§ 46. Editions of the Sources and Collections of Church Law

At the head of all the editions of the sources and collections of the canon law of the Orthodox Church must be named that which was approved by the patriarchal synod of Constantinople, and likewise by the highest authorities of the other principal autocephalous churches, and which, as such, carries unconditional authority for all. That is the edition:

Σύνταγμα τῶν θείων καὶ ἱερῶν κανόνων τῶν τε ἁγίων καὶ πανευφήμων ἀποστόλων καὶ τῶν ἱερῶν οἰκουμενικῶν καὶ τοπικῶν συνόδων καὶ τῶν κατὰ μέρος ἁγίων πατέρων, ἐκδοθὲν, σὺν πλείσταις ἄλλαις τὴν ἐκκλησιαστικὴν κατάστασιν διεπούσαις διατάξεσι, μετὰ τῶν ἀρχαίων ἐξηγητῶν καὶ διαφόρων ἀναγνωσμάτων ὑπὸ Γ. Α. Ῥάλλη καὶ Μ. Πότλη, ἐγκρίσει τῆς ἁγίας καὶ μεγάλης τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐκκλησίας.

This Syntagma was issued at Athens in 1852-1859, in six volumes, by its editors—the first, Rhallis, was president of the Athenian court of cassation (the supreme court), and the second, Potlis, professor at the university of Athens. It contains: in volume I, the Nomocanon in Fourteen Titles with Balsamon’s scholia; in volume II, the canons of the Apostles, of the ecumenical councils, and of the last two local councils, in full text, with the commentaries of Zonaras and Balsamon, along with the synoptic text of the canons with Aristenus’s commentaries; in volume III, the canons of the remaining local councils in the same manner as in the second volume; in volume IV, the canons of the holy Fathers with text and commentaries as in the second and third volumes, then those canons which were not formally confirmed at the ecumenical councils but which the Church nonetheless receives as generally binding, then Balsamon’s canonical answers, eight canonical articles of the same Balsamon, four articles on the fasts, and finally two canonical articles of Zonaras; in volume V, canonical decrees of the patriarchal synods from the year 911 to 1835, then the laws of the Byzantine emperors from Justinian to Andronicus (1226), several canonical articles on various questions, a list of the episcopal sees of the Orthodox Church, an article on church dignities, formularies of charters for appointment to church offices, two laws on the Church in the kingdom of Greece, and two canonical decrees of the patriarchal synod of Constantinople of the years 1757 and 1850; volume VI contains Blastares’s Syntagma.

This Athenian Syntagma constitutes the best and most critical work that has to this day been published on the sources of the law of the Orthodox Church.[1] It has a scientific character and displays, in strictly critical form, everything by which one can form an exact conception of the origin and development of the canon law of the Orthodox Church. Its significance is not confined to a single local church, but, by Biener’s exact remark, with respect to its content it has significance for the whole Orthodox Church, and, by reason of its completeness and critical character, it has significance for the whole Christian world.

After this principal edition, let us give, in chronological order, the other important editions of the sources and collections of church law:

1. SS. Apostolorum et SS. Conciliorum canones, an edition prepared by the bishop of St Brieuc, Johannes de Tillet.[2]

2. Τοῦ ἀνατολικοῦ νομίμου βιβλία Γ΄. Juris orientalis libri III ab Enimundo Bonefidio J. C. digesti ac notis illustrati et nunc primum in lucem editi cum latina interpretatione anno 1573, Paris.[3]

3. Juris graeco-romani tam canonici quam civilis tomi duo, Johannis Leunclavii Amelburni v. cl. studio ex variis Europae Asiaeque bibliothecis eruti, latineque redditi. Francofurti 1596.[4]

4. Canones SS. Apostolorum et SS. Conciliorum cum commentariis Johannis Zonarae nunc primum graece et latine conjunctim editi…. Studio et labore Johannis Quintini Hedui. Lutet. Parisiorum, 1618.[5]

5. Bibliotheca juris canonici veteris in duos tomos distributa, quorum unus canonum ecclesiasticorum codices antiquos, tum graecos, tum latinos complectitur, subjunctis vetustissimis eorumdem canonum collectoribus latinis: alter vero insigniores juris canonici veteris collectores graecos exibet…. Opera et studio Guilielmi Voelli et Henrici Justelli. Lutet. Paris. 1661.[6]

6. Ecclesiae graecae monumenta edidit Johannes Baptista Cotelerius. Lutet. Paris. 1677-1686, in three volumes, to which the Maurists added, in 1692, a fourth volume entitled Analecta graeca.[7]

7. Synodikon sive Pandectae canonum SS. Apostolorum et Conciliorum ab ecclesia graeca receptorum, nec non canonicarum SS. Patrum epistolarum: una cum scholiis antiquorum singulis eorum annexis et scriptis aliis huc spectantibus…. Totum opus in duos tomos divisum Guilielmus Beveregius, ecclesiae anglicanae presbyter, recensuit, prolegomenis munivit et annotationibus auxit. Oxonii, 1672.[8]

