a presbyter be made who is younger than thirty-five years. Nor again a deacon or subdeacon younger than twenty-five; nor likewise a reader younger than eighteen years. But a deaconess is not to be ordained in the holy Church who is younger than forty years, or has come to a second marriage.
Moreover, if at the time of ordination an accuser arises against a cleric of whatsoever order or rank, saying that he is unworthy of ordination, let the ordination itself be deferred, and let all things proceed, both in the examination and in the censures, which indeed we have decreed above in the ordinations of bishops. But if he who is to be ordained a deacon does not have (as has been said above) a wife joined to him, he is not to be ordained otherwise than if, being first questioned by him who ordains him, he professes that he can after ordination live chastely even without a lawful wife: it being not permitted to him who ordains, at the time of ordination, to allow the deacon to take a wife after ordination.
But if this be done, the bishop who permitted it is to be cast out of the episcopate. But if after ordination a presbyter, or deacon, or subdeacon takes a wife, let him be cast out of the clergy and handed over, with his goods, to the curia of the city in which he was a cleric. Likewise, if a reader takes a second wife, or even a first, but a widow, or one separated from her husband by divorce, or one forbidden by laws or by sacred canons, let him advance no further to another ecclesiastical rank. And if in any manner he be promoted to a higher rank, let him be cast down from it and restored to the former. Nor let members of cohorts or decurions become clerics, lest from this any reproach be brought upon the venerable house.
But if such persons be enrolled among the clerics, just as though the ordination had not taken place, they are restored to their own condition—except (if one may be permitted to surmise) if any of them has spent a monastic life of not less than fifteen years. For such men we command to be ordained, the lawful portion, of course, to be assigned by the decurion to the curia and the commonwealth. But once admitted into the clergy, let them maintain a life becoming a monk to the very end.
For if, after attaining the honor of the clergy, any of them takes a wife, or keeps a concubine, let him be returned to the curia, or cohort, or condition to which he was liable—unless indeed he has been admitted into that ecclesiastical rank in which one who is appointed is not forbidden by the sacred canons and laws to take a wife. And we decree that these same things hold good also in all other monks who are transferred from a monastery to any ecclesiastical rank whatever, even if they were liable to no condition. And generally we promulgate this: that it be lawful for no one appointed in any ecclesiastical rank whatsoever to depart from it and become a layman:
those who act thus being aware that they will be deprived both of the belt of office (if any has been assigned to them) or of their dignity, or of their military service, and will be handed over to the cohort of their city. But those who, before this our law, were ordained clerics from the curial condition, let them fulfill their patrimonial duties through substitute persons, while remaining free from personal services. Nor do we grant that a cleric of any rank give anything to him by whom he is ordained, or to any other person whatsoever, but only that he furnish the customary dues, to be received according to custom by those who are in the ministry of the ordaining prelate, which dues, however, shall not exceed the daily allowance of one year. Assuredly, in the most holy church...
in which he is appointed, that he may fulfill the divine ministry, let him give absolutely not even the least thing to his colleagues for his enrollment, nor on this account let him be defrauded of his allowances or of the other distributions. Nor let the keeper of a poorhouse, or the keeper of an orphanage, or the keeper of a hospital, or the dispenser of any other venerable house, who handles any ecclesiastical responsibility, give anything to him by whom he is promoted, or to any other person whatsoever, for the dispensation entrusted to him.
But whoever, contrary to these things which we have ordained, either gives anything, or receives it, or becomes a go-between, shall be stripped of the priesthood, or of the clergy, or of whatever administration entrusted to him, the things that have been given being claimed for the venerable house whose ordination, or responsibility, or dispensation such a person has received. If he who received it, or acted as go-between, be a layman, what was given shall be exacted twofold, and shall be furnished to the venerable house in which he received the ordination, or responsibility, or dispensation.
