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The Church Fathers · c. 254–258
The Canonical Letter
Gregory Thaumaturgus · c. 213 – c. 270
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What it is
Written after a barbarian raid on Pontus, ruling on Christians who took advantage of the chaos: those who kept plunder, those who informed on neighbours, those who joined the raiders, and the women taken captive, who are declared guiltless.
Why it lasted
The earliest surviving penitential legislation in the church, and the source of the graded classes of penitents — mourners, hearers, kneelers, bystanders — that Eastern canon law still uses.
Scripture it works from
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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