Canon 46
On the prohibition for monastics to leave the walls of the monastery.
Women who choose an ascetic life and are enrolled in a monastery should not leave it at all, and if some absolutely necessary need forces them, then let them do so with the blessing and instructions of the abbess. But even then, let them not go out alone, not on their own, but with some elders and leaders in the monastery, according to the commandment of the abbess. They are not allowed to spend the night outside the monastery at all. Likewise, men undergoing monastic life can go out when necessary, with the blessing of the one to whom the leadership has been entrusted. And those who violate the ruling we have now made, whether men or women, may be subject to appropriate penances.
Greek original
Αἱ τὸν ἀσκητικὸν αἱρούμεναι βίον, καὶ ἐν μοναστηρίῳ καταταττόμεναι, καθόλου μὴ προϊέτωσαν. Εἰ δέ τις ἀπαραίτητος αὐτὰς ἀνάγκη πρὸς τοῦτο ἕλκοι, μετ᾿ εὐλογίας, καὶ ἐπιτροπῆς τῆς προεστώσης τοῦτο πραττέτωσαν· καὶ τότε μὴ μόναι καθ᾿ ἑαυτάς, ἀλλὰ μετά τινων πρεσβυτίδων, καὶ πρωτευουσῶν ἐν τῷ μοναστηρίῳ, μετ᾿ ἐντολῆς τῆς καθηγουμένης· παντελῶς δὲ αὐταῖς ἐξωκοιτεῖν οὐκ ἔξεστιν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄνδρες οἱ τὸν μονήρη μετερχόμενοι βίον, χρείας ἐπειγούσης, καὶ αὐτοὶ μετ᾿ εὐλογίας τοῦ τὴν ἡγουμενίαν ἐμπεπιστευμένου προϊέτωσαν· ὥστε οἱ παραβαίνοντες τὸν νῦν ὁρισθέντα παρ᾿ ἡμῶν ὅρον, εἴτε ἄνδρες εἶεν, εἴτε γυναῖκες, προσφόροις ἐπιτιμίοις ὑποβληθήτωσαν.
Parallel canons
Трул.47