Canonical Epistle (Canons on Penance) (complete)

[Canon 1] [Since], then, the fourth Easter has now come upon the persecution, it is enough for those who were brought before the judges and imprisoned, and endured unbearable tortures and intolerable scourgings and many other dreadful constraints, but were afterwards betrayed by the weakness of the flesh, even if at the beginning they were not received because of the very great fall that followed: nevertheless, because they contended much and resisted for a long time (for they did not come to this by choice, but were betrayed by the weakness of the flesh), since they also show the marks of Jesus in their own bodies, and some have already been mourning for a third year, it is enough that, from the time they come forward, a further penalty be laid upon them, by way of reminder, of another forty days, the days which our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ fasted after he was baptized, when he was tempted by the devil. In these days they too, having been exercised abundantly and become more vigorously sober, will watch in prayers for the rest of their lives, meditating on what was said by the Lord to the one who tempted him to worship him: …

[Canon 2] For those who, after being only imprisoned and having endured the afflictions and the stench of the prison as in a siege, were afterwards taken captive without the war of tortures, through great poverty of strength and a kind of blindness, being broken: a year in addition to the rest of the time will suffice. For they too gave themselves wholly to be afflicted for the name of Christ, even if in prison they enjoyed much refreshment from the brothers. They will repay this many times over, longing to be redeemed from the most bitter captivity of the devil, and remembering above all the one who said: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor; he has sent me to proclaim release to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send away the broken in release" …

[Canon 3] For those who suffered nothing of this kind at all, and showed no fruit of faith, but deserted to evil of their own accord, betrayed by cowardice and fear, and now come to repentance, it is necessary and fitting to set before them the parable of the barren fig tree, as the Lord says: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser: Behold, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and I find none; cut it down; why should it use up the ground? And he answered and said to him: Lord, leave it this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure; and if it bears fruit, well; but if not, in the future you shall cut it down." Keeping this before their eyes, and showing fruit worthy of repentance during the space of so long a time, they will be the more benefited.

[Canon 4] For those who are wholly despaired of and do not repent, who have the unchangeable skin of the Ethiopian and the spots of the leopard, the word to the other fig tree will be spoken: "Let no fruit ever come from you again"; and so it withers at once. In them, then, is also fulfilled what is said by the Preacher: "What is crooked cannot be adorned, and what is lacking cannot be numbered." For unless what is crooked is first set straight, it cannot be adorned; and unless what is lacking is first filled up, it cannot be numbered. Hence at the end there will befall them what is said by the prophet Isaiah: "And they shall see," he says, "the corpses of the men who have transgressed against me; for their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be a spectacle to all flesh"; since also, as he said before: "But the unrighteous [are tossed] like the sea … There is no joy for the ungodly, says God."

[Canon 5] For those who dissembled, like David, who feigned epilepsy so as not to die, though he was not epileptic; and who did not openly sign a denial, but in great straits made sport of the enemies' plots, like sensible and shrewd children among foolish children, either by walking past the altars, or by giving a written statement, or by putting pagans forward in their own place (even if some of the confessors, as I have heard, allowed this to some of them, since with great caution they avoided becoming with their own hands [partakers] of the fire and of the incense of the unclean demons): since, then, it escaped them that they did this in folly, nevertheless six months of turning in repentance will be laid upon them. For in this way they too will be the more benefited, meditating on the prophetic saying: "A child is born to us, a son is given to us, whose government is upon his shoulder, and his name is called Angel of great counsel." This child, as you know, was conceived in the sixth month after the conception of the other child, who proclaimed before the face of his coming repentance for the forgiveness of sins, so that he too might proclaim repentance. For we hear both of them, at the very beginning, proclaiming not only repentance but also the kingdom of heaven, which, as we have learned, is within us, because the word that we believe is near us, in our own mouth and in our own heart. Reminded of this, they too will learn to confess with their mouth that Jesus is Christ, believing in their heart that God [raised] him …

[Canon 7] Free men shall be tried in repentance for three years, both as having dissembled and as having compelled their fellow-servants to sacrifice, since they disobeyed the Apostle, who wishes masters to do the same things to their slaves, forbearing threatening, "knowing," he says, "that both their Lord and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with him." And if we all have one Lord, who shows no partiality, since Christ is all and in all, among barbarians and Scythians, slaves and free, they ought to consider what they have done, wishing to save their own soul while dragging their fellow-servants into idolatry, who could themselves also have escaped if they had given them what is just and equal, as again the Apostle says.