But if any cleric of whatsoever rank, or dispenser of any venerable house, whether before ordination or before the dispensation or responsibility of any kind entrusted to him, or afterward, wishes to offer something of his own property to the church in which he is ordained, or to the place whose dispensation or responsibility he undertakes, not only do we not forbid this to be done, but we even exhort them to do such things for the salvation of their soul. For we forbid only those things to be given which are furnished to certain particular persons, not those which are offered to the holy churches or to other venerable places. If a slave, with his master knowing and not objecting, is enrolled in the clergy, by the very enrollment let him be free and freeborn.
For if the ordination be performed without the master's knowledge, let the master have license, within the space of a year—and that one year only—to prove his ownership and to recover his slave. But if the slave, whether with the master's knowledge or without it (as we have said), having been made free by enrollment in the clergy, abandons the ecclesiastical ministry and passes over to a secular life, let him be handed over into servitude to his master.
But registered tenants we grant may be made clerics, against the will of their masters, only on those estates of which they are registered tenants, yet on this condition: that, having been made clerics, they nonetheless fulfill the husbandry imposed upon them. If anyone builds an oratory and wishes clerics to be promoted in it, whether he himself or his heirs supply the means to the clerics and nominate worthy men, let those nominated be ordained. But if the sacred canons forbid those chosen by them to be ordained as unworthy, then let the most holy bishop of the place take care to promote those whom he judges more excellent.
And we decree that the most reverend clerics attend to their own churches, and fulfill all the ecclesiastical ministry befitting them, the most religious bishop of each city, as well as the ecclesiastics who hold primacy in each rank, requiring this of them, and bringing those who do not observe these things under canonical censure. For indeed it is fitting that henceforth the ordinations of the most reverend clerics be not made lavishly. For as to what has obtained up to now—although it ought to have been amended—nevertheless on account of the time we let it pass. But for the future we decree that this be not done rashly, nor turn to the detriment of the most holy churches.
What therefore ought to be done in cases of this kind concerning the most holy church of this our royal city, and the most holy churches under it, and likewise the others placed here, these things we have comprised in a special law. But in all provincial places we decree that, if indeed he who from the beginning instituted and built the church defined the number of those to be ordained—of course adapting the expenses also to that number—let no one be ordained into that church before their number has been reduced to the figure defined at the beginning.
But if this has not been done, and the city church itself supplies provisions for itself and for the other churches, then let it not rashly increase the number of clerics there, nor, on account of certain affections of mind perhaps, or favor, burden it with the expenses arising therefrom. For such things are neither consonant with piety, nor worthy of a priest, but rather let him make outlays according to his means from those things which the Lord God shall have given, or at least let him observe the ancient custom, innovating nothing at all. Whence it is fitting that the most God-loving patriarchs and metropolitans bestow their providence upon this matter, and both leave those clerics who now exist in that form in which they are, and also measure the resources of each church among themselves.
And thus let the most religious patriarchs themselves bring the churches placed under them into order, and let the metropolitans, admonished concerning this by the most religious patriarchs, both do the same, and bring all the other bishops appointed under them to this measuring out, so that they may the more take pains not to celebrate ordinations of clerics beyond the measure of the revenue. For we know how many most holy churches have been oppressed by want because of this boundless excess of those to be ordained and of expense, and that some of them, though with difficulty, we have nevertheless preserved; but some still lie burdened, unable to lift themselves out of so great a straitness of affairs.
Wherefore the most holy patriarchs and the metropolitans, and likewise the rest of the bishops most beloved of God, shall exercise foresight in this matter, so that, being instructed concerning those things which have been done by them, we may embrace them, since they will have shown that the law contained in bare letters is carried out by the very deeds. As for presbyters and deacons, and likewise subdeacons, and readers, and singers, all of whom we call clerics, we decree that whatever property has in any manner devolved into their ownership they may hold under their own authority, after the likeness of military peculium, so that they may both give it away and dispose of it by will, even though they are under the authority of their parents; yet on this condition, that their children, or, if these do not survive, their parents, shall receive the lawful portion.
