Canon 22 On eating with women, for laity, monks and clergy

To dedicate everything to God, and not to be enslaved to one's own wills, is a great thing. For whether you eat or drink, the divine Apostle says, do all things to the glory of God. And Christ our God, in his Gospels, has commanded to cut off the beginnings of sins; for not adultery alone is punished by him, but the movement of the thought toward the undertaking of adultery has also been condemned, he saying: He who has looked upon a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Having been taught from this, then, we ought to cast down thoughts. For even if all things are lawful, yet not all things are profitable, as we are taught by the apostolic voice. It is, then, of necessity for every man to eat in order to live. And for those whose life is one of marriage, and children, and lay condition, for men and women to eat together is among the things beyond reproach, only offering thanksgiving to the one who gives food; not with any theatrical practices, that is, satanic songs, and harps, and harlot-like contortions, against which comes the prophetic curse, which says thus: Woe to those who drink the wine with harp and psaltery, but do not look upon the works of the Lord, and do not consider the works of his hands. And if ever there be such among Christians, let them be corrected; and if not, let what was canonically set forth by those before us be in force upon them. But for those whose life is quiet and solitary, he who has pledged himself to the Lord God to take up a solitary yoke shall sit alone and keep silence. Moreover, for those who have chosen the priestly life it is by no means permitted to eat privately with women, unless perhaps with some God-fearing and devout men and women, so that the very meal in common may lead to spiritual edification. And let him do the same also in the case of relatives. And again, if it should happen on a journey that a monk or a priestly man does not have with him the things of necessary need, and he wishes, for the necessity, to lodge either in an inn or in someone's house, he is to have leave to do this, since the need presses, only with reverence.