¹ True penance consists not in committing sins that must later be repented of but in lamenting those already committed. However, since human frailty—if not to say the weakness of all—breaks this rule, the measure of penance must be determined. The order of penance has been handed down by the holy Fathers in such a way that, according to the gravity of the sin, the duration of penance is also established.

² If anyone sins in thought—that is, if he desires to kill a man, to commit fornication, to steal, to eat secretly, to become drunk, or to strike another, to depart, or to do other similar things, and if he is inclined in his heart to carry them out—he shall do penance for greater sins for half a year, and for lesser ones, for forty days, on bread and water.

³ If anyone, overcome by sin, commits a sinful act—if he commits murder or the sin of sodomy, he shall do penance for ten years. If he fornicates only once, a monk shall do penance for three years; if repeatedly, for seven years. If he departs and breaks his vows but returns soon with repentance, he shall do penance for three Lents; but if only after many years, he shall do penance for three years.

⁴ If anyone steals, he shall do penance for a year.

⁵ If anyone, in a quarrel, strikes his brother and sheds blood, he shall do penance for three years.

⁶ If anyone becomes drunk and vomits, or if, being overly full, he vomits the Eucharist, he shall do penance for forty days. However, if he is compelled to vomit the Eucharist due to illness, he shall do penance for seven days. If anyone loses the Eucharist, he shall do penance for a year.

⁷ If anyone defiles himself, he shall do penance for a year, if he is young.

⁸ If anyone knowingly gives false testimony, he shall do penance for two years, along with the loss or restitution of the matter in question.

⁹ These are concerning incidental offenses. Regarding the minor faults of undisciplined conduct:

¹⁰ Whoever does something on his own without being asked, or contradicts by saying, “I will not do it,” or murmurs—if the matter is serious, he shall do penance for three periods of prostration; if minor, for one year. A simple word spoken against another word shall be punished with fifty lashes. But if done with deliberate silence, he shall do penance by prostration; if it results in a quarrel, for a week.

¹¹ Whoever slanders or willingly listens to slander shall do penance for three periods of prostration; if it concerns a superior, he shall do penance for a week.

¹² Whoever, out of pride, despises his superior or blasphemes the rule shall be cast out unless he immediately says, “I repent of what I said.” If he does not humble himself properly, he shall do penance for forty days, for he is afflicted with the disease of pride.

¹³ A talkative person must be condemned to silence, a restless one to gentleness, a glutton to fasting, a drowsy one to vigil, a proud one to imprisonment, a deserter to rejection: each according to his due, so that he may feel the equivalence and the just may live justly.

¹⁴ The diversity of sins necessitates a diversity of penances; for even physicians treat the body with different kinds of remedies. They heal wounds differently from diseases, swellings differently from bruises, putrefaction differently from darkness, fractures differently from burns. In the same way, spiritual physicians must cure the wounds, diseases, sins, pains, sufferings, and infirmities of souls with different kinds of treatments.

¹⁵ But since the knowledge of all these things belongs to only a few—namely, those who have complete understanding, who can restore the weak fully to a state of salvation—we shall propose a few regulations, according to the traditions of the elders and our partial understanding. For we prophesy in part, and we know in part.

¹⁶ First, we must establish regulations concerning the capital crimes, which are also punished by the sentence of the law.

¹⁷ If anyone has fallen into the gravest ruin and has fathered a child, let him do penance for seven years as a pilgrim on bread and water. Only then shall he be reunited with the altar by the judgment of the priest.

¹⁸ If anyone has committed fornication as the Sodomites did, let him do penance for ten years: three years on bread and water, and for the remaining seven years, let him abstain from wine and meat and never cohabit with another.

¹⁹ If anyone has fornicated with women but has not fathered a child and has not been publicly exposed: if a cleric, let him do penance for three years; if a monk or deacon, five years; if a priest, seven years; if a bishop, twelve years.

²⁰ If anyone has committed perjury, let him do penance for seven years and never swear an oath again.

²¹ If anyone has caused the death of another through their wrongdoing, let him do penance for three years on measured bread and water, and for another three years abstain from wine and meat. In the seventh year, he may be received into communion. If anyone has practiced sorcery out of love but has caused no harm, a cleric shall do penance for a full year on bread and water, a layperson for half a year, a deacon for two years, a priest for three years—especially if he has deceived a woman regarding childbirth. Each shall also add six Lents to their penance, lest they be guilty of homicide.

