(NOTE: The electronic text obtained from The Electronic Bible Society was
not completely corrected. EWTN has corrected all mistakes found.)
Transliteration of Greek words: All phonetical except: w = omega; h serves
three puposes: 1. = Eta; 2. = rough breathing, when appearing intially
before a vowel; 3. = in the aspirated letters theta = th, phi = ph, chi =
ch. Accents are given immediately after their corresponding vowels: acute =
' , grave = `, circumflex = ^. The character ' doubles as an apostrophe,
when necessary.
GREGORY THAUMATURGOS
CANONICAL EPISTLE.(1)
[Translated by the Rev. S.D.F. Salmond, M.A.]
CANON I.
THE meats are no burden to us, most holy father,(2) if the captives ate
things which their conquerors set before them, especially since there is
one report from all, viz., that the barbarians who have made inroads into
our parts have not sacrificed to idols. For the apostle says, "Meats for
the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and
them."(3) But the Saviour also, who cleanseth all meats, says, "Not that
which goeth into a man defileth the man, but that which cometh out."(4) And
this meets the case of the captive women defiled by the barbarians, who
outraged their bodies. But if the previous life of any such person
convicted him of going, as it is written, after the eyes of fornicators,
the habit of fornication evidently becomes an object of suspicion also in
the time of captivity. And one ought not readily to have communion with
such women in prayers. If any one, however, has lived in the utmost
chastity, and has shown in time past a manner of life pure and free from
all suspicion, and now falls into wantonness through force of necessity, we
have an example for our guidance,--namely, the instance of the damsel in
Deuteronomy, whom a man finds in the field, and forces her and lies with
her. "Unto the damsel," he says, "ye shall do nothing; there is in the
damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his
neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter: the damsel cried, and
there was none to help her."(5)
CANON II.
Covetousness is a great evil; and it is not possible in a single letter
to set forth those scriptures in which not robbery alone is declared to be
a thing horrible and to be abhorred, but in general the grasping mind, and
the disposition to meddle with what belongs to others, in order to satisfy
the sordid love of gain. And all persons of that spirit are excommunicated
from the Church of God. But that at the time of the irruption, in the midst
of such woful sorrows and bitter lamentations, some should have been
audacious enough to consider the crisis which brought destruction to all
the very period for their own private aggrandizement, that is a thing which
can be averred only of men who are impious and hated of God, and of
unsurpassable iniquity. Wherefore it seemed good to excommunicate such
persons, lest the wrath (of God) should come upon the whole people, and
upon those first of all who are set over them in office, and yet fail to
make inquiry. For I am afraid, as the Scripture says, lest the impious work
the destruction of the righteous along with his own.(6) "For fornication,"
it says,(7) "and covetousness are things on account of which the wrath of
God cometh upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers
with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the
Lord: walk as children of light (for the fruit of the light(8) is in all
goodness, and righteousness, and truth), proving what is acceptable unto
the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but
rather reprove them; for it is a shame even to speak of those things which
are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made
manifest by the light." In this wise speaks the apostle. But if certain
parties who pay the proper penalty for that former covetousness of theirs,
which exhibited itself in the time of peace, now turn aside again to the
indulgence of covetousness in the very time of trouble (i.e., in the
troubles of the inroads by the barbarians), and make gain out of the blood
and ruin of men who have been utterly despoiled, or taken captive, (or) put
to death, what else ought to be expected, than that those who struggle so
hotly for covetousness should heap up wrath both for themselves and for the
Whole people?
CANON III.
Behold, did not Achar(1) the son of Zata transgress in the accursed
thing, and trouble then lighted on all the congregation of Israel? And this
one man was alone in his sin; but he was not alone in the death that came
by his sin. And by us, too, everything of a gainful kind at this time,
which is ours not in our own rightful possession, but as property strictly
belonging to others, ought to be reckoned a thing devoted. For that Achar
indeed took of the spoil; and those men of the present time take also of
the spoil. But he took what belonged to enemies; whine these now take what
belongs to brethren, and aggrandize themselves with fatal gains.
CANON IV.
