Canon 15 · Research centre
Canon 15 of the First and Second Council (861)
The single canon on which the whole question of apoteichisis turns. Below, the text is kept distinct from its history, from the canons it is read alongside, and from the points still in dispute.
The canonical text
Sacred CanonCanon 15 first forbids ceasing to commemorate one's bishop, metropolitan or patriarch before a synodical verdict where the cause is personal or procedural (continuing canons 13 to 14). It then adds the exception that concerns us. The operative clause, in the original Greek and in English:
…οἱ γὰρ δι’ αἵρεσίν τινα παρὰ τῶν ἁγίων Συνόδων ἢ Πατέρων κατεγνωσμένην, τῆς πρὸς τὸν πρόεδρον κοινωνίας ἑαυτοὺς διαστέλλοντες, ἐκείνου δηλονότι τὴν αἵρεσιν δημοσίᾳ κηρύττοντος καὶ γυμνῇ τῇ κεφαλῇ ἐπ’ ἐκκλησίας διδάσκοντος, οἱ τοιοῦτοι… πρὸ συνοδικῆς διαγνώσεως… οὐ μόνον τῇ κανονικῇ ἐπιτιμήσει οὐχ ὑπόκεινται, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς πρεπούσης τιμῆς τοῖς ὀρθοδόξοις ἀξιωθήσονται.Those who separate themselves from communion with their president on account of some heresy condemned by the holy Synods or Fathers, he, that is, publicly preaching the heresy and teaching it bareheaded in the Church, such persons, before any synodical judgment, are not only not subject to canonical penalty, but are worthy of the honour due to the Orthodox; for they have condemned not bishops but pseudo bishops and pseudo teachers, and have not fragmented the Church's unity by schism, but have been eager to deliver her from schisms.
The operative half, in the rendering of the Pedalion
But as for those who, on account of some heresy condemned by holy Synods or Fathers, withdraw themselves from communion with their president, who, that is to say, is preaching the heresy publicly, and teaching it bareheaded in church, such persons not only are not subject to any canonical penalty on account of their having walled themselves off from communion with the so called bishop before any synodal verdict has been rendered, but, on the contrary, they shall be deemed worthy to enjoy the honour which befits them among Orthodox Christians. For they have defied, not bishops, but pseudo bishops and pseudo teachers; and they have not sundered the union of the Church with any schism, but, on the contrary, have been sedulous to rescue the Church from schisms and divisions.
Canon 15 of the First and Second Council, Constantinople, 861, in the rendering of the Pedalion of St Nikodemos the Hagiorite. Reproduced from the book hosted on this site, whose authors permit its reproduction. See the appendix.
Key terms
- κατεγνωσμένη αἵρεσις
- a heresy already condemned by the holy Synods or Fathers, not a novel accusation. The heresy is presupposed as condemned; the canon does not require a synod first to judge the teaching.
- δημοσίᾳ
- publicly, openly, not in private conversation or suspicion.
- γυμνῇ τῇ κεφαλῇ
- “bareheaded”, proclaimed uncovered and unmistakable. The obligatory literature argues this includes heresy shown in deeds and visible acts (e.g. widely known joint prayer), not only spoken words: the eye is a surer witness than the ear.
- πρὸ συνοδικῆς διαγνώσεως
- before synodical judgment, the pivotal phrase. On the obligatory reading it refers to the deposition of the man, which one need not await; on the permissive reading it may mean awaiting the synod's verdict.
- πρόεδρος / ψευδεπίσκοπος
- the “president” is one's own bishop; the canon's own word for the hierarch in this condition is “pseudo bishop.”
Historical context
DocumentedThe council met in Constantinople in 861, under the emperor Michael III and the patriarch Photios; because a first session dispersed and a second continued it, it became known as the Prōtodeutera, the “First and Second.” It was held before the rupture with Rome and with papal legates present, and its canons were widely received; several later authorities treat it as carrying ecumenical authority.
Canons 13 to 15 address the ceasing of commemoration. Their immediate background was the recent Iconoclast crisis (ended 843), during which withdrawing communion from heretical bishops had in fact been the recourse of the Orthodox. The canons therefore both restrain that recourse against abuse and protect its legitimate use in the one grave case.
The main interpretations
DisputedThe tradition is not of one voice on how binding the canon is. This library presents the obligatoryreading, that separation is required and not merely permitted, as the stronger case, while stating the permissive reading fairly. Both are held by serious Orthodox authorities; neither is here treated as beyond question.
