Canonical
Epistle.121
| 121 Of
the holy Gregory, archbishop of Neo-Cæsareia, surnamed
Thaumaturgus, concerning those who, in the inroad of the barbarians,
ate things sacrificed to idols, or offended in certain other
matters. Gallandi, iii. p. 400. [Written a.d. 258 or 262.] There are scholia in Latin
by Theodorus Balsamon and Joannes Zonaras on these canons. The
note of the former on the last canon may be cited:—The present
saint has defined shortly five several positions for the penitent; but
he has not indicated either the times appointed for their exercise, or
the sins for which discipline is determined. Basil the Great,
again, has handed down to us an accurate account of these things in his
canonical epistles. [Elucidation II.] Yet he, too, has
referred to episcopal decision the matter of recovery through penalties
[i.e., to the decision of his comprovincial bishops, as in
Cyprian’s example. See vol. v. p. 415, Elucidation XIII.;
also Elucidation I. p. 20, infra. |
————————————
Canon I.
The meats are no burden to
us, most holy father,122
| 122
[Elucidation III. p. 20.] |
if
the captives ate things which their conquerors set before them,
especially since there is one
report from all, viz., that the
barbarians who have made inroads into our parts have not sacrificed to
idols. For the
apostle says, “Meats for the
belly, and the
belly for meats: but
God shall
destroy both it and
them.”
123
But the
Saviour also, who cleanseth all meats, says, “Not that which
goeth into a man defileth the man, but that which cometh
out.”
124
And this
meets the case of the captive
women defiled by the
barbarians, who
outraged their bodies. But if the previous
life of any such
person
convicted him of going, as it is written, after the
eyes of
fornicators, the
habit of
fornication evidently becomes an object of
suspicion also in the time of
captivity. And one ought not
readily to have
communion with such
women in prayers. If any one,
however, has lived in the utmost chastity, and has shown in time past a
manner of
life pure and free from all suspicion, and now falls into
wantonness through force of necessity, we have an example for our
guidance,—namely, the instance of the
damsel in Deuteronomy, whom
a man finds in the
field, and forces her and
lies with her.
“Unto the
damsel,” he says, “ye shall do nothing;
there is in the
damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man
riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this
matter: the damsel cried, and there was none to help
her.”
125
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