Synod of Elvira
- Date
- c. 300–314 (date disputed; often c. 305–306)
- Place
- Iliberris (Elvira), near modern Granada, Hispania
What it decided
81 canons of very strict discipline are attributed to it: long penances or exclusion from communion for idolatry, adultery and other grave sins. Canon 33 requires bishops, presbyters and deacons to abstain from their wives (the earliest known canon on clerical continence), and canon 36 forbids pictures in churches “so that what is venerated and adored is not painted on the walls.”
- Canons
- 81
Who recognises it
None (local Hispanic synod)