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

The First Council of Nicaea

Canon VIII

Clergy of the Cathari coming over to the Church are received in their orders, on written profession, with provision to avoid two bishops in one city.

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Canon VIII — conciliar text

Concerning those who call themselves Cathari, if they come over to the Catholic and Apostolic Church, the great and holy Synod decrees that they who are ordained shall continue as they are in the clergy. But it is before all things necessary that they should profess in writing that they will observe and follow the dogmas of the Catholic and Apostolic Church; in particular that they will communicate with persons who have been twice married, and with those who having lapsed in persecution have had a period [of penance] laid upon them, and a time [of restoration] fixed so that in all things they will follow the dogmas of the Catholic Church. Wheresoever, then, whether in villages or in cities, all of the ordained are found to be of these only, let them remain in the clergy, and in the same rank in which they are found. But if they come over where there is a bishop or presbyter of the Catholic Church, it is manifest that the Bishop of the Church must have the bishop’s dignity; and he who was named bishop by those who are called Cathari shall have the rank of presbyter, unless it shall seem fit to the Bishop to admit him to partake in the honour of the title. Or, if this should not be satisfactory, then shall the bishop provide for him a place as Chorepiscopus, or presbyter, in order that he may be evidently seen to be of the clergy, and that there may not be two bishops in the city.

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

If those called Cathari come over, let them first make profession that they are willing to communicate with the twice married, and to grant pardon to the lapsed. And on this condition he who happens to be in orders, shall continue in the same order, so that a bishop shall still be bishop. Whoever was a bishop among the Cathari let him, however, become a Chorepiscopus, or let him enjoy the honour of a presbyter or of a bishop. For in one church there shall not be two bishops.

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

Those called Cathari who come over to the Catholic and Apostolic Church may remain in the clergy, provided they profess in writing that they will follow the Church's teaching — in particular that they will communicate with those who have been twice married and with those who lapsed in persecution and have completed their penance.

Where a whole district's clergy are of this group, they remain in their ranks. Where they come to a place that already has a Catholic bishop or presbyter, the existing bishop keeps the episcopal dignity, and the man ordained bishop among the Cathari is given the rank of presbyter, or is provided for as a chorepiscopus — so that there are not two bishops in one city.

The fourth-century problem

The Cathari, or Novatianists, had separated over the readmission of the lapsed and of the twice-married. They were rigorists rather than heretics in doctrine, and their sacraments were not treated as void.

The council therefore faced a practical problem: how to receive a group whose orders it did not reject, into places that already had clergy.

Canonical principle

Reception is by profession of the Church's faith and discipline, not by re-ordination. The two things the returning clergy must accept are precisely the two things they had separated over — which is the council identifying the real disagreement rather than requiring a general submission.

The rule against two bishops in one city is stated as a principle and is one of the oldest structural commitments of Orthodox ecclesiology.

Key vocabulary

Cathari
The pure: the Novatianists, who refused communion to those who lapsed in persecution and to the twice-married. No connection with the medieval Cathars of southern France.
chorepiscopus
A country bishop with limited authority over rural districts, an office widespread in the fourth century and later allowed to lapse.

What kind of canon this is

  • disciplinary
  • administrative

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

Contrast this canon with canon XIX, which requires the Paulianists to be baptised. The council is deliberately treating two groups differently, and the difference is doctrinal: the Novatianists' baptism was Christian, and the Paulianists' was not.

The distinction between groups received by profession and groups received by baptism runs through later Orthodox practice for receiving converts.

  • Canon XIX, on the Paulianists, which requires baptism.

  • 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

  • Baptism, chrismation and entry into the Church

    How a person becomes an Orthodox Christian, and what the fourth-century sources show us about it.

    Lesson

  • The canons and Church order

    What canons are, how they are received, and why they are not an internet law code.

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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 VIII 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 VIII, 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.