Quinisext Council, Canon 59.
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Let no Baptism be performed for anyone that is in an oratory within a house at the time; but let those who are going to be deemed worthy of the intemerate illumination come to the catholic churches and there enjoy this gift. If, however, anyone be caught not keeping what has been laid down by us as rules, if he should be a Clergyman, let him be deposed from office; but if he should be a layman, let him be excommunicated.
Interpretation.
The present Canon commands that no baptism is to be carried out in an oratory contained in a private house, but only in catholic, and consequently enthroned, churches. As for anyone that fails to keep this rule, if he is a clergyman, let him be deposed from office; but if he is a layman, the one who concerned in such a baptism, let him be excommunicated. See also Ap. c. XXXI.[183]
Notes
[183] But here one is justified in wondering why it is that the present Council in its c. XXXI permitted a baptism to be performed in an oratory, with the permission of the bishop, but in the present Canon forbids this entirely. So, then, it is to be noted that according to Zonaras it is neither completely permissible for a baptism to be performed in an oratory nor is it completely forbidden. But, he says, the priests must be persons that are known, and not strangers, and they must conduct the ceremony with the permission of the bishop because of the parasynagogue.
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