Canons of the Council of Antioch

Direct English translation

All who dare to set aside the determination of the holy and great Synod assembled at Nicaea in the presence of the piety of the most God-beloved Emperor Constantine concerning the holy feast of saving Pascha are to be without communion and cast out of the Church if they persist contentiously in opposing what was well decreed; and let this be said concerning laypeople. But if any of those presiding over the Church—a bishop, presbyter, or deacon—after this determination should dare, for the corruption of the peoples and disturbance of the churches, to act on his own and celebrate Pascha with the Jews, the holy Synod henceforth judges him alien from the Church, as one who not only heaps sins upon himself but also becomes a cause of corruption and perversion to many. It deposes not only such persons from ministry, but also those who dare to communicate with them after their deposition. Those deposed are also to be deprived of the outward honor of which the holy canon and the priesthood of God have made them partakers.

Direct English translation

All who enter the Church and hear the sacred Scriptures but do not share in prayer together with the people, or who through some disorder turn away from the holy reception of the Eucharist, are to be cast out of the Church until, having confessed, shown fruits of repentance, and made entreaty, they are able to obtain pardon. It is not permitted to communicate with those who are without communion, nor to assemble in houses and pray together with those who do not pray together with the Church, nor to receive in another church those who do not assemble in another church. If any bishop, presbyter, deacon, or anyone of the canonical order is found communicating with those who are without communion, let him also be without communion, as one who confuses the canon of the Church.

Direct English translation

If any presbyter, deacon, or anyone at all of the priestly order leaves his own parish and goes to another, and then, having wholly transferred himself, attempts to remain in another parish for a long time, let him no longer minister, especially if, when his own bishop calls him and exhorts him to return to his own parish, he does not obey. If he persists in the disorder, let him be completely deposed from ministry, so that he no longer has any place for restoration. If another bishop receives one deposed for this cause, that bishop also is to receive a penalty from the common Synod as one who sets aside the ecclesiastical ordinances.

Direct English translation

If any bishop deposed by a Synod, or any presbyter or deacon deposed by his own bishop, should dare to perform any act of ministry—whether the bishop according to his former custom, or the presbyter, or the deacon—he is no longer to have, even in another Synod, any hope of restoration or any place for defense; and all who communicate with him are likewise to be cast out of the Church, especially if, after learning the decision issued against the aforesaid persons, they dare to communicate with them.

Direct English translation

If any presbyter or deacon, despising his own bishop, separates himself from the Church, holds a private assembly, and sets up an altar, and, when the bishop summons him, disobeys and is unwilling to submit or obey when called a first and a second time, let him be completely deposed and no longer obtain any remedy or be able to recover his own honor. If he persists in disturbing and overturning the Church, let him be corrected by the external authority as a seditious person.

Direct English translation

If anyone has been made without communion by his own bishop, let him not be received beforehand by others unless he is received by his own bishop, or unless, when a Synod is held, he appears and makes his defense and, having persuaded the Synod, receives another decision. The same determination applies to laypeople, presbyters, deacons, and all who are in the canonical order.

Direct English translation

Let none of the strangers be received without letters of peace.

Direct English translation

Presbyters in the country districts are not to give canonical letters, except that they may send letters to neighboring bishops only; but blameless chorepiscopi may give letters of peace.

Direct English translation

The bishops in each province ought to know the bishop who presides in the metropolis and who undertakes the care of the whole province, because all who have business come together from every direction to the metropolis. Therefore it has seemed good that he also take precedence in honor and that the other bishops do nothing beyond what is proper without him, according to the ancient canon prevailing from our Fathers, except only those things that belong to each one's own parish and the territories under it. For each bishop has authority over his own parish, to administer it according to the reverence incumbent upon each and to provide for the territory under his own city, so as also to ordain presbyters and deacons and to determine each matter with judgment. Beyond this, however, let him attempt to do nothing without the bishop of the metropolis; nor let the metropolitan himself act without the judgment of the others.

Direct English translation

Those in villages or rural districts who are called chorepiscopi, even if they have received the laying on of hands of a bishop, have seemed good to the holy Synod to know their own limits and to administer the churches subject to them and be content with the care and oversight of these, appointing readers, subdeacons, and exorcists and being content with advancing these; but they are not to dare to ordain a presbyter or deacon without the bishop in the city to whom both they and the territory are subject. If anyone dares to transgress what has been determined, let him be deposed from the honor he possesses. A chorepiscopus is to be made by the bishop of the city to which he is subject.

Direct English translation

If any bishop, presbyter, or anyone at all of the canonical order, without the judgment and letters of the bishops in the province, and especially of the bishop of the metropolis, should set out to go to the emperor, let him be repudiated and cast out not only from communion but also from the dignity of which he is a partaker, as one who dares to trouble the ears of our most God-beloved emperor contrary to the ordinance of the Church. But if an indispensable necessity calls him to go to the emperor, let him do so with the consideration and judgment of the bishop of the metropolis of the province and of the bishops in it, and let him be furnished with their letters.

Direct English translation

If a presbyter or deacon deposed by his own bishop, or a bishop deposed by a Synod, should dare to trouble the ears of the emperor, when he ought to turn to a greater Synod of bishops and present to more bishops what he thinks he has on the side of justice and await their examination and decision, then if he disregards these things and troubles the emperor, let him be deemed worthy of no pardon, have no place for defense, and expect no hope of future restoration.

