Synod of Neocaesarea

The Synod of Neo-Caesarea was a church synod held in Neocaesarea, Pontus, shortly after the Synod of Ancyra, probably about 314 or 315 (although Hefele inclines to put it somewhat later).

Its principal work was the adoption of fifteen disciplinary canons, which were subsequently accepted as ecumenical by the Council of Chalcedon, 451, and of which the most important are the following:

i. degrading priests who marry after ordination

vii. forbidding a priest to be present at the second marriage of any one

viii. refusing ordination to the husband of an adulteress (and if she commit adultery after his ordination, he must put her away)

xi. fixing thirty years as the age below which one might not be ordained (because Christ began His public ministry at the age of thirty)

xiii. affording to city priests the precedence over country priests

xiv. permitting Chorepiscopi to celebrate the sacraments

xv. requiring that there be seven deacons in every city.

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Neo-Caesarea, Synod of". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. This work in turn cites Mansi ii. pp. 539–551; Hardouin i. pp. 282–286; Hefele (2nd ed.) i. pp. 242–251 (Eng. trans. i. pp. 222–230).