As for the most reverend presbyters and deacons, if they are caught having given false testimony in a matter concerning money, it shall suffice that, in place of torments, they be separated from the sacred ministry for three years and handed over to monasteries. But in criminal cases, if anyone has given false testimony, we command that, stripped of his clerical dignity, he be subjected to the lawful penalties. As for the others, who are numbered among the lower ecclesiastical orders, if they are caught having given false testimony in any matter whatsoever, whether criminal or pecuniary, they shall not only be cast out from the clergy and the ecclesiastical order, but shall also be subjected to torments.
If anyone has any action against any cleric, or monk, or deaconess, or female monastic, or ascetic woman, let him first inform the most religious bishop concerning that matter, to whom each of these is subject. Let this bishop adjudicate the affair between them. And indeed, if both parties acquiesce in the judgments, we order that, through the magistrate of the place, they be carried into full execution. But if either of the litigants contradicts the judgments within ten days, then let the magistrate of the place examine the affair. And if he finds that the judgment was rightly rendered, let him confirm it by his own sentence as well, and deliver the things adjudged to execution; nor shall it be lawful for him who has been defeated to appeal again in a matter of this kind.
But if the magistrate's sentence is contrary to those things which have been adjudged by the bishops most beloved of God, then there shall be place for an appeal against the magistrate's sentence, and it shall be referred and prosecuted according to the order of the laws. Moreover, if a bishop, by imperial command or by judicial mandate, judges between any persons whatsoever, the appeal is referred to the imperial majesty, or to him who delegated the case.
But if a crime is charged against any of the aforesaid most reverend persons, if indeed someone has been accused before a bishop, and the bishop has been able to discover the truth, let him depose this man from his honor or rank according to the ecclesiastical canons, and then let the competent judge apprehend him, and examine the case according to the laws, and impose an end upon it. But if the accuser first approaches the civil judge, and the crime can be proven by lawful disputation, then let the records of the proceedings be made known to the bishop of the place. And if from these it becomes evident that he has committed the crimes laid against him, then let his bishop separate him from the honor or rank which he holds according to the canons, while the judge inflicts upon him the punishment befitting under the laws.
But if the bishop should think that the proceedings were not justly established, then it shall be lawful for him to interpose delay in stripping the accused person of honor or rank, yet so that that person be placed under lawful surety, and thus the case be referred to us both by the bishop and by the judge, so that we, taking cognizance of it, may command what seems good to us. Certainly, if anyone for a pecuniary cause has any action against any one of the aforesaid persons, and the bishop defers to judge between them, the plaintiff shall have license to approach the civil judge; yet so that the accused person be in no way compelled to give a surety, but only to set forth a confession without oath, together with the pledging of his own goods.
If for a criminal cause an accusation is brought against any of the aforesaid persons, the person who is accused shall be placed under lawful surety. If it be an ecclesiastical matter, let the civil magistrates have no part in that dispute, but let the most religious bishops put an end to the affair according to the sacred canons. Moreover, if any most religious bishops of the same synod have any controversy among themselves, whether concerning ecclesiastical law or concerning certain other matters, let their metropolitan first adjudicate the matter together with two other bishops of the holy synod. And unless both parties abide by the judgments, then let the most blessed patriarch of that diocese grant them a hearing;
and let him determine those things which accord with the ecclesiastical canons and the laws, neither party being able to contradict his sentence. But also, if by a cleric, or by any other person, an interpellation is made against a bishop on any cause whatsoever, let the most religious metropolitan first adjudicate the affair according to the sacred canons and our laws. If anyone protests against the judgments, let the cause be referred to the most blessed archbishop and patriarch of that diocese, and let him put an end to it according to the canons and the laws. But if an interpellation of this kind proceeds against the metropolitan, whether from a bishop, or from a cleric, or from any other person, let the most blessed patriarch of that diocese in like manner adjudicate the affair.
