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 Synod of Ancyra

SYNOD OF ANCYRA.—An important ecclesiastical synod was held at Ancyra, the seat of the Roman administration for the province of Galatia, in A.D. 314. The season was soon after Easter; the year may be safely deduced from the fact that the first nine canons are intended to repair havoc wrought in the church by persecution, which ceased after the overthrow of Maximinus in 313. The tenth canon tolerates the marriages of deacons who previous to ordination had reserved the right to take a wife; the thirteenth forbids chorepiscopi to ordain presbyters or deacons; the eighteenth safeguards the right of the people in objecting to the appointment of a bishop whom they do not wish.

See Mansi, ii. 514 ff.  The critical text of R. B. Rackham (Oxford, 1891), Studia Biblica et ecclesiastica, iii. 139 ff., is conveniently reprinted in Lauchert 29 ff.  H. R. Percival translates and comments on an old text in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (2^nd series), xiv. 61 ff.  An elaborate discussion is found in Hefele, Concilien- geschichte (2^nd ed.), i. 219 ff. (English translation, i. 199 ff.); more briefly in Herzog-Hauck (3^rd ed.), i. 497.