Canons of the Council of Ancyra

Contents

1. 1Presbyters who sacrificed under persecution but then genuinely resumed the struggle keep their rank but may not exercise their ministry.
2. 2Deacons who sacrificed but then confessed keep their honor without serving, though bishops may relax or tighten this.
3. 3Christians who were forced against their will to touch or eat sacrifices while confessing Christ have not sinned, keep communion, and may even be ordained.
4. 4Those forced to sacrifice who nevertheless feasted cheerfully at the idol banquet do six years of graded penance.
5. 5Those who attended the idol banquet in grief receive lighter penance, and bishops may lessen or lengthen it after examining their lives.
6. 6Those who sacrificed merely at the threat of punishment and are only now repenting do six years of penance, with allowance in danger of death.
7. 7Christians who ate their own food at a pagan feast do two years' penance, at the bishops' discretion.
8. 8Those forced to sacrifice two or three times do penance for six years and are fully restored in the seventh.
9. 9Those who not only lapsed but forced fellow Christians to sacrifice do ten years of penance.
10. 10Deacons who declared at ordination that they intended to marry may do so; those who accepted celibacy at ordination and later marry lose their office.
11. 11A betrothed girl abducted by another man is to be returned to her betrothed, even if she was violated.
12. 12Those who sacrificed before their baptism may be ordained, since baptism washed them clean.
13. 13Country bishops may not ordain presbyters or deacons, nor may city presbyters act in another district without the bishop's written permission.
14. 14Clergy who abstain from meat must at least taste it; if they refuse even vegetables cooked with meat, they are deposed.
15. 15Church property sold by presbyters during a vacancy is to be reclaimed, the bishop deciding whether to refund the buyers.
16. 16Penances for unnatural sexual sin are graded by age and marital state, from twenty years to communion only at death.
17. 17Those guilty of the same sin who have defiled others must pray among the most severely disciplined penitents.
18. 18Bishops rejected by their own see who intrude elsewhere are excommunicated, but may resume their former rank as presbyters if they keep the peace.
19. 19Those who break a vow of virginity do the penance of the twice-married, and virgins may not live with men as “sisters”.
20. 20Adultery is punished by seven years of graded penance.
21. 21Women who commit sexual immorality and procure abortion, previously refused communion until death, are now given ten years' penance.
22. 22Willful murderers do penance until death and receive communion only then.
23. 23Involuntary killing carries a penance of seven years under the earlier rule, five under the later.
24. 24Those who practice divination, sorcery, or pagan purifications do five years' penance.
25. 25A case of a man who seduced his fiancée's sister, who then killed herself: those involved do ten years' penance.