Canons of the Council of Gangra

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If anyone finds fault with marriage, and abhors or condemns a faithful and devout woman who sleeps with her husband, as though she were unable to enter the Kingdom, let him be anathema.

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If anyone condemns a person who eats meat with reverence and faith, apart from blood, things sacrificed to idols, and things strangled, as though because he partakes of meat he had no hope, let him be anathema.

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If anyone, under pretext of piety, teaches a slave to despise his master and to withdraw from service, and not to serve his own master with goodwill and every honor, let him be anathema.

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If anyone makes a distinction against a married presbyter, as though it were not right to partake of the offering when he has celebrated the Liturgy, let him be anathema.

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If anyone teaches that the house of God and the assemblies held in it are to be despised, let him be anathema.

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If anyone holds church privately apart from the Church and, despising the Church, wishes to perform the things of the Church without the presence of a presbyter acting according to the bishop's judgment, let him be anathema.

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If anyone wishes to receive or give ecclesiastical offerings outside the Church contrary to the judgment of the bishop, or of the person entrusted with such matters, and is unwilling to act with his knowledge, let him be anathema.

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If anyone gives or receives an offering apart from the bishop, or from the person appointed to administer works of beneficence, let both the giver and the receiver be anathema.

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If anyone lives in virginity or continence because he has withdrawn from marriage as something abominable, and not because of the goodness and holiness of virginity itself, let him be anathema.

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If anyone who lives in virginity for the Lord exalts himself over those who are married, let him be anathema.

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If anyone despises those who, from faith, hold agape meals and summon the brethren in honor of the Lord, and refuses to share in the invitations because he belittles what is being done, let him be anathema.

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If any man, because of a supposed asceticism, uses a cloak and, as though possessing righteousness from this, condemns those who with reverence wear the customary bēroi and make use of the other ordinary and customary clothing, let him be anathema.

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If any woman, because of a supposed asceticism, changes her clothing and takes up men's clothing instead of the customary women's clothing, let her be anathema.

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If any woman leaves her husband and wishes to withdraw because she abhors marriage, let her be anathema.

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If anyone leaves his own children and does not nurture them, nor, so far as it lies with him, lead them toward the piety proper to them, but neglects them under pretext of asceticism, let him be anathema.

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If any children withdraw from their parents, especially believing parents, under pretext of piety, and do not render the honor due to their parents, piety of course being held in first place, let them be anathema.

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If any woman, because of a supposed asceticism, cuts off the hair which God gave as a reminder of subjection, thereby setting aside the commandment of subjection, let her be anathema.

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If anyone, because of a supposed asceticism, fasts on the Lord's Day, let him be anathema.

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If any of those practicing asceticism, without bodily necessity, becomes arrogant and sets aside the fasts handed down for common observance and kept by the Church, because a supposedly perfect reasoning resides in him, let him be anathema.

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If anyone, with a proud disposition and abhorring them, finds fault with the assemblies at the martyrs' shrines, or with the liturgies performed in them and the commemorations of the martyrs, let him be anathema.

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We write these things not to cut off those who wish to practice asceticism in the Church of God according to the Scriptures, but those who take the pretext of asceticism as an occasion for pride, exalt themselves over those living more simply, and introduce innovations contrary to the Scriptures and the ecclesiastical canons. We therefore admire virginity with humility; we accept continence practiced with dignity and piety; we esteem withdrawal from worldly affairs with humility; we honor honorable married life; we do not despise wealth joined with righteousness and beneficence; we praise simplicity and plainness of clothing used without affectation merely for care of the body; but we reject loose and luxurious display in dress. We honor the houses of God and embrace the assemblies held in them as holy and beneficial, not confining piety within buildings, but honoring every place built in the name of God. We welcome assembly in the Church itself for the benefit of all; we bless the exceeding beneficence of the brethren which, according to the traditions, is carried out through the Church for the poor; and, to sum up, we pray that everything handed down by the divine Scriptures and the apostolic traditions be done in the Church.