Canon III.
If
any presbyter or deacon, or
any one whatever belonging to the priesthood, shall forsake his own
parish, and shall depart, and, having wholly changed his residence,
shall set himself to remain for a long time in another parish, let him
no longer officiate; especially if his own bishop shall summon and urge
him to return to his own parish and he shall disobey. And if he
persist in his disorder, let him be wholly deposed from his ministry,
so that no further room be left for his restoration. And if
another bishop shall receive a man deposed for this cause, let him be
punished by the Common Synod as one who nullifies the ecclesiastical
laws.
Notes.
Ancient Epitome of Canon
III.
If any cleric leaves his own parish and goes off to
another, travelling here and there, and stays for a long time in that
other, let him not offer the sacrifice (
λειτουργείτω
), especially if he do not return when called by his own bishop.
But if he perseveres in his insolence let him be deposed, neither
afterwards let him have any power to return. And if any bishop
shall receive him thus deposed, he shall be punished by the Common
Synod for breach of the ecclesiastical laws.
Compare with Canons of the Apostles xv. and xvi.
This canon is found in the
Corpus Juris Canonici
,
Gratian’s
Decretum
, Pars II., Causa VII., Quæst. I.,
Can. xxiv.
170
170
Hefele seems to have
overlooked this. The note referring to the Apostolic Canons is
all wrong (p. 68, n. 1.)