The UC Santa Barbara Undergraduate Journal of History

In an effort to set official precedent to festering doctrinal issues and create uniformity between the juxtaposed episcopal and imperial institutions, the first ecumenical councils of Christian church, ranging from 325 to 767 CE, were called to action. Over multiple lengthy council sessions, religious leaders and governmental officials assembled to engage in intense philosophical and theological debate, ultimately issuing sets of creeds and canons to be enacted into official imperial legislation. While many of the canons were primarily intended to cast authority over the male clergy and the laity, the rulings nevertheless had significant implications on the social, moral, and sexual autonomy of women. From the initial seven councils, I will focus solely on canons that explicitly regulated women; the First Council of Nicaea (325 A.D.), the Council of Chalcedon (451 A.D.), the Second Council of Constantinople (553 A.D.), and the Second Council of Nicaea (787 A.D.).The objective of this article is to historically contextualize and critically analyze specific canons to investigate the liminal space women were granted. The most prevalent themes among canons pertaining to women concerned the regulation of their living situation, delineation of proper communal dining hours, and the encouragement of celibacy within marriage. An examination of these texts reveals a notable absence of prescriptive directives for clergymen and laity to adhere to, thus in turn, sanctioning non-acestic lifestyles among the governed body. The institutionalization of such ambiguity under the ecclesiastical framework allowed for interpretive flexibility and fostered consensual and exploitative relationships.