Since all four canons (Praivla 21-24 - A.L.) treat one and the same subject, we are talking about them all together. We are talking about a bodily defect, or more precisely, about a defect that a person himself has made on his body and which prevents him from entering the priesthood. Abstinence from marital cohabitation for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, of which Jesus Christ speaks (Matthew 19:12)

From this it follows that he in whom the very nature or violence of men produced such a castration was not guilty in himself; but the castration which some performed on themselves was to be considered a grave sin before God, and to be regarded as a kind of suicide. This explains the origin of the apostolic tradition, which found expression in the above-mentioned Ap. canons representing the true concept of the Church about abstinence and about the moral qualities of both clergy and all Christians in general. In all likelihood, the immediate reason for the publication of this Apostolic Canon in the form of a law was the sect of the Valesians, mentioned by Epiphanius (haer. 58) and Augustine (haer. 37) and which arose in the second century. This sect, interpreting in its own way the well-known words of Jesus Christ (Matthew 19:12), introduced encirclement. It was against this sect that the data of Ap. The rules, and the harshness with which they are expounded, shows that her inhuman example threatened contagion. However, it must be assumed that this unfortunate infection has sufficiently expanded, since we find a repetition of the same rules in the First Ecumenical Book. Council and later in the IX century at the Council of Constantinople in the Church of the Holy Apostles.

Notes:

68. Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, I, 110,376. (Ap. 21, 22, 23; I Ecumenical. 1; Two-wheel. 8).

Since all four canons (Praivla 21-24 - A.L.) treat one and the same subject, we are talking about them all together. We are talking about a bodily defect, or more precisely, about a defect that a person himself has made on his body and which prevents him from entering the priesthood. Abstinence from marital cohabitation for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, of which Jesus Christ speaks (Matthew 19:12)

From this it follows that he in whom the very nature or violence of men produced such a castration was not guilty in himself; but the castration which some performed on themselves was to be considered a grave sin before God, and to be regarded as a kind of suicide. This explains the origin of the apostolic tradition, which found expression in the above-mentioned Ap. canons representing the true concept of the Church about abstinence and about the moral qualities of both clergy and all Christians in general. In all likelihood, the immediate reason for the publication of this Apostolic Canon in the form of a law was the sect of the Valesians, mentioned by Epiphanius (haer. 58) and Augustine (haer. 37) and which arose in the second century. This sect, interpreting in its own way the well-known words of Jesus Christ (Matthew 19:12), introduced encirclement. It was against this sect that the data of Ap. The rules, and the harshness with which they are expounded, shows that her inhuman example threatened contagion. However, it must be assumed that this unfortunate infection has sufficiently expanded, since we find a repetition of the same rules in the First Ecumenical Book. Council and later in the IX century at the Council of Constantinople in the Church of the Holy Apostles.

Notes:

68. Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, I, 110,376. (Ap. 21, 22, 23; I Ecumenical. 1; Two-wheel. 8).

Since all four canons (Praivla 21-24 - A.L.) treat one and the same subject, we are talking about them all together. We are talking about a bodily defect, or more precisely, about a defect that a person himself has made on his body and which prevents him from entering the priesthood. Abstinence from marital cohabitation for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, of which Jesus Christ speaks (Matthew 19:12)

From this it follows that he in whom the very nature or violence of men produced such a castration was not guilty in himself; but the castration which some performed on themselves was to be considered a grave sin before God, and to be regarded as a kind of suicide. This explains the origin of the apostolic tradition, which found expression in the above-mentioned Ap. canons representing the true concept of the Church about abstinence and about the moral qualities of both clergy and all Christians in general. In all likelihood, the immediate reason for the publication of this Apostolic Canon in the form of a law was the sect of the Valesians, mentioned by Epiphanius (haer. 58) and Augustine (haer. 37) and which arose in the second century. This sect, interpreting in its own way the well-known words of Jesus Christ (Matthew 19:12), introduced encirclement. It was against this sect that the data of Ap. The rules, and the harshness with which they are expounded, shows that her inhuman example threatened contagion. However, it must be assumed that this unfortunate infection has sufficiently expanded, since we find a repetition of the same rules in the First Ecumenical Book. Council and later in the IX century at the Council of Constantinople in the Church of the Holy Apostles.

Notes:

68. Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, I, 110,376. (Ap. 21, 22, 23; I Ecumenical. 1; Two-wheel. 8).

Since all four canons (Praivla 21-24 - A.L.) treat one and the same subject, we are talking about them all together. We are talking about a bodily defect, or more precisely, about a defect that a person himself has made on his body and which prevents him from entering the priesthood. Abstinence from marital cohabitation for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, of which Jesus Christ speaks (Matthew 19:12)

From this it follows that he in whom the very nature or violence of men produced such a castration was not guilty in himself; but the castration which some performed on themselves was to be considered a grave sin before God, and to be regarded as a kind of suicide. This explains the origin of the apostolic tradition, which found expression in the above-mentioned Ap. canons representing the true concept of the Church about abstinence and about the moral qualities of both clergy and all Christians in general. In all likelihood, the immediate reason for the publication of this Apostolic Canon in the form of a law was the sect of the Valesians, mentioned by Epiphanius (haer. 58) and Augustine (haer. 37) and which arose in the second century. This sect, interpreting in its own way the well-known words of Jesus Christ (Matthew 19:12), introduced encirclement. It was against this sect that the data of Ap. The rules, and the harshness with which they are expounded, shows that her inhuman example threatened contagion. However, it must be assumed that this unfortunate infection has sufficiently expanded, since we find a repetition of the same rules in the First Ecumenical Book. Council and later in the IX century at the Council of Constantinople in the Church of the Holy Apostles.