Canon law is the body of laws and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (Church leadership), for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church (both Latin Church and Eastern Catholic Churches), the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the individual national churches within the Anglican Communion. The way that such church law is legislated, interpreted and at times adjudicated varies widely among these three bodies of churches. In all three traditions, a canon was originally a rule adopted by a church council; these canons formed the foundation of canon law.

Greek kanon / Ancient Greek: , Arabic Qanun / , Hebrew kaneh / , "straight"; a rule, code, standard, or measure; the root meaning in all these languages is "reed" (cf. the Romance-language ancestors of the English word "cane").

The Apostolic Canons or Ecclesiastical Canons of the Same Holy Apostles is a collection of ancient ecclesiastical decrees (eighty-five in the Eastern, fifty in the Western Church) concerning the government and discipline of the Early Christian Church, incorporated with the Apostolic Constitutions which are part of the Ante-Nicene Fathers In the fourth century the First Council of Nicaea (325) calls canons the disciplinary measures of the Church: the term canon, , means in Greek, a rule. There is a very early distinction between the rules enacted by the Church and the legislative measures taken by the State called leges, Latin for laws.

1. Chat is made by church leaders?
2. what is it used for?
3. What is one of the bodies it governs?
4. can that be broken down even further?
5. into what?
6. what is another body the laws apply to?
7. is there a third?
8. what is it?
9. do they all agree on how to apply these laws?
10. is the disagreement small?
11. What was canon in the beginning?
12. what did they create the basis of?
13. what is a collection of old proclamations made by the church?
14. how many are in the east part?
15. what about the west part?
16. what were these proclamations concerned about?
17. what did they combine with to do this?
18. what are those a piece of?
19. what were canons called in the 4th century?
20. what does canon mean in the language of Greece?

Provide a numbered list of answers.
1. Canon law
2. it's for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members
3. the Catholic Church
4. Yes
5. Latin Church and Eastern Catholic Churches
6. the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches
7. Yes
8. the individual national churches within the Anglican Communion
9. No
10. No
11. a rule adopted by a church council
12. canon law
13. The Apostolic Canons or Ecclesiastical Canons of the Same Holy Apostles
14. eighty-five
15. fifty
16. the government and discipline of the Early Christian Church
17. the Apostolic Constitutions
18. the Ante-Nicene Fathers
19. the disciplinary measures of the Church
20. a rule