Let no one deceive himself, nor put forward the pretext of having found
such property. For it is not lawful, even for a man who has found anything,
to aggrandize himself by it. For Deuteronomy says: "Thou shalt not see thy
brother's ox or his sheep go astray in the way, and pay no heed to them;
but thou shalt in any wise bring them again unto thy brother. And if thy
brother come not nigh thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring
them together, and they shall be with thee until thy brother seek after
them, and thou shalt restore them to him again. And in like manner shalt
thou do with his ass, and so shalt thou do with his raiment, and so shalt
thou do with all lost things of thy brother's, which he hath lost, and thou
mayest find."(2) Thus much in Deuteronomy. And in the book of Exodus it is
said, with reference not only to the case of finding what is a friend's,
but also of finding what is an enemy's: "Thou shalt surely bring them back
to the house of their master again."(3) And if it is not lawful to
aggrandize oneself at the expense of another, whether he be brother or
enemy, even in the time of peace, when he is living at his ease and
delicately, and without concern as to his property, how much more must it
be the case when one is met by adversity, and is fleeing from his enemies,
and has had to abandon his possessions by force of circumstances!
CANON V.
But others deceive themselves by fancying that they can retain the
property of others which they may have found as an equivalent for their own
property which they have lost. In this way verily, just as the Boradi and
Goths brought the havoc of war on them, they make themselves Boradi and
Goths to others. Accordingly we have sent to you our brother and comrade in
old age, Euphrosynus, with this view, that he may deal with you in
accordance with our model here, and teach you against whom you ought to
admit accusations,(4) and whom you ought to exclude from your prayers.
CANON VI.(5)
Moreover, it has been reported to us that a thing has happened in your
country which is surely incredible, and which, if done at all, is
altogether the work of unbelievers, and impious men, and men who know not
the very name of the Lord; to wit, that some have gone to such a pitch of
cruelty and inhumanity, as to be detaining by force certain captives who
have made their escape. Dispatch ye commissioners into the country, lest
the thunderbolts of heaven fall all too surely upon those who perpetrate
such deeds.
CANON VII.(6)
Now, as regards those who have been enrolled among the barbarians, and
have accompanied them in their irruption in a state of captivity, and who,
forgetting that they were from Pontus, and Christians, have become such
thorough barbarians, as even to put those of their own race to death by the
gibbet(7) or strangulation, and to show their roads or houses to the
barbarians, who else would have been ignorant of them, it is necessary for
you to debar such persons even from being auditors in the public
congregations,(8) until some common decision about them is come to by the
saints assembled in council, and by the Holy Spirit antecedently to them.
CANON VIII.(9)
Now those who have been so audacious as to invade the houses of others,
if they have once been put on their trial and convicted, ought not to be
deemed fit even to be hearers in the public congregation. But if they have
declared themselves and made restitution, they should be placed in the rank
of the repentant.(10)
CANON IX.(11)
Now, those who have found in the open field or in their own houses
anything left behind them by the barbarians, if they have once been put on
their trial and convicted, ought to fall under the same class of the
repentant. But if they have declared themselves and made restitution, they
ought to be deemed fit for the privilege of prayer.(1)
CANON X.
And they who keep the commandment ought to keep it without any sordid
covetousness, demanding neither recompense,(2) nor reward,(3) nor fee,(4)
nor anything else that bears the name of acknowledgment.
CANON XI.(5)
Weeping(6) takes place without the gate of the oratory; and the
offender standing there ought to implore the faithful as they enter to
offer up prayer on his behalf. Waiting on the word,(7) again, takes place
within the gate in the porch,(8) where the offender ought to stand until
the catechumens depart, and thereafter he should go forth. For let him hear
the Scriptures and doctrine, it is said, and then be put forth, and
reckoned unfit for the privilege of prayer. Submission,(9) again, is that
one stand within the gate of the temple, and go forth along with the
catechumens. Restoration(10) is that one be associated with the faithful,
and go not forth with the catechumens; and last of all comes the
participation in the holy ordinances.(11)
(This last canon is probably a later addition.)
Taken from "The Early Church Fathers and Other Works" originally published
by Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. in English in Edinburgh, Scotland beginning in
1867. (ANF 6, Roberts and Donaldson). The digital version is by The
Electronic Bible Society, P.O. Box 701356, Dallas, TX 75370, 214-407-WORD.
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