Finally, for whatever causes bishops are convened, whether before their own metropolitan, or before the patriarch, or before any other judges whatsoever, no surety or confession concerning the suit shall be exacted from them; yet so that they themselves also strive to clear themselves of the accusations brought against them. But the stewards (oeconomi), or managers of poorhouses, or of guest-houses, or of hospitals, and dispensers of other venerable houses, and likewise all other clerics, we command that, for the administrations entrusted to them, they answer before their own bishop, to whom they are subject, and render the accounts of their administration, and that whatever they have been proven to owe be exacted from them, to be restored to that venerable house to which a debt shall have appeared from the administration.
If they think themselves aggrieved in the exaction, let the metropolitan examine the affair. If it be the metropolitan who has examined causes of this kind against any of the aforesaid persons, and has chosen the debt, and he from whom it was exacted thinks himself aggrieved, let the most blessed patriarch of that diocese adjudicate the affair. For we do not grant to the aforesaid persons that, concerning the said causes, they should flee from their own bishops before the examination and the exaction of the debt, and betake themselves to other tribunals. But if anyone of the ecclesiastics, to whom some administration of this kind has been entrusted, should die before the accounts have been set forth and the debts paid, we command that his heirs likewise be liable both for rendering accounts and for the exactions.
If any bishop or cleric from any province whatsoever is found at Constantinople, and someone wishes to bring an action against him, then indeed, if the joinder of issue concerning that controversy has been made in the province, let the suit be completed there. But if the suit has not yet begun, let him answer those who convene him only before the most glorious praetorian prefects of the East, or the sacred judges who have been deputed by us.
But the most reverend apocrisiarii (representatives) of any most holy Church whatsoever, who reside in the royal city, or are sent by their bishops to the most blessed patriarchs or metropolitans, shall sustain no action or exaction either on behalf of their bishops, or on behalf of the business of their Church, or for a debt public or private, unless they have a mandate from their bishops or stewards to convene certain persons. For then we give license only to those who are convened by them, that, if they have any action against the Church or the bishop, they may bring it against them.
But also, if they have rendered themselves liable concerning certain matters or actions during the time in which they are discharging the office of representation and legation, let them also accept those actions which are brought on account of these. Likewise, if bishops or clerics travel abroad on behalf of their city for the sake of a legation, or of ordaining a bishop, in the royal city, or in any place whatsoever, we command that they sustain no trouble or disquiet from any person, license remaining to those who think they have them liable, after they have returned to the province, of convening them; no prejudice being generated for those who think they have them liable, with regard to the prescription of long time, on account of that time which they have spent in such a journey.
If at any time a cause should arise on account of which a summons or execution is to be brought against a cleric, or a monk, or a female monastic, or an ascetic woman of any monastery whatsoever—and especially of women—for any pecuniary cause whatsoever, whether public or private, we command that the summons or execution be carried out without insult and with the honor that is fitting; yet so that no female monastic or ascetic woman be dragged out of the monastery, but that a proctor be appointed by them, who shall answer concerning that affair. But for monks it shall be lawful to conduct their own causes or those of the monastery, whether by themselves or through a proctor.
Let the judge or executor who shall have transgressed in these matters know that he will both be stripped of his belt of office, and that through the most magnificent count of the privy estate a penalty of five pounds of gold will be exacted from him—the executor, namely, being about both to undergo these things and torments, and to be sent into exile. The most religious bishops of the places are to exercise foresight that nothing contrary to these be done; or if anything be transgressed, that the aforesaid vengeance proceed. But if the magistrate defers to impose the punishment, let the bishop refer that matter to our knowledge.
