Canons of the Council of Ephesus (431) (complete)

Since it was necessary that those also who were absent from the holy synod and remained in their country district or city for some reason, whether ecclesiastical or bodily, should not be ignorant of what was settled in it, we make known to your holiness and love that if any metropolitan of a province, having revolted from the holy and ecumenical synod, has joined the assembly of apostasy, or should join it hereafter, or has held or shall hold the opinions of Celestius, he can in no way take any action against the bishops of the province, having from this moment been cast out by the synod from all church communion and being without power to act. Rather, he will himself be subject to those very bishops of the province and to the metropolitans round about who hold orthodox opinions, so as to be cast out entirely even from the rank of the episcopate.

And if any provincial bishops were absent from the holy synod and have joined the apostasy, or should try to join it, or, having subscribed to the deposition of Nestorius, went back to the assembly of apostasy, these, according to what seemed good to the holy synod, are to be entirely strangers to the priesthood and to fall from their rank.

And if any of the clergy in any city or country district have been barred from the priesthood by Nestorius and those with him because they held orthodox opinions, we have judged it right that these too recover their own rank. And in general we command that the clergy who agree with the orthodox and ecumenical synod be in no way at all subject to the bishops who have revolted or are revolting.

And if any of the clergy revolt and dare, either privately or publicly, to hold the opinions of Nestorius or of Celestius, it has been judged right that these too are deposed by the holy synod.

And as many as have been condemned for improper deeds by the holy synod or by their own bishops, and to whom Nestorius and those who hold his opinions have uncanonically, in keeping with his indifference in all things, tried or may try to restore communion or rank, we have judged that this is of no benefit to them and that they remain deposed none the less.

Likewise, if any should wish in any way whatever to unsettle what was done concerning each matter in the holy synod at Ephesus, the holy synod has decreed that, if they are bishops or clergy, they fall entirely from their own rank, and if laity, they are to be excommunicated.

When these things had been read, the holy synod decreed that no one is permitted to bring forward, or write, or compose a different faith besides that defined by the holy fathers gathered in the city of Nicaea with the Holy Spirit. And those who dare either to compose a different faith, or to present or bring it forward to those who wish to turn to the knowledge of the truth, whether from paganism, or from Judaism, or from any heresy whatever, these, if they are bishops or clergy, are to be strangers, the bishops to the episcopate and the clergy to the clergy; and if they are laity, they are to be anathematized. In the same way, if any, whether bishops, clergy, or laity, are detected either holding or teaching what is in the exposition brought forward by Charisius the presbyter concerning the incarnation of the only-begotten Son of God, that is, the foul and perverse doctrines of Nestorius, which are also appended, let them be subject to the sentence of this holy and ecumenical synod: namely, the bishop is to be removed from his episcopate and deposed; the cleric likewise is to fall from the clergy; and if anyone is a layman, he too is to be anathematized, as has been said before.

The most God-beloved fellow bishop Rheginus, and with him the most God-beloved bishops of the province of the Cypriots, Zeno and Evagrius, have reported an innovation contrary to the laws of the church and the canons of the holy apostles, and touching the freedom of all. Therefore, since common ailments need the greater treatment, as they bring the greater harm, and especially since no ancient custom has prevailed that the bishop of the city of the Antiochenes should perform the ordinations in Cyprus, as the most devout men who came before the holy synod have shown by their written petitions and their own words, those who preside over the holy churches in Cyprus shall keep their right, without interference or violence, according to the canons of the holy fathers and the ancient custom, to perform the ordinations of the most devout bishops by themselves. And the same shall be observed also in the other dioceses and the provinces everywhere, so that none of the most God-beloved bishops is to take over another province that was not formerly and from the beginning under his hand or that of his predecessors; but if anyone has taken one over and brought it under himself by force, he is to give it back, so that the canons of the fathers may not be transgressed, nor the pride of worldly power slip in under the pretext of sacred office, nor we lose little by little, without noticing it, the freedom which our Lord Jesus Christ, the liberator of all men, has given 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 of old be preserved pure and unforced, according to the custom that has long prevailed, each metropolitan having leave to take copies of what has been done for his own security. And if anyone brings forward a regulation contrary to what has now been decreed, it has seemed good to the whole holy and ecumenical synod that it be invalid.

Letter of the same holy and ecumenical third synod to the holy synod in Pamphylia on behalf of Eustathius, who had been their metropolitan. “Do everything with counsel,” says the divinely inspired Scripture; and it was especially fitting that those who have been allotted the priesthood should examine with all exactness everything that is to be done. For when men are willing to live thus, it happens that their affairs rest on good hope, and that they are carried as by a fair wind toward what they pray for; and the saying is very reasonable. But sometimes a sharp and unbearable grief, falling upon the mind, is wont to cloud it terribly, to draw it away from the pursuit of what is needful, and to persuade it to regard what is by nature harmful as something profitable. We have seen the most devout and God-fearing Eustathius suffer something of this kind. For he was ordained canonically, as has been attested; but having been troubled, as he says, by certain persons, and having fallen into unexpected circumstances, then, out of very great unworldliness, he gave up resisting the cares brought upon him, and, though he was able to repel the slanders of those who attacked him, he presented, we do not know how, a written resignation. For having once been entrusted with the care of a priest, he ought to have held on to it with spiritual vigor, and as it were to strip for the contest against the labors, and willingly to endure the sweat that earns its reward. But since he once showed himself negligent, having suffered this from unworldliness rather than from sloth and laziness, your piety of necessity ordained our most devout and God-fearing brother and fellow bishop Theodore to take care of the church; for it was not right for it to remain widowed and for the Savior's flocks to continue without an overseer. But since he came to us weeping, not contending with the aforesaid most God-fearing bishop Theodore for the city or the church, but asking only for the honor and title of bishop, we all grieved with the old man, and, counting his tears as our own, we hastened to learn whether the aforesaid had undergone a lawful deposition, or had at least been convicted of some improprieties by certain persons who had prattled against his reputation; and we learned that nothing of the kind had been done, but rather that his resignation had been counted against him in place of a charge. Hence we did not blame your piety for having duly ordained the aforesaid most devout bishop Theodore in his place. But since it was not right to contend very much with the man's unworldliness, but rather to have pity on an old man who has been so long away from the city that bore him and from his ancestral home, we have judged it right and decreed that, without any objection, he is to have the name of bishop and its honor and communion; but on this condition, that he is not to ordain, nor to take over a church and officiate on his own authority, but only if he is taken along, or perhaps permitted, by a brother and fellow bishop, according to disposition and love in Christ. But if you should decide anything kinder concerning him, either now or hereafter, this too will please the holy synod.”