Canons of the Council of Antioch (in Encaeniis)

Contents

1. 1Those who reject the Nicene decision on the date of Easter are excommunicated, and clergy who keep Easter with the Jews are deposed together with all who communicate with them.
2. 2Those who attend church but refuse the common prayer or the eucharist are to be excluded until they repent, and no one may pray with the excommunicated.
3. 3Clergy who leave their own district and refuse their bishop's call to return are to be deposed, and a bishop who receives them is to be penalized.
4. 4Deposed clergy who continue to minister lose all hope of restoration, and those who knowingly communicate with them are cast out.
5. 5A presbyter or deacon who sets up a separate congregation against his bishop and ignores repeated summons is to be deposed, and if he persists, restrained by the civil power.
6. 6One excommunicated by his own bishop may be received only by that bishop or after a synod has reversed the sentence.
7. 7Travellers are not to be received into communion without letters of peace.
8. 8Country presbyters may not issue canonical letters, but blameless chorepiscopi may issue letters of peace.
9. 9The metropolitan bishop has precedence and the care of the province; other bishops govern their own districts but undertake nothing more without him, nor he without them.
10. 10Chorepiscopi may appoint readers, subdeacons and exorcists but may not ordain presbyters or deacons without the city bishop, who appoints them.
11. 11Clergy may not go to the emperor without the consent and letters of the provincial bishops, especially the metropolitan.
12. 12Deposed clergy who appeal to the emperor instead of a larger synod of bishops lose all hope of pardon or restoration.
13. 13A bishop may not ordain or act in another province unless invited by its metropolitan and bishops; uninvited acts are void and he is deposed.
14. 14When the bishops of a province disagree over the guilt of an accused bishop, the metropolitan is to call in judges from a neighboring province.
15. 15A unanimous verdict of all the bishops of a province against a bishop is final.
16. 16A bishop without a see who takes over a vacant church without a full synod, including the metropolitan, is to be expelled even if the people want him.
17. 17A bishop who refuses to take up the church to which he was ordained is excommunicated until he accepts or a full synod decides.
18. 18A bishop prevented without fault of his own from taking up his see keeps his honor and ministry, pending the provincial synod's decision.
19. 19A bishop is to be ordained by a synod with the metropolitan present and the majority of the province's bishops present or voting by letter.
20. 20Provincial synods are to meet twice a year, in the fourth week after Easter and on 15 October, to hear complaints, and none may be held without the metropolitan.
21. 21A bishop is not to be transferred from one see to another for any reason.
22. 22A bishop may not ordain in a city or district belonging to another bishop without that bishop's consent.
23. 23A bishop may not name his own successor; a new bishop is chosen only by a synod of the bishops with that authority.
24. 24The church's property is to be kept distinct from the bishop's own, with the knowledge of the presbyters and deacons, so that neither suffers at his death.
25. 25The bishop administers church property for the needy and may take what he needs, but misuse of it for himself or his family is to be judged by the provincial synod.