Costantino e il concilio di Arles (314)

From Constantine's viewpoint the Council of Arles was the first oecumenical council of the Catholic Church; he organized, but did not attend it; to put an end to the Donatist controversy was his unique aim. From the ecclesiastical viewpoint it was a council related to the former council of Elvira and concerned with sacramental discipline; canons 3 and 7 are not to be interpreted as marks of the new relations between Church and Empire: canon 3 concerns soldiers, who esacaped military service and became bandits, canon 7 concerns the episcopal control on Christian people assolving public offices.