First Council of Toledo facts for kids
The First Council of Toledo was a big meeting held in Toledo, Spain, in September of the year 400. It was led by Archbishop Patronus. The main goal of this meeting was to deal with a religious group called the Priscillians. The council wanted to say that the Priscillian beliefs were wrong. They also wanted to welcome back many Priscillians into the Catholic Church, including a Priscillian bishop named Dictinnius.
Another important goal was to support the Nicene Creed, which is a main statement of Christian beliefs. Eighteen other bishops from Spain also took part, like Lampius, who was the bishop of Barcelona. The council also made some changes to how the clergy (church leaders like priests and deacons) should act. They published twenty new church rules, called canons. It would be 47 years until another big council met in Toledo.
Church Rules from the Council
The First Council of Toledo created twenty important rules for the church. These rules helped guide how clergy and church members should live and behave. Here are some of the key rules they made:
Rules for Clergy
- Rule 1: Deacons or priests who were married before new church laws were made could not be promoted to higher positions.
- Rule 2: People who had done penance (shown they were sorry for sins) could not become clergy.
- Rule 3: A church reader who married a widow could only become a sub-deacon at most.
- Rule 5: Every church leader had to attend church services every day.
- Rule 8: People who had served in the military could become clergy, but they could not become deacons.
- Rule 10: Church leaders who were not fully free (for example, if they had a patron) could not be ordained without their patron's permission.
- Rule 12: A church leader could not leave their own bishop to work for another bishop.
Rules for Church Members
- Rule 6: A virgin dedicated to God should not spend time with men she was not closely related to, especially not with a church reader or confessor.
- Rule 9: A virgin dedicated to God, or a widow, could not sing church songs at home with her servants or a confessor if the bishop was not there. Evening prayers (called Lucernarium) also could not be held without a bishop, priest, or deacon present.
- Rule 11: If a powerful person stole from a church leader, a monk, or a poor person and refused to answer to the bishop, letters would be sent to all bishops. This person would then be treated as excommunicated (shut out from the church) everywhere until they returned the stolen property.
- Rule 13: People who never took part in communion in the church would be shut out.
- Rule 14: Those who did not truly consume the Holy Eucharist (communion bread and wine) they received from the priest would be seen as disrespectful to holy things.
- Rule 15: No one was allowed to have dealings with a person who had been excommunicated.
- Rule 19: Only a bishop, not a priest, could bless the holy oil (chrism). Deacons or sub-deacons would get this oil from the bishop before Easter.
See also
In Spanish: I Concilio de Toledo para niños
