Canons of the Council of Elvira

Contents

1. 0The opening of the council lists the nineteen bishops and the presbyters present at Elvira and the date, the Ides of May.
2. 1A baptized adult who sacrifices at a pagan temple is refused communion even at death.
3. 2Baptized pagan priests (flamens) who have sacrificed, especially where killing or adultery was involved, are refused communion even at death.
4. 3Baptized flamens who only paid for games without sacrificing may receive communion at death after penance, but not if they later commit adultery.
5. 4Flamens who are catechumens and abstain from sacrifice may be baptized after three years.
6. 5A mistress who beats her slave woman to death does seven years' penance if it was intentional, five if accidental.
7. 6Killing by sorcery is punished by refusal of communion even at death, because sorcery involves idolatry.
8. 7A baptized person who falls again into sexual sin after penance for adultery is refused communion even at death.
9. 8Women who leave their husbands without cause and marry others are refused communion even at death.
10. 9A Christian wife who leaves an adulterous Christian husband may not remarry; if she does, she is excluded from communion until the first husband dies, except in illness.
11. 10A woman deserted by a catechumen husband who remarries may be baptized; a baptized woman who knowingly marries a man who left a blameless wife receives communion only at death.
12. 11A woman catechumen under penance who falls gravely ill within the five years is to be baptized.
13. 12A Christian woman who acts as a procuress, even of her own daughter, is refused communion even at death.
14. 13Dedicated virgins who persist in sexual sin are refused communion; those who fell once and do lifelong penance receive it at death.
15. 14Unmarried women who lose their virginity and marry the man are reconciled after a year; if they have had other men, after five years' penance.
16. 15Christian girls are not to be married to pagans, since there are plenty of Christian girls.
17. 16Catholic girls are not to be married to heretics or Jews; parents who do so are excluded from communion for five years.
18. 17Parents who marry their daughters to pagan priests are refused communion even at death.
19. 18Clergy who commit adultery while in office are refused communion even at death.
20. 19Clergy are not to travel for trade; they may trade through agents or within their own province.
21. 20Clergy who lend at interest are degraded; laymen are pardoned if they stop, but expelled if they persist.
22. 21A city-dweller absent from church three Sundays running is briefly excluded from communion.
23. 22Converts back from heresy do ten years' penance, but those taken into heresy as infants are received at once.
24. 23Extended fasts are to be kept monthly, except in July and August.
25. 24People baptized abroad, whose lives are unknown, are not to be ordained in other provinces.
26. 25Travelers with letters from confessors receive ordinary letters of communion instead, because such letters were being misused.
27. 26The council orders an extended fast on every Saturday.
28. 27Clergy may live only with a sister or daughter who is a dedicated virgin, not with an unrelated woman.
29. 28A bishop must not accept an offering from someone excluded from communion.
30. 29A person troubled by an evil spirit is not to be named at the offering or to serve in church.
31. 30Men who committed adultery in their youth are not to be ordained subdeacons.
32. 31Baptized young men who sinned sexually are readmitted to communion after penance once they marry.
33. 32Penance for grave sin belongs to the bishop, but in illness a presbyter, or a deacon on the bishop's order, may give communion.
34. 33The canon on clerical continence requires married clergy to abstain from their wives on pain of removal.
35. 34Candles are not to be burned in cemeteries by day.
36. 35Women are forbidden to keep night vigils in cemeteries.
37. 36No pictures are to be painted on church walls, so that what is worshiped is not depicted.
38. 37The possessed are baptized or given communion at death, but must not light lamps publicly.
39. 38In emergencies a layman of good standing may baptize a sick catechumen, who must later be brought to the bishop for the laying on of hands.
40. 39Sick pagans of decent life who ask for it may receive the laying on of hands and become Christians.
41. 40Landowners may not accept as rent anything their tenants offered to idols.
42. 41Christians must try to keep idols out of their houses, or at least keep themselves pure.
43. 42Catechumens of good life are baptized after two years, sooner in danger of death.
44. 43The council requires all to celebrate the day of Pentecost.
45. 44A former prostitute who has married and comes to faith is received without delay.
46. 45A long-absent catechumen known to be living as a Christian is not to be refused baptism.
47. 46A lapsed believer who returns and did not commit idolatry receives communion after ten years.
48. 47A habitual adulterer may receive communion at death if he promises to stop, but not again if he recovers and relapses.
49. 48Candidates for baptism are no longer to give money in the basin, and their feet are not to be washed by the clergy.
50. 49Christian landowners must not have their crops blessed by Jews.
51. 50Clergy or faithful who eat with Jews are excluded from communion until corrected.
52. 51Converts from heresy may not be ordained, and any already ordained are to be deposed.
53. 52Those who post defamatory writings in church are anathematized.
54. 53Only the bishop who excluded someone may readmit him; another bishop who does so risks his own position.
55. 54Parents who break off a betrothal are excluded for three years, unless the other party was guilty of grave sin.
56. 55Pagan priests who only wore the crown of office, without sacrificing or paying for cult, receive communion after two years.
57. 56A magistrate is to stay away from the church during his year as duumvir.
58. 57Christians are not to lend their clothes to decorate pagan processions.
59. 58Those bringing letters of communion are to be examined everywhere, especially at the chief see.
60. 59A Christian who goes up to the Capitol's idol to watch the sacrifice is guilty as a sacrificer and does ten years' penance.
61. 60Someone killed for smashing idols is not to be counted a martyr.
62. 61A man who marries his deceased wife's sister is excluded from communion for five years.
63. 62Charioteers and actors must give up their trades before being received.
64. 63A woman who conceives in adultery and kills the child is refused communion even at death.
65. 64A woman who persists in adultery until death is refused communion; if she leaves the man, she receives it after ten years.
66. 65A cleric who knowingly keeps an adulterous wife is refused communion even at death.
67. 66Marrying one's stepdaughter is incest and is punished by refusal of communion even at death.
68. 67Christian women are not to keep long-haired men or hairdressers.
69. 68A catechumen who conceives in adultery and kills the child may be baptized only at death.
70. 69A married person who commits adultery once does five years' penance.
71. 70A husband who knowingly tolerates his wife's adultery is refused communion; if he leaves her, he receives it after ten years.
72. 71Men who sexually abuse boys are refused communion even at death.
73. 72A widow who sins sexually and marries the man does five years' penance; if she leaves him for another, she is refused communion even at death.
74. 73An informer whose accusation caused someone's proscription or death is refused communion even at death.
75. 74A false witness is excluded from communion for two or five years depending on the case.
76. 75Someone who falsely accuses a cleric is refused communion even at death.
77. 76A deacon found guilty of an earlier grave sin does three or five years' penance and returns only as a layman.
78. 77Those baptized by a deacon in charge of a congregation are to be completed by the bishop's blessing, but if they die first they may be saved by their faith.
79. 78A married Christian who commits adultery with a Jewish or pagan woman is excluded; if exposed by another, for five years.
80. 79A Christian who gambles at dice is excluded for a year after he stops.
81. 80Freedmen whose patrons are still in the world are not to be ordained.
82. 81Christian wives are not to write or receive letters of peace in their own name without their husbands'.