On the Supplementary Canons

With the letter of Tarasius the fundamental canonical collection of the Orthodox Church comes to an end. There follows the supplement mentioned above, namely:

1. The Canonicon of John the Faster († 595).[1] John became patriarch of Constantinople in the year 582 and was held in particular esteem by the people. Because of his constant strict fasting he was called “the Faster” (Νηστευτής, Jejuniator). Among the writings of John the Faster, his canonicon is of significance for church law: in it he instructs confessors how they are to proceed at confession and how they are to apply the relevant canons to the various transgressions.[2] This book was held in great esteem throughout all the centuries. From it Blastares compiled in the 14th century a handbook for confessors;[3] and this handbook of Blastares, made up of excerpts from the Faster’s canonicon, passed into the Greek canonical collections, first into the Pedalion and then into the Athenian Syntagma.[4] The canonicon of John the Faster served as the basis for the “Nomocanon” that is found appended to the Slavonic “Great Trebnik”.

2. The Canons of Nicephorus the Confessor († 818).[5] Nicephorus became patriarch of Constantinople in the year 806 and governed the church until the year 815, when he was deposed by the Iconoclast emperor Leo the Armenian because he wished to remain faithful to the institutions of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, and he died in exile. Of his many writings, several are of importance for canon law. The following are known to us: a) on the first (six) ecumenical councils,[6] b) canonical regulations on various subjects,[7] c) canons extracted from his typikon[8] and d) canons extracted from the ecclesiastical regulations which he issued together with other holy fathers.[9] Of all of Nicephorus’ canons, Blastares collected 37 of the more important ones, which entered the Pedalion, while according to another manuscript 38 of them entered the Athenian Syntagma. In each of the two collections another 7 canons were also added; after that, in the latter one (the Athenian Syntagma), 9 more from Nicephorus’ general ecclesiastical regulations, and 17 canonical questions and answers from one of his canonical epistles.[10] Into the Kormchaia (ch. 57) there entered 23 of the canons collected by Blastares.[11]

3. The Synodal Replies of Nicholas of Constantinople. During the time of this patriarch (1086—1111),[12] the Athonite monks addressed the patriarchal synod of Constantinople with various questions of an ecclesiastical-liturgical character. The aforementioned replies constitute the solutions to these questions.[13] In the Pedalion, and likewise in the Athenian Syntagma, there are 11 questions and as many answers, and in the latter also Balsamon’s commentaries on individual answers. In the Kormchaia (ch. 53) there are 20 questions and answers with a special title, different from that in the other editions.[14]

4. Canonical ordinances: a) of Basil the Great on perseverance in good. This is an extract from Basil’s letter to the Nicopolitans.[15] b) of John Chrysostom on the correction of transgressors.[16] c) On the time for receiving communion: α) one canonical reply of St. Anastasius,[17]β) a canonical ordinance of Basil the Great, contained in his letter πρὸς Καισαρίαν Πατρικίαν,[18] and γ) ordinances on the same subject in John Chrysostom’s commentaries on the epistles of the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians and the Hebrews.[19] d) On how a priest must conduct himself in church, an ordinance of Basil the Great to priests.[20]

Having shown the sources of all the canons, both the fundamental ones and the supplementary ones, we now proceed to the exposition of those canons together with the corresponding interpretations.

Footnotes

[4] In the Πηδάλιον it stands under this title: Οἱ λε΄ κανόνες ᾿Ιωάννου τοῦ Νηστευτοῦ, and at the end another 18 canons from some manuscript, which the editors of the Pedalion had before them, were added. In the Athenian Syntagma the title is as follows: ᾿Εκ τοῦ κανονικοῦ τοῦ ἁγίου ᾿Ιωάννου τοῦ Νηστευτοῦ, and it is stated at once where this was taken from: ῎Ημειψε πρὸς σύνοψιν Ματϑαῖος ταῦτα (IV, 432).—In the edition of Pitra (Juris eccles. graecorum hist. et mon. II, 226) it is printed: Διδασκαλία μοναζουσῶν καὶ ἐπιτιμία ἑκάστου ἁμαρτήματος ᾿Ιωάννου πατριάρχου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως τοῦ Νηστευτοῦ, together with a Latin translation.

[13] In the Athenian Syntagma the title of those questions and answers is as follows: ᾿Ερωτήσεις μοναχῶν τινῶν ἔξω τῆς πόλεως ἀσκουμένων, καὶ ἀποκρίσεις ἐπ᾿ αὐτῶν γενόμεναι παρὰ τῆς ἐν Κωνσταντινουπόλει ἁγίας συνόδου, ἐπὶ τῶν ἡμερῶν τοῦ ἁγιωτάτου πατριάρχου Νικολάου, βασιλεύοντος τοῦ ἀοιδίμου βασιλέως κυρίου ᾿Αλεξίου τοῦ Κομνηνοῦ, ἐφ᾿ αἷς καὶ ἑρμηνεῖαι ἐξεφωνήθησαν παρὰ τοῦ πατριάρχου ᾿Αντιοχείας Θεοδώρου τοῦ Βαλσαμών. The epithet of this patriarch Nicholas is “γραμματικός”.

[14] “Ecclesiastical chapters, and canonical questions, and answers of the holy council held in the days of the most holy and ecumenical patriarch Nicholas of the city of Constantinople, at the questioning of John the monk and hesychast, who is on the Holy Mountain, and of the monks with him” This would be a translation of what Cave (p. 538) mentions: Κεφάλαια ἐκκλησιαστικὰ πάνυ ἀναγκαῖα καὶ ὠφέλημα καὶ ἀπόκρισεν ζητηθέντα [illegible]αρὰ τοῦ μοναχοῦ ᾿Ιωάννου τοῦ ἡσυχαστοῦ τοῦ ἐν τῷ ἁγίῳ ὄρει, τῷ μακαρίῳ πατριάρχῃ Κωνσταντινουπόλεως κυρίῳ Νικολάῳ. And if what I maintain is correct, then in these “chapters” would be repeated also those replies that are contained in the Pedalion and the Athenian Syntagma, for in the Kormchaia questions 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 16, 17 and 20 correspond completely to those in the aforementioned two collections. In Μ. Ι. Γεδεὼν Κανονικαὶ Διατάξεις τῶν ἁγιωτάτων πατριαρχῶν Κωνσταντινουπόλεως. Κωνσταντινούπ. 1888—1889. I, 9—16., there are 17 questions and answers.