Synod of Rome (721)
The Synod of Rome (721) (also known as the Council of Rome of 721) was a synod held in St. Peter’s Basilica under the authority of Pope Gregory II to establish canons to improve church discipline.
Background
On April 5, 721, Pope Gregory II opened a synod to deal with tightening up the rules of matrimony, and a number of minor offenses committed against the Church.[1] Present along with the Pope were nineteen Italian bishops, and three non-Italian bishops: Sindered of Toledo, Sedulius from Britain, and Fergustus Pictus from Scotland.[2] Also present were a number of Roman priests and deacons.
The seventeen canons of the synod
The synod drew up seventeen canons to improve church discipline.[3] These included a prohibition on marrying:
- 1. The widow of a priest;
- 2. Or a Deaconess;
- 3. Or a nun;
- 4. Or his spiritual Commater;
- 5. The wife of his brother;
- 6. Or his niece;
- 7. His stepmother or daughter-in-law;
- 8. His first cousin;
- 9. Or a relation, or the wife of a relation.
It further placed anathemas on:
- 10. A man marrying a widow;
- 11. A man who ravishes a virgin to whom he was not betrothed, in order to take her as his wife, even if she were to consent;
- 12. If a man is guilty of superstitious usages;
- 13. Anyone who violates the earlier commands of the Apostolic Church in regard to the olive-yards belonging to it.
It mentioned specific anathemas against:
- 14. Hadrian, who married the deaconess Epiphania;
- 15. As well as Epiphania herself;
- 16. And whoever helped her to marry.
Finally, the synod also anathematized:
- 17. Any cleric who lets his hair grow.
The synod finished its deliberations on the same day it started.
References
- Hefele, Charles Joseph; Clark, William R. (trans.), A History of the Councils of the Church from the Original Documents, Vol. V (1896)
- Mann, Horace K., The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Vol. I: The Popes Under the Lombard Rule, Part 2, 657-795 (1903)