²² If a cleric has committed theft—whether of an ox, a horse, a sheep, or any other animal belonging to his neighbor—if he has done so once or twice, let him first make restitution and do penance for a full year on bread and water. If theft has become a habit and restitution is not possible, let him do penance for three years on bread and water.

²³ If a cleric, deacon, or any other ordained person, who was a layman in the world and had children before his conversion, after his conversion again has relations with his former concubine and fathers another child with her, let him know he has committed adultery. He has sinned no less than if he had been a cleric from his youth and fornicated with a stranger, for he has broken his vow to the Lord. Let him therefore do penance for seven years on bread and water.

²⁴ If a cleric strikes his neighbor in a quarrel and sheds blood, let him do penance for a full year. If a layperson, let him do penance for forty days.

²⁵ If anyone commits self-abuse or lies with an animal, let him do penance for two years if he is unordained. If he has taken holy orders or made a vow, let him do penance for three years unless his age excuses him.

²⁶ If anyone lusts after a woman but is unable to act upon it because she rejects him, let him do penance for half a year on bread and water, and abstain for a full year from wine, meat, and communion.

²⁷ If anyone loses the Eucharist, let him do penance for a year. If he vomits it due to drunkenness or gluttony, let him do penance for three Lents on bread and water. If it is lost due to illness, let him do penance for seven days.

²⁸ These rulings apply to clerics and monks, and for laypeople:

²⁹ Whoever commits homicide, that is, kills his neighbor, let him do penance for three years as an unarmed exile on bread and water. After three years, let him return home, making amends to the victim’s family with acts of piety and service. Only after fulfilling this satisfaction shall he be reunited with the altar by the judgment of the priest.

³⁰ If a layperson fathers a child with another man’s wife, thus committing adultery, violating his neighbor’s marriage, let him do penance for three years, abstaining from rich foods and from his own wife. Additionally, he shall offer compensation to the husband of the violated wife, and thus his guilt shall be absolved by the priest.

³¹ If a layperson commits sodomy, that is, lies with a man as with a woman, let him do penance for seven years: three on bread, water, salt, and dried garden fruits; the remaining four abstaining from wine and meat. Afterward, his sin shall be forgiven, the priest shall pray for him, and he shall be restored to the altar.

³² If a layperson fornicates with an unmarried woman, whether a widow or a maiden: if with a widow, let him do penance for one year; if with a maiden, two years, paying her family a sum for her dishonor. If both were virgins, let them marry if the parents consent, but only after doing penance for a year.

³³ If a layperson fornicates with an animal, let him do penance for a year if he has a wife; if unmarried, for half a year. Likewise, if a married man defiles himself, let him do penance.

³⁴ If a layperson or woman kills their own infant, let them do penance for a full year on bread and water, and for two more years abstain from wine and meat. Only then shall they be restored to the altar by the priest’s judgment, and the husband may once again know his wife.

³⁵ If a layperson steals an ox, a horse, a sheep, or any other animal of his neighbor, if he has done so once or twice, he shall make restitution and do penance for three Lents on bread and water. If theft is habitual and restitution is impossible, he shall do penance for one year and three Lents, vowing never to steal again. After two years, he may receive communion at Easter, provided he has given alms from his labor and offered a meal to the priest imposing the penance.

³⁶ If a layperson commits perjury: if for greed, let him sell all his possessions, give them to the poor, renounce the world entirely, and serve God in a monastery until death. If perjury was committed out of fear of death, let him do penance for three years as an unarmed exile on bread and water, and for two more years abstain from wine and meat. He must also ransom a servant or maid, perform many acts of charity, and only after seven years shall he receive communion.

³⁷ If a layperson, through a quarrel, sheds blood or wounds his neighbor, let him repay the harm done. If unable, he must serve the injured person until their recovery and then do penance for forty days on bread and water.

³⁸ These regulations outline penances for a variety of offenses, ensuring spiritual restoration according to justice and mercy.

³⁹ Confessions, moreover, are to be made with greater diligence, especially regarding disturbances of the soul, before one approaches Mass, lest someone unworthy should draw near to the altar—that is, if they do not have a pure heart. For it is better to wait until the heart has been healed and is free from scandal and envy than to approach recklessly the judgment of the tribunal. For the altar is the tribunal of Christ, and He judges as unworthy those who approach His body and blood unworthily.

⁴⁰ Just as one must guard against mortal and carnal sins before receiving Communion, so too must one abstain from and cleanse oneself of more uncertain faults and the illnesses of a weakened soul before entering into true peace and the bond of eternal salvation.