First Synod of Arles: 314 AD

The First Synod of Arles was one of the first church bodies to legally meet within the Roman Empire. It took place a year after the Edict of Milan, jointly issued east and west, in which Christianity became a legal religion within the Roman state. This council was the first called by Constantine I the Great, and would be the forerunner for the much larger First Council of Nicaea. It attempted to address: the date of Easter, Donatism, excommunication of prostitutes and charioteers, regulation of clergy, anabaptism, and clarification of the rite of baptism for those entering the faith.