The Letter of the Synod of Gangra

Eusebius, Aelian, Eugenius, Olympius, Bithynicus, Gregory, Philetus, Pappus, Eulalius, Hypatius, Proaeresius, Basil and Bassus, assembled in the holy synod at Gangra, to our most honored lords and fellow ministers in Armenia: greetings in the Lord. [a] The most holy synod of bishops, assembled in the church at Gangra on account of certain necessary matters of church business, also inquired into the matters that concern Eustathius. It found that many things had been done unlawfully by these very men who are partisans of Eustathius, and so it was compelled to make definitions, which it has hastened to make known to all, to remove whatever he has done amiss. For from their utter loathing of marriage, and from their acceptance of the proposition that no one living in marriage has any hope toward God, many misguided married women have left their husbands, and husbands their wives. Then afterward, unable to restrain themselves, they have fallen into adultery, and so, through such a principle as this, have come to shame. They were found, moreover, stirring up separations from the houses of God and from the church; treating the church and its members with disdain; setting up separate meetings and assemblies, with different teachings and other things in opposition to the churches and to what is done in the church; wearing strange clothing, to the destruction of the common custom of dress; and dividing among themselves and their followers, as saints, the first fruits of the church, which from the beginning have been given to the church. Slaves also were leaving their masters and, because of their own strange clothing, treating their masters with insolence. Women, too, disregarding decent custom, were wearing men’s clothes instead of women’s, thinking they would be justified by them; while many of them, under a pretext of piety, were cutting off the growth of hair that is natural to a woman. These persons were also found fasting on the Lord’s day, despising the sacredness of that free day, but scorning the fasts appointed in the church and eating on them. Some of them loathe the eating of meat. Nor do they tolerate prayers in the houses of married people; on the contrary, they despise such prayers when they are made, and often refuse to take part when offerings are made in the houses of married people. They scorn married presbyters and refuse to touch their ministrations. They condemn the services held in honor of the martyrs, and those who gather or serve at them; and the rich also who do not give up all their wealth, as having nothing to hope for from God; and many other things that no one could recount. For each one of them, when he forsook the rule of the church, took up laws of his own that tended, as it were, to isolation. There was no common judgment among them all; whatever anyone thought up, he put forward, to the scandal of the church and to his own destruction. [b] That is why the holy synod present at Gangra was compelled, on these accounts, to condemn them and to set out definitions declaring them cast out of the church; but if they should repent and anathematize every one of these false teachings, then they could be restored. And so the holy synod has set out in detail everything they ought to anathematize before they are received. And if anyone will not submit to these decrees, he shall be anathematized as a heretic, excommunicated and cast out of the church. And it will be the bishops’ duty to keep the same rule toward all who may be found with them. [e]