Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume XIV/Additional Canons 1/Synod of Laodicea/Canons/Canon LV

Canon LV.

members of the priesthood nor of the clergy, nor yet laymen, may club together for drinking entertainments.

Notes.

Neither a layman nor a cleric shall celebrate a club feast.

These meals, the expenses of which were defrayed by a number clubbing together and sharing the cost, were called &#8220;symbola&#8221; by Isidore, and by Melinus and Crabbe &#8220;comissalia,&#8221; although the more ordinary form is &#8220;commensalia&#8221; or &#8220;comessalia.&#8221;&#160; Cf. Ducange Gloss., s.v. Commensalia and Confertum.

This Canon is found in the Corpus Juris Canonici, Gratian&#8217;s Decretum, Pars I., Dist. XLIV., c. x. (Isidore&#8217;s version), and c. xij., (Martin of Braga&#8217;s version).