Council of Epaon

The Council of Epaon in Burgundy (517) enacted the first legislation against wooden altars, forbidding the building of any but stone Altars.Catholic Encyclopedia: History of the Christian Altar
The Council, in canon xvi, allowed baptized heretics to be admitted to the Church by a rite of unction (Presbyteros, . . . si conversionem subitam petant, chrismate subvenire permittimus). This was the practice also in the East, but in Rome and Italy admission was by laying on of hands.Catholic Encyclopedia: Abjuration
It also "abrogate(d) completely in the entire Kingdom the consecration of widows who are named Deaconesses."Texts on Ordination of Women
It is also one of the witnesses to the rise of the practice of mitigation of canonical penance that became necessary due to the changing times and social conditions of Christians: a more severe penance could be replaced with something new and milder.Enrico dal Covolo: The Historical Origin of Indulgences
==References==
Category:Altars
Category:Canon law (Catholic Church)