THE HOLY BYZANTINE CATHOLIC ORTHODOX  CHURCH INC
A TRADITIONAL COMMUNITY
Canon I. (1)
Let a bishop be ordained by two or three bishops.

Canon II. (2)
Let a presbyter, deacon, and the rest of the clergy, be ordained by one bishop

Canon (III. And IV.) (3 and 4)
If any bishop or presbyter offer any other things at the altar, besides that which the
Lord ordained for the sacrifice, as honey, or milk, or strong-made drink instead of
wine [fruit of the vine] or birds, or any living things, or vegetables, besides that
which is ordained, let him be deposed. Excepting only new ears of corn, and grapes
at the suitable season. Neither is it allowed to bring anything else to the altar at the
time of the holy oblation, excepting oil for the lamps, and incense.

Canon V. (5)
Let all other fruits be sent home as first-fruits for the bishops and presbyters, but not
offered at the altar. But the bishops and presbyters should of course give a share of
these things to the deacon, and the rest of the clergy.

Canon VI. (6)
Let not a bishop, presbyter, or deacon, put away his wife under pretense of religion;
but if he put her away, let him be excommunicated; and if he persists, let him be
deposed.

Canon VII. (7)
Let not a bishop, presbyter, or deacon, undertake worldly business; otherwise let
him be deposed.

BCC- Let not a bishop, presbyter, or deacon, undertake worldly business but may
profess there profession; otherwise let him be deposed.

[In order to stop the abuse the of clergy with the tidings given by the faithful to the
Holy Church, the Holy Synod inspired by the Holy Ghost  has decreed that no one
will be ordained  until they first have a profession and are self supported. The funds
of the Holy Church will never be used to give the clergy an exuberant lifestyle. The
only exception will be if the parish in general are willing to pay the clergy in order
for them to be full-time staff.]

"Paul went to see them, and because he was a
tent-maker as they were, he stayed
and worked with them" Acts 18:3


Canon VIII. (8)
If any bishop, presbyter, or deacon, shall celebrate the holy day of Easter before the
vernal equinox, with the Jews, let him be deposed.

BCC- If any bishop, presbyter, or deacon, shall celebrate the holy day of Easter
before the vernal equinox, let him be deposed.

Canon IX. (9)
If any bishop, presbyter, or deacon, or any one on the sacerdotal list, when the
offering is made, does not partake of it, let him declare the cause; and if it be a
reasonable one, let him be excused; but if he does not declare it, let him be
excommunicated, as being a cause of offence to the people, and occasioning a
suspicion against the offerer, as if he had not made the offering properly.

Canon  X. (10)
All the faithful who come in and hear the Scriptures, but do not stay for the prayers
and the Holy Communion, are to be excommunicated, as causing disorder in the
Church.

Canon XI. (11)
If any one shall pray, even in a private house, with an excommunicated person, let
him also be excommunicated.

Canon XII. (12)
If any clergyman shall join in prayer with a deposed clergyman, as if he were a
clergyman [this phrase omitted in Hammond's edition], let him also be deposed.

Canon XIII. (13)
If any one of the clergy or laity who is excommunicated, or not to be received, shall
go away, and be received in another city without commendatory letters, let both the
receiver and the received be excommunicated. But if he be excommunicated
already, let the time of his excommunication be lengthened.

Canon XIV. (14)
A bishop is not to be allowed to leave his own parish, and pass over into another,
although he may be pressed by many to do so, unless there be some proper cause
constraining him, as if he can confer some greater benefit upon the persons of that
place in the word of godliness. And this must be done not of his own accord, but by
the judgment of many bishops, and at their earnest exhortation.

Canon XV. (15)
If any presbyter, or deacon, or any other of the list of the clergy, shall leave his own
parish, and go into another, and having entirely forsaken his own, shall make his
abode in the other parish without the permission of his own bishop, we ordain that
he shall no longer perform divine service; more especially if his own bishop having
exhorted him to return he has refused to do so, and persists in his disorderly
conduct. But let him communicate there as a layman.

