Abtilis
Canon 52
Overview
This canon forbids mocking or reviling individuals with physical disabilities, citing scriptural commands, and prescribes deposition for clergy and exclusion from communion for laypersons who violate this rule.
1Abṭelis, 52. If a man from among the priests or a layman mocks or reviles a blind man, or a lame man, or a sick man, or a hunchback, or a dwarf, or a cripple, or one who is lame, let him be excluded. For thus says the Lord in the law: 'You shall not put a stumbling block before the blind, nor shall you revile the deaf, nor shall you curse the dumb, for he has received his portion from the Lord. He makes blind and makes lame, he makes deaf and makes mute, he kills and he makes alive, he strikes and he heals.' And whoever does this, if he is a priest, let him be removed from his priesthood, and if he is a layman, let him be excluded from communion. This is the law of the Lord, the old and the new.