Canons of the Council of Sardica (Greek)

Contents

1. 1Hosius proposes, and the bishops agree, that bishops who move from a small see to a larger one out of ambition be denied even lay communion.
2. 2A bishop who claims a popular invitation to justify his transfer is to be refused lay communion even at death.
3. 3Bishops are not to intrude into other provinces; a condemned bishop may have his case referred to Julius of Rome, who may order a retrial by neighboring bishops.
4. 4When a deposed bishop appeals, no successor is to be installed until the bishop of Rome has decided the case.
5. 5A deposed bishop may appeal to the bishop of Rome, who may have neighboring bishops rehear the case or send presbyters to judge with them.
6. 6If one bishop of a province neglects to join in appointing a bishop the people request, the appointment may proceed; bishops are not to be appointed for villages a presbyter can serve.
7. 7Bishops are not to go to the imperial court unless summoned by the emperor, though they may intercede for the oppressed and for condemned persons who seek the church's help.
8. 8Bishops with legitimate petitions are to send them to the court through a deacon.
9. 9Petitions to the court are to go through the metropolitan's deacon with letters of commendation, and those passing through Rome are first to be examined by Julius.
10. 10A wealthy man or lawyer chosen as bishop must first serve for a considerable time as reader, deacon and presbyter, since Paul forbids hasty ordinations.
11. 11A visiting bishop must not stay long and outshine the local bishop by frequent preaching, and no bishop may be absent from his church for long without grave cause.
12. 12Bishops with distant estates may spend up to three weeks there at harvest, attending the nearest church, but not longer.
13. 13A bishop must not give communion to a cleric whom he knows his own bishop has excommunicated.
14. 14A presbyter or deacon expelled by an angry bishop may appeal to the metropolitan or a neighboring bishop, but may not claim communion until the case is decided.
15. 15A bishop may not ordain another bishop's cleric without that bishop's consent; such an ordination is void.
16. 16The rules limiting bishops' absence from their churches apply also to presbyters and deacons who linger in Thessalonica.
17. 17A bishop unjustly driven from his see for his faith may stay in another city until he can return.
18. 18Clergy ordained by the rival claimants Musaeus and Eutychianus at Thessalonica are to be received, since no charge lies against them.
19. 19Clergy who refuse to return to the churches for which they were ordained are not to be received, and Musaeus and Eutychianus may have only lay communion.
20. 20Gaudentius proposes, and the synod agrees, that bishops who break these decrees out of pride are to lose their episcopal rank.
21. 21Bishops on the main roads are to ask travelling bishops their business and refuse communion to any going to court without summons.