Canons of Saint Gregory of Neocaesarea (The Wonderworker)
Canon 1
It is not foods that burden us, holy father, even if they were indeed captives and ate what their masters offered them, especially since all agree that the barbarians who invaded our provinces did not offer sacrifices to idols. The Apostle says: Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats; but God shall destroy both it and them (1 Cor. 6:13), and the Savior, who declares every food clean, says: Not that which entereth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which goeth out (Matt. 15:11). And that is not in any way blameworthy either, if captive women were seduced by the barbarians, and their bodies were defiled by them. But if the life of any of them was already suspect beforehand, and she followed, as it is written, the eyes of a fornicator, it is of course to be suspected that her disposition to fornication continued even during the time she was in captivity, and accordingly such women are not to be received back into communion in prayer without further ado. But if any of them had before lived in complete chastity, and her life had been pure and free of all suspicion, but now, through force and compulsion, has fallen into defilement, we have an example of this in the book of Deuteronomy, concerning that maiden whom a man found in the field, and forced and lay with her: To the damsel, says Scripture, 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: for he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her (Deut. 22:26–27). So says Deuteronomy. And this is indeed exactly the same case.
(Ap. 62, 67; I Ecum. 11; IV Ecum. 27; Ancyra 4, 5; Peter of Alexandria 14; Basil the Great 49).
— This canon, together with the following nine canons, makes up the canonical epistle of Gregory, addressed to a certain bishop of Pontus, whom Gregory addresses as ἱερεῖ πάπα, as bishops were then commonly called by the people in general, and which epistle is intended for all the bishops of Pontus. The epistle concerns those who, at the time of the barbarian invasions (of the Boradi and the Goths), ate of idol-offerings (εἰδωλόθυτα) and committed other sins, as is stated in the title of the epistle itself, and it prescribes the corresponding penalties in ten separate canons.
This canon speaks first of those Christian captives who ate among the barbarians, and then of the captive women whose bodies the barbarians defiled. According to the difference of the subjects treated in the canon, this canon has been divided into two canons in the Kniga Pravil, as also in the Pidalion.
Canon 2
Avarice is a terrible thing, and it is not possible to bring together in one epistle all the passages from the divine Scripture in which it is declared how much one must shun it, and how terrible it is—not only when someone plunders, but in general every avarice and every appropriation of another’s goods out of vile greed—so that everyone who is found in this must be cast out of the church of God. But as for those who, at the time of the barbarian onslaught, in that general calamity and lamentation which was to all a source of terror alone, dared to consider this a time favorable for their own gain—such a thing can befit only men who are insatiable and hateful to God, and who have reached the height of wickedness. Therefore it has been established that all such be cast out, lest perhaps the whole people fall under the wrath of God, and in the first place their superiors, who do not conduct an inquiry into this; for I fear, as Scripture says, lest the impious perish together with the righteous (Gen. 18:23). For fornication, it is said, and avarice too, are the things for which the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience (Col. 3:6). 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 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 (Eph. 5:6–13). Thus speaks the Apostle. So then, if some, on account of their former avarice, were subjected to penalty in time of peace, but in the time of the wrath of God have again turned to avarice, and draw profit from the blood and ruin of men who have been driven out, or taken captive, or slain—what else can be expected but that these men, who serve avarice, provoke the wrath of God upon both themselves and the whole people?
(Carthage 5; Basil the Great 14; Gregory of Nyssa 6).
Canon 3
Did not Achan, the son of Zerah, sin with respect to that which had been devoted, and did not on that account the wrath of God fall upon the whole congregation of Israel, so that he alone had sinned, yet he did not die alone in his sin? And we too, in the present time, must regard as devoted every gain that is not our own but another’s. For just as Achan took from the plunder, so these too now take from the plunder; but he took from that of the enemy, while these now draw out their impious profit from that which is brotherly.
(Ap. 72; Protodeutera 10; Basil the Great 61; Gregory of Nyssa 6, 8).
Canon 4
Let no one excuse himself by saying that he merely found something, for it is forbidden even to draw profit from a thing found; and Deuteronomy says: When thou seest thy brother’s ox or his sheep going astray, thou shalt not hide thyself from them, but shalt bring them again unto thy brother. And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again. In like manner shalt thou do with his ass, and so shalt thou do with his raiment, and with all lost things of thy brother’s, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise (Deut. 22:1–3). So says Deuteronomy. And in the book of Exodus it is said, not only concerning what one finds of a brother’s, but even of an enemy’s: Thou shalt surely bring it back to him again, unto the house of its owner (Exod. 23:4). But if it is not permitted to draw profit even from a friend or an enemy, when in time of peace he lives at ease, careless of his own goods—will this be permitted when he is in distress, when he flees from the enemy, and is compelled to abandon what is his?