As for fees (sportulae), we grant that no person who is reckoned in any ecclesiastical order whatsoever, and moreover neither a deaconess, nor a monk, nor an ascetic woman, nor a female monastic, in any criminal or pecuniary cause, of whatever amount it may be, whether summoned by a cleric or by anyone enrolled in the military service, shall pay—whether in the royal city or in the provinces in which they dwell—beyond four siliquae. But if any executor sent by our command, or by the magistrate, or by the most blessed patriarch into other provinces, brings a summons to any of the aforesaid persons, let no more than one solidus be taken.
But if it should happen that in one and the same cause many of the aforesaid persons are summoned, we ordain that the fees be taken on behalf of all for one person only. But let the bishop sustain no aggression or disquiet for the affairs of his Church. Nor shall fees be exacted from him, even if he be summoned in the name of his own property—the actions, namely, which are brought against the Church, being undertaken by the stewards, or by those to whom that business has been committed. But whoever shall have presumed to exact fees contrary to these provisions, let him be compelled to restore double of what he received to the person from whom it was exacted. And if indeed he holds military service, let him also lose his belt; if he be a cleric, let him be cast out of the clergy.
Indeed to presbyters, and deacons, and subdeacons, and all others who are placed in the clergy, who according to the sacred canons do not have wives, we also forbid, in accordance with the tenor of the sacred canons, that they keep any woman taken into their house, with the exception, however, of a mother, and a daughter, and a sister, and other persons who escape all suspicion.
But if anyone, contrary to this observance, has kept in his house a woman who could induce suspicion against him, and, once and again admonished either by his own bishop or by his colleagues not to dwell with such a woman, has refused to cast her out of his house, or, on an accuser arising, has been proven to consort dishonorably with such a woman, then let his bishop cast him out of the clergy according to the ecclesiastical canons, to be handed over to the curia of that city in which he was a cleric. But we do not allow a bishop to keep any woman at all, or to dwell with her. But if he be proven to have observed this too little, let him be deposed from the episcopate. For he himself demonstrates himself unworthy of the episcopate.
We also allow a deaconess on no account to dwell with a man from whom suspicion of a dishonorable life can arise. But if she does not observe this, let the priest to whom she is subject admonish her, that by all means she cast such a man out of her house. If she defers to do this, let her, despoiled of the ecclesiastical ministry and of her allowances, be handed over to a monastery, and there pass all the time of her life until the end—her goods, if she have children, being divided between her and them according to the number of persons, so that the monastery receive the portion which befalls the woman herself, and support her. If she have no children, let all her substance be divided in equal portions between the monastery into which she is cast and the church in which she was first ordained.
If anyone, while the divine mysteries or other sacred ministries are being celebrated, having entered the holy church, shall have offered any insult to the bishop, or to the clerics, or to other ministers of the church, we command that he undergo torments and be sent into exile. But if he shall have disturbed the divine mysteries themselves, or the sacred ministries, or prohibited them from being celebrated, let him be smitten with capital punishment. The same is to be observed also in public supplications (processions) at which bishops or clerics are present, namely, that if he merely committed an insult, he be handed over to torments and exile; if he broke up the public supplication, let him sustain the peril of his head. And these things we command to be avenged, not only by the civil, but also by the military magistrates.
But to all laymen we forbid that they conduct public supplications without the most religious bishops and the most reverend clerics who are under them. For how can there be a public supplication in which the priests are not present, who perform the solemn prayers? But also the venerable crosses, with which the priests enter in the supplications, are to be laid up nowhere else than in venerable places; and if at any time use shall require it for celebrating the supplications, then only those who are accustomed by usage to carry them shall take up these crosses themselves, and shall celebrate the supplications together with the bishops and clerics—the most holy bishops of the places, together with the clerics themselves, and likewise the magistrates of the places, keeping watch over these things.
But if anyone, in this chapter of our present law, either shall have transgressed its force, or shall not have avenged it, he shall sustain the aforesaid penalties. It remains for us to prescribe a fixed formula also concerning the venerable monasteries and the most reverend monks.