Council of Laodicea

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Council of Laodicea

The Council of Laodicea was a regional synod of approximately thirty clerics from Asia Minor, that assembled about 363-364 A.D. in Laodicea

Laodicea on the Lycus

Laodicea on the Lycus was the ancient metropolis of Phrygia Pacatiana , built on the river Lycus , in Anatolia near the modern village of Eskihisar , Denizli Province, Turkey....
, Phrygia Pacatiana

Phrygia

In antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Phrygians initially lived in the Southern Balkans; according to Herodotus, under the name of Bryges, changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the Hellespont....
.

Historical context
The council took place soon after the conclusion of the war between the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
and the Persian Empire

Persian Empire

The 'Persian Empire' was a series of successive Iranian or Persianization empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland, and beyond in Southwest Asia, South Asia, Central Asia and the Caucasus....
, waged by Emperor Julian

Julian the Apostate

Flavius Claudius Julianus, known also as Julian or Julian the Apostate , was Roman Emperor of the Constantinian dynasty. He was the last non-Christian Roman Emperor, and expended much energy during his reign attempting to supplant the growing power of Christianity within the empire with officially revived Religion in ancient Rom...
. Julian, the last Constantinian emperor

Constantinian dynasty

The Constantinian dynasty is an informal name for the ruling family of the Roman Empire from Constantius Chlorus to the death of Julian the Apostate in 363....
, attempted a revival of paganism and resumed discrimination of Christians. After his death in battle on June 26, 363, officers of the army elected the Christian Jovian

Jovian

Flavius Iovianus, anglicized to Jovian, was a soldier elected Roman Emperor by the army on 27 June 363 upon the death of Emperor Julian the Apostate during his Sassanid Empire campaign....
as his successor, who in his precarious position far from supplies ended the war with Persia unfavorably for Rome.

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Encyclopedia

The Council of Laodicea was a regional synod of approximately thirty clerics from Asia Minor, that assembled about 363-364 A.D. in Laodicea

Laodicea on the Lycus

Phrygia

Historical context

The council took place soon after the conclusion of the war between the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

Persian Empire

Julian the Apostate

Constantinian dynasty

Jovian

Valentinian I

Flavius Valentinianus, known in English as Valentinian I, was Roman Emperor from 364 until his death. Valentinian is often referred to as the "last great western emperor"....
, who named his brother Valens

Valens

Flamin Julius Valens was Roman Emperor , after he was given the Eastern part of the empire by his brother Valentinian I. Valens, sometimes known as the Last of the Romans, was defeated and killed in the Battle of Adrianople, which marked the beginning of the fall of the Western Roman Empire....
Emperor of the East.

Major concerns

The major concerns of the Council involved constricting the conduct of church members. The Council expressed its decrees in the form of written rules or canons. Among the sixty canon

Canon law

Canon law is internal ecclesiastical law governing the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church churches, and the Anglicanism of churches....
s decreed, several aimed at:

Maintaining order among bishop
Bishop

A bishop is an ordination or consecration member of the Clergy#Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight....
s, clerics
Clergy

Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. The term comes from the Greek language ?????? - kleros, "a lot", "that which is assigned by lot" or metaphorically, "heritage"....
and laypeople (canons 3-5, 11-13, 21-27, 40-44, 56-57)
Enforcing modest behaviour of clerics and laypeople (4, 27, 30, 36, 53-55)
Regulating approach to heretics
Heresy

Heresy is an introduced change to some system of belief, especially a religion, that conflicts with the previously established canon of that belief....
(canons 6-10, 31-34, 37), Jews (canons 16, 37-38) and pagans (canon 39)
Outlawing the keeping of the Saturday sabbath and solemnifying Sunday as the Christian sabbath (canon 29)
Outlining liturgical practices
Liturgy

A liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to their particular traditions. The word may refer to an elaborate formal ritual such as the Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy and Mass , or a daily activity such as the Muslim salat and Jewish Jewish services....
(canons 14-20, 21-23, 25, 28, 58-59)
Restrictions during Lent
Lent

Lent, in Christianity, is the period of the liturgical year leading up to Easter. Conventionally it is described as being forty days long, though different Christian denominations calculate the forty days differently....
(canons 45, 49-52)
Admission and instruction of catechumen
Catechumen

In ecclesiology, a catechumen is one receiving instruction from a catechist in the principles of the Christianity with a view to baptism. The title and practice is most often used by Orthodox Christians and by Roman Catholics....
s and neophyte
Neophyte

A neophyte is a beginner. In the context of Christianity, the term often refers to a newly ordained priest, a person who recently took a monastic vow, or a new convert to the religion....
s (canons 45-48)
Specifying the Biblical canon
Biblical canon

A Biblical canon or canon of scripture is a list or set of Bible books considered to be authoritative as scripture by a particular religious community, generally in Judaism or Christianity....
(canons 59-60)

Biblical Canon

The 59th canon restricted the readings in church to only the canonical

Biblical canon

A Biblical canon or canon of scripture is a list or set of Bible books considered to be authoritative as scripture by a particular religious community, generally in Judaism or Christianity....
books of the Old

Old Testament

In Western Christianity, the Old Testament refers to the books that form the first of the two-part Christianity Bible Biblical canon. These works correspond to the Hebrew Bible , with some variations and additions....
and New Testament

New Testament

The New Testament is the name given to the second major division of the Christianity Bible, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
s. The 60th canon listed these books, with the New Testament containing 26 books, omitting the Book of Revelation

Book of Revelation

The Book of Revelation, also called Revelation to John, Apocalypse of John , and Revelation of Jesus Christ is the last Biblical canon of the New Testament in the Christian Bible....
, and the Old Testament including the 22 books of the Hebrew Bible

Tanakh

The Tanakh is the Bible used in Judaism. The name "Tanakh" is a Hebrew language Acronym and initialism formed from the initial Hebrew alphabet of the Tanakh's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim - hence TaNaKh....
plus the Book of Baruch
Book of Baruch

The Book of Baruch, occasionally referred to as 1 Baruch, is called a deuterocanonical books or Biblical apocrypha book of the Bible. Although not in the Hebrew Bible, it is found in the Septuagint and in the Vulgate, and also in Theodotion's version....
and the Epistle of Jeremy
Epistle of Jeremy

The Letter of Jeremiah, also known as the Epistle of Jeremy, is a deuterocanonical book of the Old Testament; this letter purports to have been written by Jeremiah to the exiles who were to be taken captive into Babylon....
.

The 60th canon is missing from some manuscripts containing decrees of the council. Some have concluded from this omission that the canon was added later to specify the extent of the preceding 59th canon. Cyril of Jerusalem

Cyril of Jerusalem

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem was a distinguished theologian of the early Church . He is venerated as a saint by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, as well as in the Anglican Communion....
circa 350 produced a list matching that from the Council of Laodicea.

External links

with annotations
Philip Schaff (ed.), The Seven Ecumenical Councils (A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, vol. XIV), "The Canons of the Councils of Ancyra, Gangra, Neocæsarea, Antioch and Laodicea, which Canons were Accepted and Received by the Ecumenical Synods". .