(Gregory of Nyssa 6).
Canon 5
Others justify themselves by keeping for themselves the things of others which they have found, in place of their own which they have lost; but just as the Boradi and the Goths dealt with them as enemies, so these men have now themselves become Boradi and Goths to others. For this reason we have sent to you our brother and fellow-elder Euphrosynus, to make known to you this same manner of proceeding, by which we here proceed, and from whom complaints are to be received, and who are to be deprived of communion in prayers.
(Ap. 74; II Ecum. 6; Gregory of Neocaesarea 2, 3).
Canon 6
A further incredible thing has also been reported to us, which happened in your region—done, certainly, by unbelievers and lawless men who do not even know the name of the Lord—namely, that some have arrived at such a pitch of savagery and inhumanity that they forcibly detain certain captives who had fled from the barbarians. Send someone into that district, lest a thunderbolt fall upon those who do this.
(Trullo 85; Gangra 3; Carthage 64)
Canon 7
Those who numbered themselves among the barbarians, and together with them, during the time of captivity, took part in the raids, forgetting that the people of Pontus too are Christians, and became so barbarized themselves that they beat their own countrymen with clubs and handed them over, and to the barbarians, who did not know the way, showed either the roads or the houses—such men ought not to be permitted to stand even among those who listen, until the holy fathers, gathered together, and before them the Holy Spirit, decide about them in common.
(Ancyra 9; Basil the Great 11, 13; Gregory of Nyssa 5)
Canon 8
But those who dared to attack the houses of others—if they were accused and then convicted, let them not even be deemed worthy to be among the hearers; but if they denounce themselves and restore what they seized, remaining in the number of those who are converting, let them be admitted to prostration.
(Basil the Great 61; Gregory of Neocaesarea 2; Gregory of Nyssa 6)
Canon 9
But those who found in the field or in their own houses any things that the barbarians had left behind—if they were accused and convicted, let them likewise remain among those who are admitted to prostration; but if they denounce themselves and restore what they found, let them be deemed worthy of the prayers.
(Basil the Great 61; Gregory of Neocaesarea 2, 5, 8; Gregory of Nyssa 6)
Canon 10
But those who carry out this charge ought to carry it out without any greed for gain, demanding no reward for what they have revealed, or preserved, or found—whatever the thing may be, or by whatever name it is called.
(Gregory of Neocaesarea 4, 5; Gregory of Nyssa 6)
Canon 11
Weeping takes place outside the door of the house of prayer, where the one who has sinned must stand and entreat the faithful who enter to pray for him. Hearing takes place on the inner side of the door, in the narthex, where the one who has sinned must stand until the prayers for the catechumens, and then go out—for, once he has heard the Scripture and the instruction, says Basil the Great, let him withdraw, and let him not be deemed worthy of the prayers. Prostration takes place when the one who stands on the inner side of the door of the temple must go out together with the catechumens. Co-standing takes place when he stands together with the faithful, and does not go out with the catechumens. Last of all comes the communion of the Holy Mysteries.
— We have said (I, 29) that this canon is a later addition to the epistle of Gregory of Neocaesarea, which comprises the first ten canons—but which canon has nevertheless, in all the older canonical collections, been regarded as an integral part of the same epistle. We have also said that this (11th) canon was compiled from the ordinances of Basil the Great on the same subject, and in particular from the 75th canon of Basil the Great. A detailed account of the degrees of penance is given in the Σύνοψις τῶν κανόνων, which is printed in the Athenian Syntagma (IV, 405) and is there placed under the name of Basil the Great. The same is also found in the Kormchaia (ch. 23), where, as in this canon, four degrees of penance are mentioned: weeping, hearing, prostration, and co-standing with the faithful. — Concerning the ordinance of this canon, what needs to be said is stated in the commentary on canon 12 of the First Ecumenical Council, and one should also look at the illustration adduced there (p. 212), so that this may be better understood. In Migne’s edition there is a prolegomenon, historico-literaria, on the writings of Gregory of Neocaesarea, and there it is said (§ IV) that the Dominican Al. Noël (†1714) argued that this canon must certainly be held to be an inseparable part of the complete canonical epistle of Gregory, basing this on the fact that Gregory himself, in his 7th, 8th, and 9th canons, speaks of the degrees of penance. The Oratorian Jean Morinus (†1659) had already earlier reached a correct judgment on the origin of this canon, and that judgment has since been adopted by scholarship. See note 63, p. 29, book I of this edition.[1][2]