A Source Book for Ancient Church History - Mirrors

741traditional ecclesiastical observance, it seemed good to the holysynod that also in the Church of the Romans the canons shallbe in force without wavering which says: If any cleric shallbe found to fast on Sunday or on the Sabbath except on oneoccasion only, 311 he shall be deposed; and if a layman he shallbe excommunicated.Canon 67. On Eating Blood.This canon is less distinctly aimed at Rome. In the West theprohibition against eating blood seems to have been little observed,as it had been given another interpretation. At the timeof the Second Trullan Council the practice was very common.Augustine, it might be said, did not consider the apostoliccommand as binding except in the special circumstance inwhich it was issued. Cf. Augustine, Contra Faustum, 32:13.The divine Scriptures command us to abstain from blood, fromthings strangled, and from fornication. Those, therefore, who,on account of a dainty stomach, prepare by any art for food theblood of animals and so eat it, we punish suitably. If any onehenceforth venture to eat in any way the blood of an animal, ifhe be a clergyman let him be deposed; if a layman, let him beexcommunicated.Canon 82. On Pictures of the Lamb of God.The custom which is here condemned was prevalent in theWest.In some pictures of the holy icons, a lamb is painted to which theForerunner 312 points his finger, and this is received to serve as[679]311 See canon 69 of the Apostolic Canons, which prescribed fasting on theSaturday before Easter, or the Preparation.312 John the Baptist.