37. When a bishop celebrates the holy communion (Synaxis), the presbyters who stand by him should be clothed in white.
38. That no one ought to sleep on the night of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Canons OF The Church OF Alexandria.
Wrongly Ascribed TO Hippolytus.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen. Those are the canons of the Church, ordinances which Hippolytus wrote, by whom the Church speaketh; and the number of them is thirty-eight canons. Greeting from the Lord.
Canon First. Of the Catholic faith. Before all things should we speak of the faith, holy and right, regarding our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God; and we have consequently placed that canon in the faith (the symbol); and we agree in this with all reasonable certitude, that the Trinity is equal perfectly in honour, and equal in glory, and has neither beginning nor end. The Word is the Son of God, and is Himself the Creator of every creature, of things visible and invisible. This we lay down with one accord, in opposition to those who have said boldly, that it is not right to speak of the Word of God as our Lord Jesus Christ spake. We come together chiefly to bring out the holy truth regarding God; and we have separated them, because they do not agree with the Church in theology, nor with us the sons of the Scriptures. On this account we have sundered them from the Church, and have left what concerns them to God, who will judge His creatures with justice. To those, moreover, who are not cognisant of them, we make this known without ill-will, in order that they may not rush into an evil death, like heretics, but may gain eternal life, and teach their sons and their posterity this one true faith.
Canon Second. Of bishops. A bishop should be elected by all the people, and he should be unimpeachable, as it is written of him in the apostle; in the week in which he is ordained, the whole people should also say, We desire him; and there should be silence in the whole hall, and they should all pray in his behalf, and say, O God, stablish him whom Thou hast prepared for us, etc.
Canon Third. Prayer in behalf of him who is made bishop, and the ordinance of the Missa. O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all consolation, etc.
Canon Fourth. Of the ordination of a presbyter.
Canon Fifth. Of the constituting a deacon.
Canon Sixth. Of those who have suffered for the faith.
Canon Seventh.Of him who is elected reader and sub-deacon.
Canon Eighth. Of the gift of healings.
Canon Ninth. That a presbyter should not dwell in unbefitting places; and of the honour of widows.
Canon Tenth. Of those who wish to become Nazarenes (Christians).
Canon Eleventh. Of him who makes idols and images, or the artificer.
Canon Twelfth. Of the prohibition of those works, the authors of which are not to be received but on the exhibition of repentance.
Canon Thirteenth. Of a prince or a soldier, that they be not received indiscriminately.
Canon Fourteenth. That a Nazarene may not become a soldier unless by order.
Canon Fifteenth. Enumeration of works which are unlawful.
Canon Sixteenth. Of him who has a lawful wife, and takes another beside her.
Canon Seventeenth. Of a free-born woman, and her duties. Of midwives, and of the separation of men from women. Of virgins, that they should cover their faces and their heads.
Canon Eighteenth. Of women in childbed, and of midwives again.
Canon Nineteenth. Of catechumens, and the ordinance of Baptism and the Missa.
Canon Twentieth.Of the fast the six days , and of that of Lent.