8. C. E. Zachariae a Lingenthal, Jus graeco-romanum: Pars I. Practica ex actis Eusthathii romani; P. II. Synopsis minor, et Ecloga legum in epitome expositarum; P. III. Novellae constitutiones imperatorum post Justinianum quae supersunt collatae et ordine chronologico digestae; P. IV. Ecloga privata aucta, Ecloga ad Prochiron mutata et Epanagoge aucta; P. V. Synopsis Basilicorum; P. VI. Prochiron auctum. Lipsiae, 1856–1877.[9]

9. Patrologiae cursus completus… Accurante P. J. Migne. Series graeca. Tom. CIV et CXXXVII. (Patrologiae graecae, latine tantum editae. Tom. LIV et LXVIII).[10]

10. Juris ecclesiastici graecorum historia et monumenta jussu Pii IX Pont. Max., curante I. B. Pitra S. R. E. Card. Romae, Tom. I, 1864. Tom. II, 1868.[11]

11. Rules of the Holy Apostles, of the Holy Ecumenical and Local Councils, and of the Holy Fathers, with Commentaries. Moscow, 1876 and following.[12]

12. The Canons of the Orthodox Church with Commentaries. My own work. 2 volumes. Novi Sad, 1895, 1896.

Besides the editions mentioned, two further, more recent, editions are important, in which especially the decrees of the patriarchal synod of Constantinople are contained, namely:

1. Acta et diplomata graeca medii aevi sacra et profana, collecta ediderunt Franc. Miklosich et Jos. Müller. Vol. I. et II. (Vindobonae, 1860. 1862.): Acta patriarcatus constantinopolitani. Vol. IV. et V. (Vindobonae, 1871. 1887.): Acta et diplomata monasteriorum et ecclesiarum Orientis.

2. Κανονικαὶ διατάξεις, ἐπιστολαί, λύσεις, θεσπίσματα τῶν ἁγιωτάτων πατριαρχῶν Κωνσταντινουπόλεως ἀπὸ Γρηγορίου τοῦ Θεολόγου μέχρι Διονυσίου τοῦ ἀπὸ Ἀδριανουπόλεως ἐπιστασίᾳ Μανουὴλ Ἰω. Γεδεών. Constantinople, 1888-1890.

PART TWO. The Constitution of the Church.

Footnotes

[6] It contains in volume I: 1. Codex canonum ecclesiae universae; 2. Codex canonum eccles. Dionysii Exigui; 3. Collectio decretorum pontificum rom. Dionysi Exigui; 4. Altera collectio decretorum; 5 Prisca canonum editio latina; 6 Codex canonum ecclesiae africanae; 7 Breviatio canonum Fulgentii Ferrandi; 8 Breviarium canonicum Crisconii; 9 Collectio can. Martini Bracarensis. In volume II: 1. Collectio can. Joannis Scolastici; 2. Nomocanon Joannis Scolastici; 3 Synopsis can Alexii Aristini; 4. Epitome can Simeonis Magistri; 5 Synopsis can. Arsenii monachi; 6. Nomocanon Photii; 7. Collectio tripartita Theodori Balsamonis. This is the main thing found in this Bibliotheca; and just as this edition is rich in canonical material, so it suffers in critical quality, so that in scholarship one must use it very cautiously. See, for example, what Spittler, Geschichte des kanonischen Rechts. S. 95 fg, and Zhishman, Eherecht S. 30, say about this edition.

[8] When Pitra (De canons. p 15) called this edition a “splendide ouvrage”, he spoke entirely correctly. This is the best, most complete, and most critical edition that had appeared prior to the Athenian Syntagma. After the same model there were prepared, on the whole, all later editions, not excluding the Athenian Syntagma itself, which for every word it prints collates it against the text of the synodicon. This synodicon contains the Apostolic canons, the canons of the ecumenical and local councils, and those of the thirteen fathers: first the complete text of the canons in Greek with the Latin set out in parallel, together with the commentaries of Balsamon and Zonaras, and then the abbreviated text with the commentaries of Aristenus. This makes up the first volume and, of the second volume, its first 188 pages. Then follows a synopsis of the canonical epistles with a separate pagination, then the synodal answers of Nicholas, patriarch of Constantinople (see above §. 22 p. 118), with the commentaries of Balsamon, and then again with a separate pagination the complete Syntagma of Blastares in the Greek original and in a Latin translation, and finally the acts of the council held on the occasion of the peace established between the Eastern and the Western Church under Patriarch Photius and Pope John. At the end there stands an alphabetical index of everything contained in the two volumes, and after it follow the learned notes of Beveregius himself, both upon the canons and likewise upon the commentaries of the canons. These notes are of immense benefit for understanding not only the meaning but also the very spirit of the canon law of the Orthodox Church.

§ 46. Editions of the Sources and Collections of Church Law

§ 46. Издања извора и зборника црквенога права

§ 46