Canon XVI. (16)
If, however, the bishop, with whom any such persons are staying, shall disregard the
command that they are to cease from performing divine offices, and shall receive
them as clergymen, let him be excommunicated, as a teacher of disorder.

Canon XVII. (17)
He who has been thrice married after baptism, or who has had a concubine, cannot
become a bishop, presbyter, or deacon, or any other of the sacerdotal list.

Canon XVIII. (18)
He who married a harlot, or an actress, cannot be a bishop, presbyter, or deacon, or
any other of the clergy list.

Canon XIX. (19)
He who has married two sisters, or a niece, cannot become a member of the clergy.

Canon XX. (20)
If a member of the clergy becomes surety (legally liable) for any one, let them be
deposed.

Canon XXI. (21)
An eunuch, if he has been made so by the violence of men or if his virilia (male
sexual organs) have been amputated in times of persecution, or if he has been born
so, if in other respects he is worthy, may be made a bishop

Canon XXII. (22)
Whoever mutilates themselves, cannot become a member of the clergy, for they are a
self-murderer, and an enemy to the workmanship of God.

Canon XXIII. (23)
If any member of the clergy shall mutilate themselves, let them be deposed, for they
are a self-murderer, and an enemy to the workmanship of God.

Canon XXIV. (24)
If a layperson mutilates themselves, let them be excommunicated for three years, as
an act against their own life.

Canon  (XXV. And XXVI.) (25 and 26)
If a bishop, presbyter, or deacon be found guilty of fornication, perjury, or theft, let
them be deposed, but let them not be excommunicated; for the Scripture says, "thou
shall not punish a man twice for the same offence." In like manner the other clergy
shall be subject to the same proceeding [or, in like manner with respect to the other
clergy].

Canon XXVII. (27)
Of those who have been admitted to the clergy unmarried, we ordain, [that Priests,
Deacons] readers and singers only may, if they will, marry.

Canon XXVIII. (28)
If a bishop, presbyter, or deacon shall strike any of the faithful who have sinned, or
of the unbelievers who have done wrong, with the intention of frightening them, we
command that they be deposed. For our Lord has by no means taught us to do so, but,
on the contrary, when he was smitten he smote not again, when he was reviled he
reviled not again, when he suffered he threatened not.

Canon XXIX. (29)
If any bishop, presbyter, or deacon, having been justly deposed upon open
accusations, shall dare to meddle with any of the divine offices which had been
entrusted to them, let them be altogether cut off from the Church.

Canon XXX. (30)
If any bishop, presbyter, or deacon, shall obtain possession of that dignity by money,
let both them and the person who ordained them be deposed, and also altogether cut
off from all communion, as Simon Magus was by me, Peter.

Canon XXXI. (31)
If any bishop obtain possession of a church by the aid of the temporal powers, let
him be deposed and excommunicated, and all who communicate with him.

Canon XXXII. (32)
If any presbyter, despising his own bishop, shall collect a separate congregation,
and erect another altar, not having any grounds for condemning the bishop with
regard to religion or justice, let him be deposed for his ambition; for he is a tyrant;
in like manner also the rest of the clergy, and as many as join him; and let laymen be
excommunicated. Let this, however, be done after a first, second, and third
admonition from the bishop.

Canon XXXIII. (33)
If any presbyter or deacon has been excommunicated by a bishop, he may not be
received into communion again by any other than by him who excommunicated them,
unless it happen that the bishop who excommunicated them be dead.

Canon XXXIV. (34)
No foreign bishop, presbyter, or deacon, may be received without commendatory
letters; and when they are produced let the persons be examined; and if they be
preachers of godliness, let them be received. Otherwise, although you supply them
with what they need, you must not receive them into communion, for many things are
done surreptitiously.

Canon XXXV. (35)
The bishops of every nation must acknowledge him who is first among them and
account him as their head, and do nothing of consequence without his consent; but
each may do those things only which concern his own parish, and the country places
which belong to it. But neither let him (who is the first) do anything without the
consent of all; for so there will be unanimity, and God will be glorified through the
Lord in the Holy Spirit.

