Church Canons: Lectures by Fr. Shenouda Maher

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Church CanonsLectures by Fr. Shenouda Maher

• Servants Meeting
• August 23, 2009

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Introduction

• Taking Communion to the Sick
• Relics of the Saints
• Forbidden Marriages

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Taking Communion to the Sick

• This section of canons applies only to those who
  are unable to go to church
• Whoever is able to go to church, must partake of
  it there
• However, in our tradition, there are some
  conflicting views about this which we will discuss

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Taking Communion to the Sick

• Canon 36 of St. Athanasius no priest can take
  communion and walk the streets unless someone is
  about to die. Once he has administered
  communion, he is not permitted to give it to
  anyone else If someone forces him to give It to
  him, his sin is upon him.
• If a priest is sick, the deacon can bring the
  communion to him, but the priest takes it
  himself.

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Taking Communion to the Sick

• Canon 98 of St. Basil It was not the custom to
  take communion out even if the person was about
  to die because of persecution and the fear that
  Muslims might take it Also, hospitals were part
  of the churches at that time.
• Pope John XVI (1676-1718), the 103rd Pope, is
  credited with arranging how communion should be
  taken to the sick

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Taking Communion to the Sick

• Pope Markos (94th Pope) He was dying, so the
  deacons and priests gathered around him. He did
  not want to go to the liturgy, so he asked them
  go to the liturgy and bring him some of the
  communion if he is still alive. He did live until
  he received communion, and he said I leave you in
  the Spirit of the Lord, until I die.

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Taking Communion to the Sick

• Pope Peter of Alexandria (and before him St.
  Dionysius) Spoke of how the Early Church were
  very strict with communion. Those who weakened
  (denied Christ) were not allowed to take
  communion until the point of their death.

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Taking Communion to the Sick

• A story is told about an officer who went to the
  church and took the Eucharist for himself without
  a priest. He went to trial for it.
• St. Hyppolytus writes that in the first four
  centuries, the monks would keep the Holy
  Eucharist in their cells and would partake of it
  before any other food.
• 1 Corinthians 11

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Relics of the Saints

• We do not worship the bodies of the saints.
• We honor and venerate them and ask for their
  blessings.
• We honor their bodies because they are temples of
  the Holy Spirit.
• And if Christ is in you, the body is dead
  because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of
  righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who
  raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who
  raised Christ from the dead will also give life
  to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who
  dwells in you. (Romans 810-11)

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Relics of the Saints

• For this reason, we do not cremate bodies after
  departure.
• Eastern and Hindu religions allow cremation
  because they believe that the soul is the
  important thing and not the body it just returns
  to dust.

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Relics of the Saints

• Didaskalia chapter 33, 34 mentions that the body
  of Elisha the prophet, after he was a long while
  dead, raised another body (he who was slain in
  Syria) from the dead. Even though he had fallen
  asleep, his body was still full of the Holy
  Spirit. The same story is mentioned in the
  Ethiopian Didaskalia.

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Relics of the Saints

• Our Egyptian saints very much disliked the taking
  out of relics because this was an ancient
  Egyptian custom mummification and keeping relics
  in homes.
• Likewise, St. Anthony fought against this very
  much. He told his disciples not to tell anyone
  where he would be buried his body was hidden.
  Know one knows the place of burial of St.
  Anthony, St. Paul, St. Pakhomious, among others

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Relics of the Saints

• Again, both St. Shenouda the Archimandrite and
  St. Basil both wrote strongly against keeping
  relics in homes.
• Sadly, we see some people respecting the relics
  of saints more than they hold respect for Holy
  Communion. So, we honor the relics, but we do not
  worship them. We need to be balanced in our
  teaching.

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Forbidden Marriages

• Forbidden Marriages considered fornication
• Natural relatives
• Parents
• Children
• Aunts and uncles

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Forbidden Marriages

• As for first cousins, the churches differ
• Permissible in the Coptic Church (some Syrians,
  as well)
• Other churches (even Ethiopian and Eritrean)
  not permissible (considered brother/sister)
• Antiochian a bishop can give permission, as in
  the Coptic Church, in specific circumstances

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Forbidden Marriages

• Medically not advisable
• However, St. Demetrius married the daughter of
  his paternal uncle (first cousin)
• Fourth births are acceptable (beginning with
  me) First (my father begot me), second (my
  grandfather begot my father), third (my
  grandfather begot my uncle), fourth (my uncle
  begot my cousin). Then fifth and sixth are
  accepted.

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Forbidden Marriages

• Spiritual brothers and sisters, spiritual
  relatives
• Two children baptized in the same font
• Godparents child cannot marry baptized
• It is, therefore, unadvisable that males and
  females be baptized together, and parents should
  take the role of godparent for their child
• Those baptized together in the Jordan River

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Forbidden Marriages

• Adopted children who take the same name as the
  their guardian cannot marry
• Cannot marry an in-law one cannot marry a
  brother or sister-in-law, but siblings can
• Marriage between person and guardian
• Should not have been pressured
• She must be at least 26 yrs old
• After marriage, she is given access to her money
  and is no longer limited by guardian

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Forbidden Marriages

• Permissible but not preferred for a slave to
  marry a free person
• No intermarriage between a believer and a
  non-believer
• 14 Do not be unequally yoked together with
  unbelievers. For what fellowship has
  righteousness with lawlessness? And what
  communion has light with darkness? 15 And what
  accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a
  believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what
  agreement has the temple of God with idols? For
  you are the temple of the living God.

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Forbidden Marriages

• As God has said "I will dwell in them And walk
  among them. I will be their God, And they
  shall be My people." 17 Therefore "Come out
  from among them And be separate, says the Lord.
  Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive
  you." 18 "I will be a Father to you, And you
  shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord
  Almighty. (2 Cor 614-18)

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Forbidden Marriages

• Anything preventing marital relations
• Impotence
• Castration
• Madness
• Leprosy
• If one party fails to reveal one of these, there
  are grounds for an annulment based on deception.
• If one knows about the condition of a
  spouse-to-be, must state in writing that they
  know and accept

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Forbidden Marriages

• Forbidden to marry an adulteress or a divorced
  woman
• If divorce is not due to adultery and she is
  innocent, then she can re-marry.
• Not permissible to have two wives at the same
  time. Bigamy and polygamy are not allowed.

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Forbidden Marriages

• Fourth marriage is not permitted
• First is legal, second is permissible by
  absolution, third is hated but acceptable, fourth
  is considered adultery
• Full crowning ceremony is only in the first
  marriage
• In the second marriage, only the party being
  married for the first time is crowned
• Every person is crowned only once in a lifetime

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Forbidden Marriages

• If both parties have been married before, then a
  different marriage rite is used.
• If a marriage was annulled, the rite being used
  depends on the reason for the annulment
• Second and third marriages carry church
  penalties, too
• Marrying a monk or nun is forbidden
• If a priest performs such a wedding, he will be
  punished by the patriarch
• He is helping someone to break their vow

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Forbidden Marriages

• Women over 60.
• Past menopause, so she can not have children
• She would be marrying for the sake of sex alone
• Needs special permission
• If the difference in age is 15 years or more,
  needs special permission
• Any widow whose husband has been dead for only 10
  months or a year
• Second husband cannot take inheritance

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Forbidden Marriages

• If one party was forced or threatened to marry