Council of Jerusalem

Decided that Gentile believers did not need to be circumcised or take on the whole Mosaic law in order to be saved. In a letter (the “apostolic decree”) it asked them to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled and from sexual immorality (Acts 15:28–29).

Convoked by

The apostles and elders in Jerusalem (Acts 15), with Peter, James, Paul and Barnabas

Not counted among the ecumenical councils; all traditions regard it as an apostolic assembly and a model for later councils.