Letter to the Bishops of Libya and the Pentapolis · §3 · Cyril of Alexandria

Examining Candidates Before Ordination

3. How and when one should ordain, and whom one should examine

Since, then, as I said, everything we do must be done for building up the people, let Your Reverence watch over these matters. If anyone is about to be ordained a cleric, let Your Reverence look carefully into his life: whether he has a wife or not, how or when he married her, and whether he has abstained; and whether he is one of those who have been expelled, either by another most God-fearing bishop or from monasteries. And then let Your Reverence ordain him, once he has been found blameless.

Greek

(γ) Περὶ τοῦ πῶς καὶ πότε δεῖ χειροτονεῖν καὶ τίνα δεῖ ἐξετάζειν. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν πρὸς οἰκοδομήν, ὡς ἔφην, τῶν λαῶν πάντα χρὴ πράττεσθαι παρ' ἡμῶν, ἐπιτηρείτω ταῦτα ἡ θεοσέβεια ὑμῶν· καὶ εἰ μέλλοι τις χειροτονεῖσθαι κληρικός, περιεργαζέσθω τὸν βίον αὐτοῦ, καὶ πότερόν ποτε γαμετὴν ἔχει ἢ οὔ, καὶ πῶς ἢ πότε ἠγάγετο, καὶ εἰ ἀπέσχετο· καὶ εἰ μή τίς ἐστι τῶν ἐκβεβλημένων ἢ παρ' ἑτέρου θεοσεβεστάτου ἐπισκόπου ἢ ἐκ μοναστηρίων· καὶ τότε χειροτονείτω, ἀδιάβλητον εὑρεθέντα.

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Cyril of Alexandria writes to the bishops of Libya and the Pentapolis after monks from the Thebaid report hasty ordinations. He asks them to examine every candidate's life before ordaining him, and to baptize and give communion to catechumens and penitents who are near death. A fresh English translation from the Greek.

A fresh English translation made from the Greek text printed in PG 77. No published English version was used for its wording.

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Translated from PG 77 (Greek)

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