The Historical Development of the Book of Church Order

Chapter 37 : The Removal of Censure

Paragraph 9 :

37-9. In the case of the removal of censures from, or the restoration of, a minister, jurisdiction shall be as follows:
a. If the censure(s) does not include excommunication, the presbytery inflicting the censure(s) shall retain the authority to remove the censure(s) and, at its discretion, restore him to office. This authority
is retained by the presbytery even when a divested or deposed minister is assigned, under the provisions of BCO 46-8, to a session.
b. If the censure includes excommunication, the penitent may only be restored to the communion of the church through a session (BCO 1-3; 6-4; 57-4; 57-5; 57-6). Once the penitent is restored, and therefore a member of a local church, the authority to remove any other censure(s) in respect to office, concurrently imposed with that of excommunication shall belong to the court originally imposing such censure(s).

DIGEST : The current text dates to 1994 [M22GA, 22-10, Item 7, p. 61]. No similar provisions were included in any edition prior to that time.

BACKGROUND AND COMPARISON :
No comparable text is found in the following editions:
PCA 1973, RoD, Chapter 11, Adopted text, as printed in the Minutes of General Assembly,
Continuing Presbyterian Church 1973, RoD, Chapter 11, Proposed text,
PCUS 1933,
PCUS 1925,
PCUS 1879,
PCUS 1869 draft,
PCUS 1867 draft,
[no comparable text]

COMMENTARY :
F.P. Ramsay, Exposition of the Book of Church Order (1898) :
[no comparable text for discussion]