The Council of Neocaesarea (c. 315 AD)

Likewise, if a deacon have fallen into the same sin, let him have the rank of a minister.

Ancient Epitome of Canon X.

A deacon found in the same crime shall remain a minister (ὑπηρέτης).

By ministers (ὑπήρεται) are meant inferior officers of the Church—the so-called minor orders, often including the subdeacons.

This canon is in the Corpus Juris Canonici, Gratian’s Decretum, Pars II., Causa xv., Quæst. viii., united with canon ix., and in the following curious form: “Similiter et diaconus, si in eodem culpæ genere fuerit involutus, sese a ministerio cohibebit.”