[Canon 8] As for those who were handed over and fell, but have themselves come forward to the contest and confess that they are Christians, and have been thrown into prison with tortures, it is reasonable with gladness of heart to strengthen them and to be in communion with them in all things, both in prayers and in partaking of the body and the blood of Christ, and in the encouragement of the word; so that, contending more vigorously, they too may be counted worthy of the prize of the upward call. "For seven times," it says, "the righteous man will fall and rise again"; which, if all who have fallen had done, they would have shown a most perfect and whole-hearted repentance.

[Canon 9] With those too who, as if out of sleep, leap forward of themselves into the contest when it is in its pangs and about to drag on, and so draw upon themselves a temptation of sea-battle and great surging, and rather kindle the coals of sinners against the brothers as well: with them too we must be in communion, since they come to this in the name of Christ, even though they do not heed his words, when he teaches us to pray not to enter into temptation, and again to say in prayer to the Father: "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." Perhaps they also do not know of the frequent withdrawals of our Master and Teacher from those who wished to plot against him; and that sometimes he did not walk openly because of them; and that, when the time of his passion drew near, he did not give himself up, but waited until they came against him with swords and clubs. He says to them: "Have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to seize me?" "And they handed him over," it says, "to Pilate." Like him, then, those who walk according to his purpose have suffered, remembering his divine words, by which he strengthens us concerning persecutions, saying: "Beware of yourselves; for they will hand you over to councils, and in their synagogues they will flog you." "They will hand you over," he said, not "you will hand yourselves over"; "and you will be brought before governors and kings for my name's sake," not "you will bring yourselves"; since he also wishes us to move from place to place when we are persecuted for his name, as again we hear him say: "And when they persecute you in this city, flee to another." For he does not wish us to desert to the shield-bearers and spearmen of the devil, lest we become the cause of more deaths to them, as if compelling them to become harsher and to carry out their deadly works; but to wait, and to beware of ourselves, to watch and pray, that we may not enter into temptation.

So Stephen, the first to receive martyrdom in his footsteps, was seized in Jerusalem by the lawless and brought into the council, and, stoned in the name of Christ, was glorified, entreating and saying: "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." So James, the second, was seized by Herod and beheaded with the sword. So Peter, the foremost of the apostles, seized many times and imprisoned and dishonoured, was afterwards crucified in Rome. And the renowned Paul, often handed over and in danger even of death, having contended much and boasted in many persecutions and afflictions, was himself also beheaded with the sword in the same city; he who, among the things in which he boasted, ended with this: that in Damascus too he was let down in a basket through the wall by night and escaped the hands of the one who sought to seize him. For their first aim was to preach the gospel and to teach the word of God; and, strengthening the brothers in it to remain in the faith, they said this too: that through many afflictions we must enter the kingdom of God. For they sought not their own advantage but that of the many, that they might be saved. And time would fail us to recount …

[Canon 10] Hence it is not reasonable either that those of the clergy who gave themselves up of their own accord, and fell, and then wrestled back again, should still be in the ministry, since they left the flock of the Lord and brought blame on themselves; which none of the apostles did. For the blessed apostle Paul, who went through many persecutions and showed many prizes of contests, and knew that it is better to depart and be with Christ, adds and says: "But to remain in the flesh is more necessary for your sake." For, considering not his own advantage but that of the many, that they might be saved, he judged it more necessary than his own rest to stay with the brothers and care for them. He also wishes the one who teaches to be, in his teaching, a pattern for the faithful. Hence those who, having fallen and wrestled back, claim the ministry while in prison are quite without sense. For how do they ask for what they abandoned, when they could have been useful to the brothers at such a time? While they had not stumbled, they had pardon for their unreasonable act; but now that they have stumbled, as men who boasted and brought blame on themselves, they can no longer minister. Let them rather consider, in humility, how they may finish their course, ceasing from vainglory. For communion is enough for them, given with care and exactness on both counts: so that they may not seem to be grieved and forcibly snatch at their departure from here, and so that some who have fallen may not make excuses as if slackened by the occasion of the penalty. These will have shame and reproach more than all, like the man who laid a foundation and was not able to finish: "For all who pass by," it says, "will begin to mock him, saying: This man laid a foundation and was not able to finish."

