Résumé
Résumé de The Apostolic Canons
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
For readers who love church history, canon law and early Christian life, and want to see how a community governed itself through rules about clergy, worship, money and power.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
The Apostolic Canons are a set of eighty-five short rules for the clergy and people of the early church. They are not the work of the apostles, though the name says so. Scholars place them in Syria near the end of the fourth century, written in Greek. They stand as the final chapter of a larger work, the Apostolic Constitutions, but later churches copied them out on their own and treated them as law.
In this summary you hear what the rules say about choosing and removing bishops, priests and deacons, about gifts and the Eucharist, about discipline and exclusion, about the date of Easter, and about the list of holy books in the last canon. You also hear how the East and the West received the collection, and why the two did not agree. Let us begin with how a church leader was made.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A bishop is made by other bishopsFree
- 2Clergy must live plainly and soberly
- 3Gifts, first-fruits and the Eucharist have order
- 4Discipline ends in deposition or exclusion
- 5Easter, fasts and baptism follow common rules
- 6The last canon lists the holy books
Point clé 1 sur 6
A bishop is made by other bishops
The collection opens with the question of who may make a church leader. The first canon says a bishop is to be ordained by two or three bishops. The second says a presbyter, a deacon and the other clergy are ordained by a single bishop. The pattern is plain. Authority passes down through a chain of existing leaders, and no one may simply take an office.
Several later canons guard that chain. One forbids a man to gain a church office through the power of worldly rulers. Another condemns anyone who is ordained for money, and it says that the one who ordained him must be removed as well. Early readers knew this sin by the name of Simon the magician in the Acts of the Apostles, which is why it is called simony.
The canons also say who may not be chosen. A man who has married twice after baptism cannot be a bishop, presbyter or deacon. A man who has married a widow, a divorced woman, a slave or an actress is likewise barred. These rules show how closely the early church watched the private lives of its leaders.
Bishops are also tied to a place. They may not leave their own region and take over another without good cause, and a council of the bishops of a region is to meet twice a year to settle disputes. The bishops of each nation are to know which of them is first and to do nothing important without his consent. For a modern reader, these canons are an early sketch of how a large church kept order without a single ruler.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about The Apostolic Canons
What are the Apostolic Canons?
They are a collection of eighty-five short rules for church life, covering ordination, clergy conduct, the Eucharist, discipline, Easter and the list of holy books. They were written in Greek, probably in Syria, near the end of the fourth century.
Did the apostles write the Apostolic Canons?
No. Scholars agree the canons were gathered long after the apostles, around the late fourth century. The name reflects the belief that the rules carried the teaching and authority of the apostles, as handed down in the church.
What is the difference between the Apostolic Canons and the Apostolic Constitutions?
The Apostolic Constitutions are a work of church teaching and order in eight books. The canons are a short list of eighty-five rules that appear at the end of the eighth book but were also copied and used separately.
What does canon 85 say about the Bible?
Canon 85 lists the books to be held sacred. It includes Judith and three books of Maccabees, adds Clement's letters and the Apostolic Constitutions to the New Testament, and does not name the book of Revelation.
Are the Apostolic Canons still used today?
Yes, in part. Eastern Orthodox churches count them in their body of canon law, following the council of 692. In the West, the first fifty canons shaped church law in the Middle Ages, and today the text is read mostly as a source for early church practice.