Canon VI.
It
is not permitted to heretics
to enter the house of God while they continue in heresy.
Notes.
Ancient Epitome of Canon VI.
The holy place is forbidden to heretics.
Aristenus.
Heretics are not to be permitted to enter the house of
God, and yet Basil the Great, before this canon was set forth, admitted
Valens to the perfecting of the faithful [i.e., to the witnessing the
celebration of the Divine Mysteries].
Van Espen.
A heretic who pertinaciously rejects the doctrine of the
Church is rightly not allowed to enter the house of God, in which his
doctrine is set forth, so long as he continues in his heresy. For
this reason when Timothy, Archbishop of Alexandria, was consulted
concerning the admission of heretics to church, answered in the
IX
th
Canon of his
Canonical
Epistle
, that unless they were ready to promise to do penance and
to abandon their heresy, they could in no way be admitted to the
prayers of the faithful.
Contrast with this Canon lxxxiv., of the so-called
IV
th
Council of Carthage,
a.d.
398.