LV.  Assailants of robbers, if they are outside, are prohibited from the communion of the good thing. Here reading, punctuation, and sense are obscure.  The Ben. Ed. have ἔξω μὲν ὄντες, τῆς κοινωνίας εἴργονται, and render “Si sint quidem laici, a boni communione arcentur.”  But ἔξω ὄντες, standing alone, more naturally means non-Christians.  Balsamon and Zonaras in Pandects have ἔξω μὲν ὄντες τῆς ᾽Εκκλησιας εἰργονται τῆς κοινωνίας τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ.  If they are clerics they are degraded from their orders.  For, it is said, “All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.” Matt. xxvi. 52.