Canonical Epistle
Epistula canonica
Gregory Thaumaturgus ("the Wonderworker," c. 213–c. 270) shepherded the church of Neocaesarea in Pontus through persecution and the Gothic invasions that ravaged Asia Minor in the 250s.
The Canonical Letter, written after those raids, answers a fellow bishop's questions on discipline: how to treat Christians who ate food seized by the barbarians, and captive women assaulted under force.
This volume holds Canon I: on captives and their defilement by force.
© 2026 SaneApps. This translation is free to share and adapt, even commercially, as long as you credit SaneApps. Draft translation, prepared with AI assistance and not yet independently reviewed. Verify against the original before citing. Translated from Documenta Catholica Omnia Canones GR; Canon I; PG 10.1019–.
Canon I: captives eating food set by barbarians; captive women under force§1
1Foods do not burden us, holy Father, if captives have eaten what those who held power over them set before them — especially since there is one report from all sides that the barbarians who overran our regions did not sacrifice to idols. And the Apostle says: “Foods are for the belly, and the belly for foods; but God will abolish both this and these” (1 Corinthians 6:13).
But the Savior also, who cleanses all foods, says: “It is not what enters that makes a person common, but what goes out” (Matthew 15:11). And as for captive women corrupted when barbarians outraged their bodies: if someone’s earlier life had already been condemned — going after the eyes of those who fornicate, as it is written — it is clear that a fornicating habit is suspect even in the time of captivity, and such women must not hastily share in the prayers.
If, however, someone has lived in the highest chastity and has shown a former life pure and free of every suspicion, and now has fallen into outrage by force and necessity, we have the example in Deuteronomy concerning the young woman whom a man found in the field and, forcing her, lay with her: “You shall do nothing to the young woman; there is no death-sin for the young woman; because, as when a man rises against his neighbor and kills his soul, so is this matter. The young woman cried out, and there was no one to help her” (Deuteronomy 22:25-27). These things stand thus.
Greek · §1
Οὐ τὰ βρώματα ἡμᾶς βαρεῖ, ἱερὲ πάπα, εἰ ἔφαγον οἱ αἰχμάλωτοι ταῦτα, ἅπερ παρετίθεσαν αὐτοῖς οἱ κρατοῦντες αὐτῶν· μάλιστα ἐπειδὴ εἷς λόγος παρὰ πάντων, τοὺς καταδραμόντας τὰ ἡμέτερα μέρη βαρβάρους, εἰδώλοις μὴ τεθυκέναι. Ὁ δὲ ἀπόστολός φησι· Τὰ βρώματα τῇ κοιλίᾳ, καὶ ἡ κοιλία τοῖς βρώμασιν, ὁ δὲ Θεὸς καὶ ταύτην καὶ ταῦτα καταργήσει. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ Σωτήρ, ὁ πάντα καθαρίζων τὰ βρώματα· Οὐ τὸ εἰσπορευόμενον κοινοῖ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἐκπορευόμενον, λέγει, καὶ τὸ τὰς αἰχμαλώτους γυναῖκας διαφθαρῆναι, ἐξυβριζόντων τῶν βαρβάρων εἰς τὰ σώματα αὐτῶν. Ἀλλ᾿ εἰ μὲν καὶ πρότερον κατέγνωστό τινος ὁ βίος, πορευομένης ὀπίσω ὀφθαλμῶν τῶν ἐκπορνευόντων κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, δῆλον ὅτι ἡ πορνικὴ ἕξις ὕποπτος καὶ ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας, καὶ οὐ προχείρως δεῖ τὰς τοιαύτας κοινωνεῖν τῶν εὐχῶν. Εἰ μέν τοι τις ἐν ἄκρᾳ σωφροσύνῃ ζήσασα καὶ καθαρόν, καὶ ἔξω πάσης ὑπονοίας ἐπιδεδειγμένη βίον τὸν πρότερον, νῦν περιπέπτωκεν ἐκ βίας καὶ ἀνάγκης ὕβρει, ἔχομεν παράδειγμα τὸ ἐν τῷ Δευτερονομίῳ τὸ ἐπὶ τῇ νεάνιδι, ἣν ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ εὗρεν ἄνθρωπος καί, βιασάμενος αὐτήν, ἐκοιμήθη μετ᾿ αὐτῆς· Τῇ νεάνιδι, φησίν, οὐ ποιήσετε οὐδέν· οὐκ ἔστι τῇ νεάνιδι ἁμάρτημα θανάτου· ὅτι, ὡς εἴ τις ἀναστῇ ἄνθρωπος ἐπὶ τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ καὶ θανατώσει αὐτοῦ τὴν ψυχήν, οὕτω τὸ πρᾶγμα τοῦτο. Ἐβόησεν ἡ νεᾶνις, καὶ ὁ βοηθῶν οὐκ ἦν αὐτῇ. Ταῦτα μέν τοι τοιαῦτα.