The obligatory reading
That Canon 15 codifies a standing duty, argued from the whole canonical tradition rather than the single clause in isolation. Its supports:
- The heresy is already condemned. The canon speaks of a heresy “condemned by the holy Synods or Fathers”, presupposed, not awaiting a fresh verdict. So “before synodical judgment” refers to the deposition of the man, which one need not await; the teaching already stands judged.
- Communion itself defiles. By St Theodore the Studite, communion carries defilement from the mere commemorating of the heresiarch, “even if the one commemorating is Orthodox.” If remaining is spiritually harmful, withdrawal is not a luxury but a remedy.
- Other canons already command avoidance. The Apostolic Canons and the canons of Laodicea forbid even praying with heretics (see the scaffolding below). Canon 15 does not create a new permission; it protects the fulfilment of a duty those canons already impose.
- The canon commends, it does not merely excuse. Those who withdraw are “worthy of honour,” have delivered the Church “from schism,” and have condemned “not a bishop but a pseudo bishop”, the language of a positive good, not a tolerated irregularity.
- The diachronic agreement of the Fathers. Across the centuries the confessors in fact separated before conciliar verdicts, St Maximus from the Monothelite sees, St Theodore from the iconoclasts, the Hagiorites from the Latin minded patriarch, St Mark from the unionists, so the canon records a constant patristic practice rather than an optional indulgence.
This is the case argued at length by the sources catalogued in this library (Trikamenas, 2012). Editorial synthesis; the canonical citations are documented, the conclusion is contested.
The permissive reading
That the canon protects those who withdraw without commanding withdrawal: grammatically it shields from penalty rather than imposing a duty, and “before synodical judgment” may mean that prudence can counsel awaiting the synod. Associated with confessor canonists such as Epiphanios Theodoropoulos and with the position of the official Churches. Its strongest point is that the application is uncertain, whether a given teaching is an “already condemned heresy,” openly preached, is exactly what is disputed.
The canonical scaffolding
DocumentedCanon 15 is read together with the canons that already govern communion with heretics. Their substance (summarised here; full texts in the Pedalion and Rhalles and Potles):
- Apostolic Canon 10Holy Apostles
Whoever prays together with an excommunicated person, even privately, is himself to be excommunicated. The root of the principle that communion passes: one who joins the cut off is cut off with him.
- Apostolic Canon 11Holy Apostles
A clergyman who joins in prayer with a deposed clergyman, treating him as still a cleric, is himself to be deposed.
- Apostolic Canon 45Holy Apostles
A bishop, presbyter or deacon who merely prays together with heretics is to be suspended; if he lets them function as clergy, he is to be deposed.
- Apostolic Canon 46Holy Apostles
A bishop or presbyter who accepts the baptism or the offering of heretics is to be deposed, “what concord has Christ with Belial?”
- Apostolic Canon 65Holy Apostles
Any clergyman or layman who enters the assembly of heretics to pray is to be deposed or excommunicated.
- Canon 33 of LaodiceaLocal Council of Laodicea
One must not join in prayer with heretics or with schismatics.
- Canon 6 of LaodiceaLocal Council of Laodicea
Heretics persisting in heresy are not permitted to enter the house of God.
- Canon 1 of the Third Ecumenical CouncilEphesus (431)
Clergy who join the “assembly of apostasy” of Nestorius and Celestius are cast out of ecclesiastical communion and rendered inactive, invoked in the debate over whether such loss is automatic or synodical.
Objections & responses
Handled in full in the objection library; each states the strongest form of the objection first.
Sources & further reading
- G. A. Rhalles & M. Potles, Σύνταγμα τῶν θείων καὶ ἱερῶν κανόνων, for the full canonical text.
- St Nikodemos the Hagiorite, Pēdalion (the Rudder), traditional commentary on Canon 15 and the Apostolic Canons.
- Epiphanios Theodoropoulos, Τὰ δύο ἄκρα, on validity, penalty, and the limits of resistance (permissive reading).
- Catalogued here: Hieromonk Euthymios Trikamenas, Ἡ Διαχρονικὴ Συμφωνία τῶν Ἁγίων Πατέρων γιὰ τὸ Ὑποχρεωτικὸ τοῦ 15ου Κανόνος (Trikala, 2012), the obligatory reading argued from the Fathers.
- Hosted here in full: the chapter on the fifteenth canon in Apoteichisis: Heavenly Communion, with the canon’s three conditions and its limits; and the appendix giving the canon entire.