[Canon 11] For those who were the first to leap forward when the persecution was at its height, standing around the tribunal and seeing the holy martyrs hastening to the prize of the upward call, gave themselves up to it eagerly with good zeal, using much boldness; especially when they saw those who were being dragged down and falling; being inwardly warmed and stirred by them to fight down the adversary who exalts himself, they hastened to this, so that he might not seem to himself to be wise in the things in which he seemed by cunning to conquer, though he did not perceive that he was being conquered by those who endured the tortures of the scrapers and the scourges, the sharpness of the sword, the burnings of fire, and the drownings in water. And to those who, according to their faith, ask that prayers and supplications be made, either for those who were punished in prison and betrayed by hunger and thirst, or for those who were tortured outside the prison at the tribunal with scrapers and scourges but afterwards were defeated by the weakness of the flesh, it is right to agree. For to suffer with and grieve with those who lament and groan for those defeated in the contest by the great violence of the devil, who devises evil, whether for parents or brothers or children, harms no one in anything. For we know that some have enjoyed the goodness of God through the faith of others too, for the forgiveness of sins, for the health of the body, and for the raising of the dead. Remembering, then, their many labours, which they endured in the name of Christ, and their torments, and also that they have repented and lament what they did in betrayal through weakness and deadness of the body, and further that they are attested to have lived as men without a city in their lives, we pray with them and join in entreaty for their propitiation, with the other things that are fitting, through him who became our Advocate with the Father, making propitiation for our sins. "For if anyone sins," it says, "[we have] an Advocate …"

[Canon 12] No charge is to be brought against those who have given money so as to be wholly unmolested by any evil. For they suffered the loss and destruction of money so that they might not suffer the loss or destruction of their souls, which others did not do because of love of gain; and yet the Lord says: "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world but forfeits or loses his soul?" and: "You cannot serve God and mammon." For in this they showed themselves to be serving God, hating, trampling on, and despising money, and they also fulfilled what is written: "The ransom of a man's soul is his own wealth." Since in the Acts of the Apostles too we read that those who were dragged before the city magistrates in Thessalonica in place of Paul and Silas were released after giving satisfaction. For after they had greatly burdened them because of the name, and stirred up the crowd and the magistrates, "having taken security," it says, "from Jason and the rest, they let them go; and the brothers at once sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beroea."

[Canon 13] Hence no charge is to be brought either against those who have left everything for the salvation of their souls and withdrawn, as though others had been arrested because of them. For in Ephesus too, in place of Paul, they dragged Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's travelling companions, into the theatre, when Paul wished to go in to the people; since the riot had arisen because of him, who had persuaded and turned a great crowd to godliness. "The disciples did not allow him," it says. "And also some of the Asiarchs, who were his friends, sent to him and urged him not to venture into the theatre." And if some persist in quarrelling with those who sincerely heed the one who says, "Save your soul, and do not look behind you," let them be reminded also of Peter, the foremost of the apostles, who had already been thrown into prison and handed over to four squads of soldiers to guard him. When he fled by night and was rescued from the hand of the Jews at the command of an angel of the Lord, "when day came," it says, "there was no small disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. And Herod, having searched for him and not found him, examined the guards and ordered them to be led away"; yet no blame because of them attaches to Peter. For they too could have fled, having seen what happened; as could all the children in Bethlehem and in all its borders, if their parents had known what was going to happen. They were killed by the bloodthirsty Herod so that the one child he was seeking might perish; and that child too escaped at the command of an angel of the Lord, already beginning to plunder quickly and despoil swiftly, according to the surname of his name, as it is written: "Call his name, Quickly plunder, swiftly despoil; for before the child knows how to call father or mother, he will take the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria before the king of the Assyrians." The magi, then, as men already despoiled and plundered, worship the child in submission and honour, opening their treasures and offering him the most timely and fitting gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh, as to a king and [God] and man. Hence they were no longer thought fit to return to the Assyrian king, being helped by Providence: "For being warned," it says, "in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way." Hence the bloodthirsty Herod, seeing that he had been mocked by the magi, was very angry; "and he sent," it says, "and killed all the boys in Bethlehem and in all its borders, from two years old and under, according to the time he had ascertained from the magi."