Orientalizing Gallaecia through the Capitula Martini of St. Martin of Braga: Select Canons of the Council of Ancyra (314)

The Council of Ancyra of 314 that met in the capital of Galatia was in part introduced into what was believed to be the most remote region known as finis terrae of the West, Gallaecia in Hispania. It was the missionary from Pannonia, Martin of Braga who through his collection called the Capitula ex Orientalium Patrum Synodis a Martino Episcopo Ordinata Atque Collecta [Capitula Martini = CM], where within its 84 canons were included select canons from the Council of Ancyra. Some have suspected the source for the Capitula Martini was Dionysius Exiguus’ Collectio canonum ecclesiasticorum Graecorum. Martin recalled that a Greek collection of the canons had been translated earlier to Latin but in his view, it was defective and in need of correction. With the original Greek and the Latin versions, he did just that. This article explores why Martin chose the canons that he did from Ancyra. It is also an example of how these canons from the East found their way into canon law collections in the West.