Gitsew
Canon 31
Overview
This canon entrusts church property to the bishop for administration, care of the poor, necessary support, and hospitality, and it grounds that support in the law concerning service at the altar.
1Canon 31.
2Concerning the bishop’s being entrusted with the property of the church: We therefore command that the bishop have authority over the property of the church, for he has been entrusted with the precious souls of human beings.
3How much more, then, all the property given to him: he shall administer it according to his will and feed the poor from it through the hands of presbyters and deacons, with fear of God and trembling.
4Let him himself also receive from it for his needs, if need is pressing because of what is required by brothers from abroad who gather around him, so that he does not deprive them of anything they need from him.
5For the law of God commands, “Those who are bound to the altar shall be fed from the altar,” because the king’s soldiers do not wage war against his enemies at their own expense.