Canons of the Third Ecumenical Council (Ephesus)

Direct English translation

Since it was necessary that those who were absent from the holy synod and remained in a country district or city for some ecclesiastical or bodily reason should not be ignorant of what was enacted in it, we make known to your holiness and love that, if any metropolitan of a province has withdrawn from the holy and ecumenical synod and joined the council of apostasy, or should join it hereafter, or has held or shall hold the opinions of Celestius, he is wholly unable to act against the bishops of the province, having already been cast out by the synod from all ecclesiastical communion and rendered inactive. Rather, he shall also be subject to the bishops of the province themselves and to the neighbouring metropolitans who hold the Orthodox faith, so as to be entirely expelled even from the rank of the episcopate.

Direct English translation

If any provincial bishops were absent from the holy synod and joined the apostasy, or attempted to join it, or, after signing the deposition of Nestorius, turned back to the council of apostasy, it has seemed good to the holy synod that they be entirely alien to the priesthood and fall from their rank.

Direct English translation

If any clerics in any city or country district were prohibited from exercising the priesthood by Nestorius and those with him because they held the right faith, we have judged that these also are to recover their own rank. In general, we command the clerics who agree in faith with the Orthodox and ecumenical synod not to be subject in any way whatever to bishops who have apostatized or are apostatizing.

Direct English translation

If any of the clerics should apostatize and dare, either privately or publicly, to hold the opinions of Nestorius or of Celestius, it has been judged by the holy synod that these also are deposed.

Direct English translation

As for all who were condemned for improper actions by the holy synod or by their own bishops, and to whom Nestorius and those holding his opinions have attempted or should attempt, uncanonically and according to his general indifference in all matters, to restore communion or rank, we have judged that they are not to profit thereby and are to remain deposed nonetheless.

Direct English translation

Likewise, if any should wish in any way whatever to unsettle the acts concerning each person which were done in the holy synod at Ephesus, the holy synod has determined that, if they are bishops or clerics, they are to fall entirely from their own rank; but if they are laypersons, they are to remain outside communion.

Direct English translation

After these things had been read, the holy synod determined that it is lawful for no one to bring forward, write, or compose another faith besides that defined, together with the Holy Spirit, by the holy Fathers assembled in the city of Nicaea. Those who dare either to compose another faith, or to introduce or offer it to persons wishing to turn to the knowledge of the truth, whether from paganism, Judaism, or any heresy whatsoever, are, if bishops, to be alien to the episcopate, and, if clerics, alien to the clergy; but if they are laypersons, they are to be anathematized. In the same manner, if any persons, whether bishops, clerics, or laypersons, should be discovered holding or teaching the things contained in the statement presented by the presbyter Charisius concerning the incarnation of the only-begotten Son of God, that is, the impious and distorted doctrines of Nestorius which are appended below, they are to be subject to the sentence of this holy and ecumenical synod: namely, the bishop is to be estranged from the episcopate and deposed; the cleric is likewise to fall from the clergy; and if anyone is a layperson, he too is to be anathematized, as was said before.

Direct English translation

Our most God-beloved fellow bishop Rheginus, together with the most God-beloved bishops of the province of Cyprus who were with him, Zeno and Evagrius, reported a matter innovated contrary to the ecclesiastical ordinances and the canons of the holy Apostles, and touching the freedom of all. Therefore, since common maladies require a greater remedy, because they also bring greater harm, and especially since no ancient custom has existed for the bishop of the city of Antioch to perform ordinations in Cyprus, as the most devout men who made their approach to the holy synod taught by their written petitions and their own statements, the rulers of the holy Churches in Cyprus shall possess, without interference or coercion, the right, according to the canons of the holy Fathers and the ancient custom, to perform by themselves the ordinations of the most devout bishops. The same rule shall also be observed in the other dioceses and provinces everywhere, so that none of the most God-beloved bishops shall seize another province which was not from the beginning and from ancient times under his own hand or that of his predecessors. But if anyone has seized such a province and subjected it to himself by force, he shall restore it, so that the canons of the Fathers may not be transgressed, nor the pride of secular authority slip in under the pretext of sacred ministry, nor we unknowingly lose little by little the freedom which our Lord Jesus Christ, the liberator of all people, bestowed upon us by his own blood. It has therefore seemed good to the holy and ecumenical synod that the rights belonging to each province from the beginning and from ancient times be preserved pure and without coercion, according to the custom which has long prevailed, each metropolitan having permission to obtain copies of the acts for his own security. If anyone should produce a decree contrary to what has now been determined, it has seemed good to the entire holy and ecumenical synod that it be invalid.