Direct English translation

Let no bishop dare to pass from one province into another and ordain persons in a church for advancement in ministry, not even if he brings other bishops with him, unless he comes after being invited by letters of the metropolitan and the bishops with him, into whose territory he passes. But if, with no one summoning him, he goes disorderly to lay hands on persons and to arrange ecclesiastical affairs that do not belong to him, let the things done by him be invalid, and let him himself undergo the fitting penalty for his disorder and unreasonable undertaking, being henceforth already deposed by the holy Synod.

Direct English translation

If a bishop is judged concerning certain accusations and it happens that the bishops in the province disagree about him, some declaring the one judged innocent and others guilty, then, for the removal of every dispute, it has seemed good to the holy Synod that the bishop of the metropolis summon certain others from the neighboring province to review the judgment and resolve the dispute, so as together with those of the province to confirm the matter at hand.

Direct English translation

If any bishop, having been accused of certain charges, is judged by all the bishops in the province, and all with one accord issue a single sentence against him, let him no longer be judged by others, but let the unanimous decision of the bishops of the province remain firm.

Direct English translation

If a bishop without a see, casting himself upon a vacant church, seizes the throne without a complete Synod, let him be rejected even if all the people whom he has seized choose him. A complete Synod is that at which the metropolitan also is present.

Direct English translation

If any bishop, having received the laying on of hands as bishop and having been appointed to preside over a people, does not accept the ministry and is not persuaded to go to the church entrusted to him, let him be without communion until, being constrained, he accepts, or until the complete Synod of the bishops of the province makes some determination concerning him.

Direct English translation

If any bishop, having been ordained for a parish, does not go to the place for which he was ordained, not through his own fault but either because of the refusal of the people or because of another cause not arising from him, let him share in the honor and ministry, provided only that he causes no disturbance in the affairs of the church where he assembles. Let him await whatever the complete Synod of the province, after judging the matter at hand, determines.

Direct English translation

A bishop is not to be ordained without a Synod and the presence of the bishop in the metropolis of the province. With the latter necessarily present, it is better that all the fellow ministers in the province be present with him, whom the metropolitan ought to summon by letter. If all meet, it is better; but if this is difficult, the greater number must necessarily be present or become of one vote by letters, and thus the appointment is to take place with the presence or vote of the majority. If it is done otherwise contrary to what has been determined, the ordination is to have no force. But if the appointment takes place according to the established canon and some oppose it through their own contentiousness, the vote of the majority is to prevail.

Direct English translation

Because of ecclesiastical needs and the resolution of disputes, it has seemed good that Synods of the bishops be held in each province twice each year: once after the third week of the feast of Pascha, so that the Synod is held in the fourth week of Pentecost, the metropolitan reminding the bishops of the province; and the second Synod is to be held on the Ides of October, which is the tenth of Hyperberetaeus. At these Synods presbyters, deacons, and all who think themselves wronged are to approach and obtain a review from the Synod. It is not permitted for some to hold Synods by themselves without those entrusted with the metropolitan sees.

Direct English translation

A bishop is not to be transferred from one parish to another, neither casting himself there by his own choice, nor being forced by peoples, nor being compelled by bishops; rather, he is to remain in the Church allotted to him by God from the beginning and not be transferred from it, according to the determination already issued previously concerning this matter.

Direct English translation

A bishop is not to enter another city that is not subject to him, nor a territory that does not belong to him, for the purpose of ordaining anyone; nor is he to appoint presbyters or deacons in places subject to another bishop, unless with the judgment of the bishop proper to that territory. If anyone dares such a thing, let the laying on of hands be invalid and let him himself receive a penalty from the Synod.

Direct English translation

A bishop is not permitted to appoint another in his own place as his successor, even if he is near the end of life. If anything of this sort is done, let the appointment be invalid. Let the ecclesiastical ordinance be observed which provides that a bishop is to be made in no other way than through a Synod and the judgment of bishops who, after the repose of the one who has fallen asleep, have authority to advance the worthy person.

Direct English translation

The property of the Church ought rightly to be preserved for the Church with all care, a good conscience, and faith in God, the overseer and judge of all. It is fitting that these things be administered with the judgment and authority of the bishop, to whom all the people and the souls of those assembling have been entrusted. The things belonging to the Church are to be manifest, with the knowledge of the presbyters and deacons around him, so that they know and are not ignorant of what things are the Church's own and take none of them. Thus, if it happens that the bishop departs this life, the property belonging to the Church, being manifest, may neither be lost nor destroyed, nor may the bishop's own property be disturbed under pretext of ecclesiastical property. For it is just and pleasing both to God and to men that the bishop's own property be left to whomever he wishes, while the things of the Church are preserved for the Church; so that neither the Church suffers any loss, nor the bishop's property is confiscated under pretext of the Church, nor those belonging to him fall into troubles, with the result that he too is surrounded by ill-repute after death.

Direct English translation

The bishop is to have authority over the affairs of the Church so as to administer them for all who are in need, with all reverence and fear of God. He himself may also partake of what is necessary, if he is in need, for his indispensable needs and for those of the brethren who are his guests, so that in no way are they deprived, according to the divine Apostle who says: Having food and coverings, with these we shall be content. But if he is not content with these and turns the property to his own needs, and handles the revenues of the Church or the fruits of the fields not with the knowledge of the presbyters or deacons, but gives authority over them to his own household, relatives, brothers, or sons, so that through such persons the accounts of the Church are secretly harmed, let him render an account to the Synod of the province. And if the bishop or the presbyters with him are otherwise accused of taking for themselves the things belonging to the Church, whether from fields or from any other ecclesiastical source, so that the poor are afflicted and both the administration and those administering it incur accusation and ill-repute, let these also receive correction, the holy Synod judging what is fitting.