Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume XIV/The First Ecumenical Council/Canons/Canon X

Canon X.

any who have lapsed have been ordained through the ignorance, or even with the previous knowledge of the ordainers, this shall not prejudice the canon of the Church; for when they are discovered they shall be deposed.

Notes.

Whoso had lapsed are to be deposed whether those who ordained and promoted them did so conscious of their guilt or unknowing of it.

The tenth canon differs from the ninth, inasmuch as it concerns only the lapsi and their elevation, not only to the priesthood, but to any other ecclesiastical preferment as well, and requires their deposition.&#160; The punishment of a bishop who should consciously perform such an ordination is not mentioned; but it is incontestable that the lapsi could not be ordained, even after having performed penance; for, as the preceding canon states, the Church requires those who were faultless.&#160; It is to be observed that the word &#960;&#961;&#959;&#967;&#949;&#953;&#961;&#8055;&#950;&#949;&#953;&#957; is evidently employed here in the sense of &#8220;ordain,&#8221; and is used without any distinction from &#967;&#949;&#953;&#961;&#8055;&#950;&#949;&#953;&#957;, whilst in the synodal letter of the Council of Nic&#230;a on the subject of the Meletians, there is a distinction between these two words, and &#960;&#961;&#959;&#967;&#949;&#953;&#961;&#8055;&#950;&#949;&#953;&#957; is used to signify eligere.

This canon is found in Corpus Juris Canonici.&#160; Decretum.&#160; Pars I.&#160; Dist. lxxxi.&#160; c.v.