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ER 2261

Canon 16 (= canon 13 in the Greek version) of the Council of Serdica (Dacia) in 343 states that is not rightful to give communion to a presbyter, deacon, or lower cleric who was excommunicated by their bishop.

Latin text:

Canon 16

OSSIVS EPISCOPVS DIXIT:

Hoc quoque omnibus placebit, ut siue diaconus siue praesbyter siue quis clericorum ab episcopo suo communione fuerit priuatus, {et} ad alterum perrexerit episcopum, et scierit ille ad quem confugerit eum ab episcopo suo fuisse abiectum, non oportet ut ei communionem indulgeat? Quod si fecerit, sciat se conuocatis episcopis causas esse dicturum.

VNIVERSI DIXERVNT

Hoc statutum et pacem seruabitis et concordiam custodiet.

Greek text:

Canon 13

Ὅσιος ἐπίσκοπος εἶπεν·

Καὶ τοῦτο πᾶσιν ἀρεσάτω, ἵνα ἤτοι διάκονος ἤτοι πρεσβύτερος ἢ καὶ τις τῶν κληρικῶν ἀκοινώνητος γένηται καὶ πρὸς ἕτερον ἐπίκοπον τὸν εἰδότα αὐτὸν καταφύγῃ γινώσκοντα αὐτὸν ἀποκεκινῆσθαι τῆς κοινωνίας παρὰ τοῦ ἰδίου ἐπισκόπου, μὴ χρῆναι τῷ ἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ ὕβριν ποιοῦντα παρέχειν αὐτῷ, κοινωνίαν. εἰ δὲ τολμήσοι τοῦτο ποιῆσαι, γινωσκέτω συνελθόντων ἐπισκόπων ἀπολογίᾳ, ἑαυτὸν ὑπεύθυνον καθεστάναι.

Ἅπαντες οἱ ἐπίσκοποι εἶπαν·

Αὕτη ἡ κρίσις καὶ τὴν εἰρήνην πάντοτε διαφυλάξει καὶ διατηρήσει τὴν πάντων ὁμόνοιαν.

(ed. Turner 1939)

Latin text:

Canon 16

BISHOP OSSIUS SAID:

And will this also please all, that whether a deacon, whether a presbyter, or one of the clerics, is deprived of communion by his bishop and goes to another bishop, and the other knows that the one who has taken refuge with him had been cast out by his bishop, it is not right that he grant him communion? But if he does so, let him know that he must declare his case to an assembly of bishops.

ALL SAID:

This decree will serve both peace and unity.

Greek text:

Canon 13

BISHOP OSSIUS SAID:

Let this also be pleasing to all. If any deacon or presbyter or also one of the clerics is excommunicated and seeks refuge with another bishop who knows him, and who knows that he has been removed from communion by his own bishop, he must not affront his brother bishop by offering him communion. If he dares to do this, let him know that he must present himself and give an account before the assembled bishops.

ALL THE BISHOPS SAID:

This decision will always preserve peace and will maintain concord among all.

(trans. Hess 2002: 223, 237)

Place of event:

Region

Danubian provinces and Illyricum
Rome

City

Serdica
Rome

About the source:

Title: Council of Serdica 343, Council of Sardica 343, Concilium Serdicense a. 343, Concilium Sardicense a. 343
Origin: Serdica (Danubian provinces and Illyricum)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian, Arian

The Council of Serdica in Dacia was a part of the Trinitarian controversy. The matter failed to be settled at the council of Nicaea in 325 which produced a credo with the controversial term "homoousios" (consubstantial) to describe the Son-Father relation in the Trinity. One of the fiercest pro-Nicenes was bishop Athanasius of Alexandria, whom his opponents managed to sentence at the council of Tyre in 335. This decision caused controversy and there were attempts to revise it. In 341, in Rome, Pope Julius I gathered a council which overturned the sentence. Julius asked the Eastern bishops to approve this revision, but when they gathered in Antioch in 341 they failed to do that; they also issued the formulation of faith which avoided the term "homoousios", approved by the council of Nicaea. Julius I asked the emperors Constans and Constantius to convene a new council to resolve this disagreement. The council gathered in Sardica in 343 and was presided over by Hosius of Cordoba. Eastern bishops arrived but were unwilling to acquit Athanasius (and other pro-Nicenes condemned by the Eastern councils: Marcellus of Ancyra and Asclepus of Gaza) and they soon left the council and withdrew to Philippopolis where they held their own gathering. The Westerners continued the proceedings, rehabilitated Athanasius, and issued a set of disciplinary canons. These survived in two differing versions, Latin and Greek. There are 21 canons in the Latin text, and twenty in the Greek; the arrangement also slightly differs. For a detailed discussion of the council of Serdica 343 and the textual problems caused by the surviving text see: Hess 2003, Stephens 2015. See also Simonetti 1975: 161-87; Hanson 1988: 293-305.

Edition:

C.H. Turner (ed.), Ecclesiae Occidentalis monumenta iuris antiquissima, 2 vols, Oxford 1899-1939

Translation:

H. Hess, The Early Development of Canon Law and the Council of Serdica, Oxford 2002

Bibliography:

R.P.C. Hanson, The search for the Christian doctrine of God: the Arian controversy 318-381, Edinburgh 1988.

M. Simonetti, La crisi ariana nel IV secolo, Roma 1975.

C.W.B. Stephens, Canon law and episcopal authority: the canons of Antioch and Serdica, Oxford 2015.

Categories:

Travel and change of residence

Ecclesiastical transfer

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Public law - Ecclesiastical

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior

Administration of justice - Ecclesiastical

Administration of justice - Excommunication/Anathema

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2261, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2261