The Third Ecumenical Council

Since it was needful that those also who were absent from the holy synod, and remained in country or city for some cause, whether ecclesiastical or bodily, should not be ignorant of the things decreed in it, we make known to your holiness and love that, if any metropolitan of the province, having fallen away from the holy and ecumenical council, has joined himself to the assembly of the apostasy, or shall join it hereafter, or has held, or shall hold, the opinions of Celestius, he can in no way do anything against the bishops of the province, since he has already, from this moment, been cast out by the synod from all ecclesiastical communion and is without power to act. More than that, he shall be subject to those very bishops of the province, and to the neighbouring metropolitans who hold orthodox opinions, to the end that he be cast out altogether even from the rank of the episcopate.

And if any provincial bishops were absent from the holy synod, and have joined themselves to the apostasy, or should attempt to join it, or even, having subscribed to the deposition of Nestorius, have run back to the assembly of the apostasy, these, according to what has seemed good to the holy synod, are to be altogether alien from the priesthood and to fall from their rank.

And if any of the clerics in each city or country have been barred from the priesthood by Nestorius and those who are with him because they held right opinions, we have judged it right that these too should receive back their own rank. And in general we command that the clerics who are of one mind with the orthodox and ecumenical council be in no way subject, in any manner whatever, to the bishops who have fallen away or are falling away.

And if any of the clerics should fall away, and should dare, either privately or publicly, to hold the opinions of Nestorius or those of Celestius, it has been judged right by the holy synod that these too be deposed.

And as for those who have been condemned for unseemly deeds by the holy synod, or by their own bishops, and to whom Nestorius and those who hold his opinions, uncanonically, in keeping with his indifference in all things, have attempted, or should attempt, to restore communion or rank, we have judged it right that they gain nothing by it, and remain deposed none the less.

Likewise also, if any should wish to unsettle in any manner whatever the things done concerning each case in the holy synod at Ephesus, the holy synod has decreed that, if they are bishops or clerics, they fall utterly from their own rank; and if laymen, that they be out of communion.

When these things had been read, the holy synod decreed that it is lawful for no one to bring forward, that is, to write or compose, a faith other than that defined by the holy Fathers who were gathered in the city of the Nicaeans, with the Holy Spirit. And those who dare either to compose another faith, or to present it, or to offer it to those who wish to turn to the knowledge of the truth, whether from Hellenism, or from Judaism, or from any heresy whatsoever: these, if they are bishops or clerics, are to be alien, the bishops from the episcopate and the clerics from the clergy; and if they are laymen, they are to be anathematised. And in the same manner, if any are detected, whether bishops, or clerics, or laymen, either holding or teaching the things in the exposition presented by Charisius the presbyter concerning how the only-begotten Son of God became man, that is, the foul and perverted doctrines of Nestorius, which are also subjoined, let them be subject to the sentence of this holy and ecumenical council; so that, that is to say, the bishop is to be alienated from the episcopate and to be deposed, and the cleric likewise is to fall from the clergy; and if anyone is a layman, let him too be anathematised, as has been said before.

A matter being newly introduced contrary to the ecclesiastical ordinances and the canons of the holy Apostles, and touching the freedom of all, has been reported by the most God-beloved fellow bishop Rheginus and, with him, the most God-beloved bishops of the province of the Cypriots, Zeno and Evagrius. Wherefore, since common afflictions need the greater remedy, as they also bring the greater harm, and especially if there has not even been an ancient custom that the bishop of the city of the Antiochenes should perform the ordinations in Cyprus, as the most reverent men who made their approach to the holy synod have shown by their petitions and by their own voices, those who preside over the holy churches in Cyprus shall be unmolested and free from force, according to the canons of the holy Fathers and the ancient custom, performing by themselves the ordinations of the most reverent bishops. And the same shall be observed also in the other dioceses and in the provinces everywhere; so that none of the most God-beloved bishops shall take hold of another province which was not from the first and from the beginning under his hand, or that of those before him; but if anyone has taken hold of one and brought it under himself by force, he shall give it back; lest the canons of the Fathers be transgressed, or the arrogance of worldly power creep in under the pretext of sacred ministry, or we lose little by little, without perceiving it, the freedom which our Lord Jesus Christ, the liberator of all men, gave us as a gift by his own blood. It has therefore seemed good to the holy and ecumenical council that the rights belonging to each province from the beginning and from the first be preserved to it pure and free from force, according to the custom that has prevailed of old, each metropolitan having leave to take copies of the acts for his own security. And if anyone should bring forward an ordinance conflicting with what has now been defined, it has seemed good to the whole holy and ecumenical council that it be of no effect.