Правило 20 Святых Апостолов

Whoever from the clergy gives himself as guarantee for someone else, let him be cast out. (Ap. 6, 81; IV Ecum. 3, 30; Serdic. 7; Carth. 75). This rule is in connection with the 6th and 81st Ap. rules and prescribes the dismissal from the priesthood of any clergyman who has given guarantee for someone before a court or before a third party. The Apostolic Decrees also speak about the same subject and in the same sense (II, 6). Whoever guarantees for another does so either out of selfish motives, or out of love, by which we are commanded to lay down our souls for our brothers. The rule refers to the case when a cleric vouches for someone before a court or before someone else, counting on material gain, and, as often happens, he himself falls under the same bad consequences that the person for whom he vouches should have been exposed. In order to generally protect the clergy from this and not to humiliate the most sacred rank in front of the people, on the other hand, in order to save the clergy from the suspicion that he is possessed by a nasty, selfish motive, the rule strictly prohibits clergy from doing any such thing under the threat of eruption. If a guarantee on the part of a clergyman is a consequence of brotherly love and mercy, then he is not subject to punishment for such. “If a cleric, says Zonara in the interpretation of this rule, meets a person who is being dragged to court and who asks for a guarantee that he will appear in court at a more favorable time for him, or meets a person who they want to put in prison because he cannot provide guarantee for him, and the cleric, having mercy on the unfortunate person, offers himself as a guarantor for him, then in this case this cleric not only cannot be deposed, but will be accepted by God and among all right-thinking people, as one who fulfilled the gospel commandment" 169. In the rules we also find a certain reminder that in church matters, clerics must not only vouch, but also confirm their guarantee with an oath in order to eliminate doubt in a certain matter (IV Ecumenical 30). Consequently, the meaning of this rule is that any clergy person who acts as someone’s guarantor in worldly, judicial, commercial or the like, with a view to material gain, must be expelled; if he gives guarantee in church affairs, for the benefit of the church, or in matters related to doing good to others, then in this case not only is he not defrocked, but he deserves praise from God and from people 170. See the interpretations of Zonara and Aristin of this rule (Af. Synth., II, 28-29). For the laws of the Greco-Roman emperors on this subject, see Nomocanon in XIV titles, tit. IX, ch. 27 and 34 (Af. Synt., I, 202–209, 226). You might be interested in: