Council of Epaon

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The Council of Epaon in Burgundy (517) enacted the first legislation against wooden altars, forbidding the building of any but stone Altars.[1]

The Council, in canon xvi, allowed baptized heretics to be admitted to the Church by a rite of unction (Presbyteros, . . . si conversionem subitam petant, chrismate subvenire permittimus). This was the practice also in the East, but in Rome and Italy admission was by laying on of hands.[2]

It also "abrogate(d) completely in the entire Kingdom the consecration of widows who are named Deaconesses."[3]

It is also one of the witnesses to the rise of the practice of mitigation of canonical penance that became necessary due to the changing times and social conditions of Christians: a more severe penance could be replaced with something new and milder.[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia: History of the Christian Altar
  2. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia: Abjuration
  3. ^ Texts on Ordination of Women
  4. ^ http://www.catholicculture.org/library/view.cfm?recnum=1054 Enrico dal Covolo: The Historical Origin of Indulgences]