The CouncU of Ankyra was held in 314 with about a dozen bishops in attendance, representing Syria and Mesopotamia. The canons of this councU are of interest because they were the first to be enacted after the ending of the persecutions. It passed 25 canons. A number of these set the penance that should be done by persons who had lapsed under persecution; others lay down the penance to be done by sinners (adultery, fornication, abortion, and murder). Canon 10 lays down that if a deacon announces before his ordination that he wants to marry, then ‘let him marry and let him be a deacon’, but if he is sUent and later marries, ‘he shaU cease from the diaconate’. This implies that as early as the beginning of the fourth century there was a general law forbidding unmarried deacons to marry.
The Council of Neocaesarea in Pontos was held between 314 and 325 and passed fifteen canons laying down the penance that should be done for various sins. Those who marry more than once should do penance and a priest may not be a guest at the nuptials of a digamist. Canon 11 states that a man cannot be ordained a priest imtil he is 30 years old and canon 15 stipulates that there should be seven deacons for every big city. Gangra, the metropolis of Paphlagonia, had its council sometime between 325 and 381 and was attended by thirteen bishops. It was convened to condemn a movement of radical ascetics who were accused of holding marriage in contempt, of encouraging women to shave their heads and wear men’s clothes, of fasting on Sundays and neglecting to observe the fasts of the Church, and of maintaining their own private liturgical assemblies while rejecting those of the Church. The explicit condemnation of this exaggerated asceticism is balanced in an epilogue which affirms the importance of the Church’s traditional teaching on asceticism and continence. It passed twenty canons, including one that excommunicates anyone who refuses to receive communion from married priests (canon 4).
The Coimcil of Antioch was held in 341 and was attended by 97 Eastern bishops and the emperor Constantins. There are four credal statements associated with this council that avoided the homoousion terminology of Nicaea I. It passed 25 canons dealing mainly with bishops and priests, many of which have equivalents in the Apostolic Canons. A number of canons bring out the synodical nature of the early Church: if the bishops of a province cannot agree about an accused bishop they should call on neighbouring bishops to settle the matter (canon 14); a bishop should not be ordained without a synod and the presence of the metropolitan (canon 19); there should be a synod of bishops in every province twice a year ‘so that priests and deacons and all who think themselves unjustly dealt with... may obtain the judgment of the synod’ (canon 20). Canon 21 stipulates that a bishop must not be translated to another diocese. Bishops are to be elected by the provincial synod (canon 23).
The Council of Laodikeia in Phrygia was held between 343 and 381. It passed sixty canons. A number of canons deal with the prayers and readings in the liturgy. A bishop who is called to the synod must attend. Priests and deacons may not frequent taverns. Heretics may not enter the house of God and marriage with a heretic is forbidden; it is unlawful to feast with heathens, heretics, or Jews. The last canon lists the books of the Old and the New Testaments.
The Council of Serdica (modern Sofia) was summoned in 342 to decide on the orthodoxy of Athanasios, bishop of Alexandria (328-73). His refusal to compromise with Arianism led to his being deposed by a council held in Tyre in 335. He fled to Rome and the emperors Constans and Constantins summoned a council to settle the matter. It was meant to be an ecumenical council, attended by representatives of the East and the West. However, the Eastern bishops refused to participate because the Western bishops were allowing Athanasios to attend as the lawful bishop of Constantinople. So the Western bishops met by themselves and confirmed his restoration. This council is particularly famous for a number of disciplinary canons that it passed, and especially for the canon which constituted the bishop of Rome as a court of appeal for bishops in certain circmnstances. These canons acquired importance because they were for a time thought to have been passed by the First Council of Nicaea.
The last regional council mentioned in the TruUan canon is that of Carthage. By this is meant the canons of the African Church that were approved by a council held in 419. Aurelius held the primatial see of Carthage from c.391 until his death in 427, and, under the influence of St Augustine, called a number of episcopal synods between 393 and 419. The canons of all these councils were approved at a council in 419 and became known as the Code of Canons of the African Church. Dionysius Exiguus included these in his Roman collection and later in the sixth century they were added to the Greek canonical collections. There are 138 canons in the collection and they deal with many of the questions we have already seen in the other regional councils. Bishops, priests, and deacons should abstain from having intercourse with their wives and observe a ritual continence in the period when they are performing the sacraments (canons 4 and 25). This would imply that there were married bishops and priests in Carthage at that time. A priest condemned by his own bishop may appeal to the neighbouring bishops (canon u). Meetings of the bishops of a region are to take place regularly (canon 21). Many of the canons deal with Donatism and the secular arm is asked to come to the aid of the Catholic Church. ‘The most religious emperor' is to be asked to remove pagan idols and temples (canon 58).
There are two councils that took place with the participation of both Greeks and Latins but which were not accepted by the Greek Church. These are the Council of Lyons in 1274 and the Council of Florence in 1439. However, these two councils will feature in the following section which deals with the points of division between the Greek East and the Latin West.
What emerges from this survey is the key role that councils of bishops played in the early centuries. The normal way of going about solving problems was to call a council of the bishops of the region. Constantine called the first ecumenical council as the most effective way of trying to restore unity to a divided Church. This set the pattern for the other ecumenical councils of the first millennium. Later in the fourth century, as we have seen, regional bishops proceeded in a similar way in different parts of the East. The Church in Africa acted in the same way. Canon law grew out these coimcils. Soon collections of these canons were made, as we know from the first canon of the Council of Chalcedon: ‘We have deemed it right that the canons hitherto issued by the saintly fathers at each and every synod should remain in force'. In this way church law was the sum of the decisions reached by bishops in coimcil. This led to the practice of directing the Church by means of episcopal synods. Hence the canons stipulating that the bishops of every region should meet in council twice a year. This was regarded as so important that we find canons on the subject in a number of the early councils.
All this demonstrates how the coUegiality of the bishops was exercised in practice. A similar synodical approach was followed in Syria and Persia by the Assyrian Church of the East and by the Syrian Orthodox Church. Also in the West many local synods were convoked to deal with church discipline. In short, throughout the whole Church in the first millennium, in the East and in the West, the normal method used to direct Christians was through regular meetings of the bishops.
References
The canons discussed in this chapter can be found in the following collections:
PG 137 and 138. These volumes contain the canons in Greek and Latin with Balsamon’s commentary.
Percival, H. R. (ed.) 1991. The Nicene and Post-Nicene FatherSy 2nd Ser. vol. 14: The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church, their Canons and Dogmatic Decrees together with the Canons of all the Local Synods which have received Ecumenical Acceptance (Edinburgh-Michigan) (this has the canons in English with useful historical introductions to each coimcil and short commentaries on the canons).
Rhalles, G., and Potles, M. 1852-9. Syntagma ton theion kai hieron kanonon, 6 vols. (Athens) (this contains the canons in Greek with Theodore Balsamon’s commentary and has for many years been the standard edition).
Tanner, N. P. (ed.) 1990. Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, 2 vols. (London) (vol. i contains the canons of the seven ecumenical councils discussed in this chapter with the texts in Greek, Latin, and English).
Nedungatt, G., and Featherstone, M. (eds.) 1995. The Council in Trullo Revisited (Rome) (this has the canons from the Trullan Council in the original Greek with a Latin version and an English translation; the volume also contains a number of papers on the Trullan Council).
For a discussion of these councils:
LHuillier, P. 1996. The Church of the Ancient Councils: The Disciplinary Work of the First Four Ecumenical Councils (New York).
Tanner, N. P. 2001. The Councils of the Church: A Short History (New York).
World History
