Synod of Gangra (c. 340)

A synod of Paphlagonia held at Gangra about 340 against the followers of Eustathius of Sebaste, ascetics who despised marriage, meat, wealth and the ordinary assemblies of the Church. Its twenty canons anathematize anyone who condemns marriage or a married priest, or who fasts on Sunday out of contempt, and its synodal letter explains that the Church honours virginity without dishonouring marriage. The chain keeps it as the Church's early balance between the two.