Canon XXXVI. (36)
Let not a bishop dare to ordain beyond his own limits, in cities and places not
subject to him, but if he be convicted of doing so, without the consent of those
persons who have authority over such cities and places, let him be deposed, and
those also whom he has ordained.

Canon XXXVII. (37)
If any person, having been ordained bishop, does not undertake the ministry, and the
care of the people committed to him, let him be excommunicated until he does
undertake it. In like manner a presbyter or deacon. But if he has gone and has not
been received, not of his own will but from the perverseness of the people, let him
continue bishop; and let the clergy of the city be excommunicated, because they have
not corrected the disobedient people.

Canon XXXVIII. (38)
Let there be a meeting of the bishops twice a year, and let them examine amongst
themselves the decrees concerning religion and settle the ecclesiastical
controversies which may have occurred. One meeting to be held in the fourth week
of Pentecost [i.e., the fourth week after Easter], and the other on the 12th day of the
month Hyperberetaeus [i.e., October].

Canon XXXIX. (39)
Let the bishop have the care of all the goods of the Church, and let him administer
them as under the inspection of God. But he must not alienate any of them or give the
things which belong to God to his own relations. If they be poor let him relieve them
as poor; but let him not, under that pretense, sell the goods of the Church.

Canon XL. (40)
Let not the presbyters or deacon do anything without the sanction of the bishop; for
he it is who is entrusted with the people of the Lord, and of whom will be required
the account of their souls.

Canon XL. (Continued.)
Let the private goods of the bishop, if he have any such, and those of the Lord, be
clearly distinguished, that the bishop may have the power of leaving his own goods,
when he dies, to whom he will, and how he will, and that the bishop's own property
may not be lost under pretense of its being the property of the Church: for it may be
that he has a wife, or children, or relations, or servants; and it is just before God and
man, that neither should the Church suffer any loss through ignorance of the bishop's
own property, nor the bishop or his relations be injured under pretext of the Church:
nor that those who belong to him should be involved in contests, and cast reproaches
upon his death.

Canon XLI. (41)
We ordain that the bishop have authority over the goods of the Church: for if he is to
be entrusted with the precious souls of men, much more are temporal possessions to
be entrusted to him. He is therefore to administer them all of his own authority, and
supply those who need, through the presbyters and deacon, in the fear of God, and
with all reverence. He may also, if need be, take what is required for his own
necessary wants, and for the brethren to whom he has to show hospitality, so that he
may not be in any want. For the law of God has ordained, that they who wait at the
altar should be nourished of the altar. Neither does any soldier bear arms against an
enemy at his own cost.

Canon XLII. (42)
If a bishop or presbyter, or deacon, is addicted to dice or drinking, let them either
give it over, or be deposed.

Canon XLIII. (43)
If a sub-deacon, reader, or singer, commits the same things, let them either give
over, or be excommunicated, so also laymen.

Canon XLIV. (44)
Let a bishop, presbyter, or deacon, who takes usury from those who borrow of them,
give up doing so, or be deposed.

Canon XLV. (45)
Let a bishop, presbyter, or deacon, who has only prayed with heretics, be
excommunicated: but if they have permitted them to perform any clerical office, let
them be deposed.

Canon XLVI. (46)
We ordain that a bishop, or presbyter, who has admitted the baptism or sacrifice of
heretics, be deposed. For what concord hath Christ with Belial, or what part hath a
believer with an infidel?

Canon XLVII. (47)
Let a bishop or presbyter who shall baptize again one who has rightly received
baptism, or who shall not baptize one who has been polluted by the ungodly, be
deposed, as despising the cross and death of the Lord, and not making a distinction
between the true priests and the false.

Canon XLVIII. (48)
If any layman put away his wife [without a proper annulment] and marries another,
let him be excommunicated.

Canon XLIX. (49)
If any bishop or presbyter, contrary to the ordinance of the Lord, does not baptize