The Living Tradition An Orthodox Archive of the Church Fathers and Early Church

The First Council of Nicaea

Canon XV

Bishops, presbyters and deacons are not to move from city to city; any such move is void and the man is returned.

  • Canonical normEstablished by a received canon of a council, or of a Father whose canons the Church has received. Canons are applied within the Church's pastoral and conciliar life; a canon is not a rule a reader applies to themselves or to anyone else.
  • Disputed historyHistorians genuinely disagree. The page gives the range the evidence supports rather than choosing the most striking version.

Primary evidence verified Content last reviewed 2026-08-29

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Canon XV — conciliar text

On account of the great disturbance and discords that occur, it is decreed that the custom prevailing in certain places contrary to the Canon, must wholly be done away; so that neither bishop, presbyter, nor deacon shall pass from city to city. And if any one, after this decree of the holy and great Synod, shall attempt any such thing, or continue in any such course, his proceedings shall be utterly void, and he shall be restored to the Church for which he was ordained bishop or presbyter.

Henry R. Percival (ed.), The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. XIV (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1900). Public domain.

Ancient Epitome, as printed in the same edition

Neither bishop, presbyter, nor deacon shall pass from city to city. But they shall be sent back, should they attempt to do so, to the Churches in which they were ordained.

A Byzantine-era summary carried in the canonical collections. It is a witness to how the canon was read, not the canon itself.

Plain-language summary — this project's words, not the canon's

On account of the great disturbance and discord that occur, the custom of clergy moving between cities — contrary to the canon — is to be wholly done away. Neither bishop, presbyter nor deacon is to pass from city to city. Anyone who attempts it after this decree, or continues in such a course, is to have the proceedings declared void and be restored to the church for which he was ordained.

The fourth-century problem

Translation of bishops was a live source of conflict. A bishop could be moved to a larger or more prestigious see, and the resulting manoeuvring was a standing scandal.

Percival records with some dryness that several bishops present at Nicaea itself had left their first sees for others, naming Eusebius of Nicomedia among them.

Canonical principle

A bishop's relationship to his church is not an appointment to a post. The canon treats it as a bond, which is why moving is described as a disturbance rather than as a transfer.

The remedy is restitution rather than punishment: the man goes back.

What kind of canon this is

  • administrative
  • structural

Percival's edition groups the Nicene canons without formal classification. The kinds named above are this project's analysis, offered so that a reader can see which parts of a canon are principle and which are the arrangement of a particular century.

Later interpretation and reception

Percival prints a long excursus on the translation of bishops with this canon, and notes that few points have been more disputed or the discipline more variably applied.

Translation did continue and was regulated rather than eliminated. That is a genuine gap between the canon's letter and the Church's practice, and this page does not close it.

Unresolved questions

  • The relationship between this canon and the modern practice of translating bishops by synodal decision is a real question that this project has not given a dedicated page.
  • Canon XVI, on clergy who desert their own church.

  • The First Council of Nicaea

    The council that confessed the Son to be of one substance with the Father, addressed the date of Pascha, and issued twenty disciplinary canons. It did not decide which books belong to the Bible.

    Council

  • The Church, bishops and councils

    Apostolic succession, the conciliar habit, and why reception is what makes a council ecumenical.

    Theme

  • The canons today

    Akribeia, oikonomia, and the difference between a canon that has lapsed and a canon that has changed.

    Lesson

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Sources for this page

  1. Tier C The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church Henry R. Percival (ed.); Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (series eds.) Canon XV of Nicaea annotated edition of conciliar texts The conciliar text as archived here. Source record
  2. Tier C The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church Henry R. Percival (ed.); Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (series eds.) Ancient Epitome of Canon XV, with Percival's notes annotated edition of conciliar texts Nineteenth-century editorial apparatus and Byzantine canonists. Source record

Tiers are explained in the methodology. No page on this site has been reviewed or approved by any bishop, priest, synod or seminary.