§ 165. Support of Bishops and Church Dignitaries

According to the particular position that bishops, and their assistants in administration, the church dignitaries, occupy in the constitution of the Church, their support is in general different from the support of the parish clergy.

The sources for the support of a bishop consisted either of immovable property that individual pious Christians left to episcopal sees by will or bequest, or of various revenues received from the faithful of their district. Not every episcopal see possessed immovable property, and the revenue from it was accordingly not generally reckoned among the bishop’s fixed income. What was reckoned as such fixed income were the dues to which the parishes of a bishop’s district were obligated toward him. These dues, called in the sources of church law the ‘canonical due,’ the kanonikon (κανονικόν), were introduced and established by practice as early as the sixth century, and were maintained by custom down to the eleventh century, when this episcopal kanonikon was regulated by law equally for all bishops. It was prescribed, namely, as a general law, that annually there had to be given to the bishop: every village of thirty hearths—one gold coin, two silver, one ram, six measures of barley, six measures of wine, six measures of wheat flour, and thirty head of poultry; a village of twenty hearths—two-thirds of a gold coin, one silver coin, one two-year-old animal, four measures of barley, four measures of wine, four measures of wheat flour, and twenty head of poultry; a village of ten hearths—five silver coins, one lamb, two measures of barley, two of wine, two of wheat flour, and ten head of poultry. And besides this, the bishop had the right to demand seven gold coins from everyone he ordained, namely: one gold coin when he made him a reader, three when he ordained him deacon, and three when priest. This law was issued by the emperor Isaac Angelos (between 1057 and 1059).[1] The emperor Constantine Monomachos (between 1042 and 1054) had issued a law that at every wedding the bridegroom must give the bishop one gold coin (νόμισμα ἕν χρυσοῦν), and the bride twelve cubits of linen. Both of these laws were confirmed by a single novel (in the year 1086) of the emperor Alexios Komnenos.[2] These laws also received synodal patriarchal confirmation,[3] and were then incorporated into the canonical collections of the Orthodox Church.[4]

In the course of time the annual revenues of bishops present themselves to us differently in different churches. Especially in the East, sources of revenue were established that can have no canonical justification whatsoever, and which naturally led to abuses.[5] Today the support of bishops is regulated by the particular legislation of the individual local churches, and everywhere they receive a salary in money.[6]

Church dignitaries received their reward for service either from the general immovable property of the eparchy concerned, or from various revenues received by the eparchial treasury. They received this reward at fixed monthly terms, and beyond that regular reward of theirs they had no right to any other church revenues; and for exacting money or a gift in connection with any official business, and in general for accepting bribes, they were subject to strict penalties.[7] This holds good, and must hold good, today and always. Under present-day legal prescriptions, in some churches the members of the eparchial administration receive, in most local churches, their regular salary either from the church or from the state treasury, while in some churches they serve without pay.[8]