The ecclesiastical Council of Arles 314th was an attempt to face the conse
quences of the persecution of Christians in Western Europe and Proconsular Africa
at the beginning of the 4th century. The Council passed twenty-two canons, the
fourteenth of which attracts the most attention. This canon legitimizes the official
records kept during the process of investigating Christians, led by the persecutors,
as a criterion used by the Church when deciding on the ecclesiastical status of those
who survived the persecution, according to their behaviour during the torture.
Canon approaches the documents of the Roman administration with a sense of
complete trust without problematizing their official origin. Only the authority of
Emperor Constantine, as convener and patron of this Council, could guarantee the
authenticity of these official minutes. In this paper, we analyze the legitimacy of
using judgments, solutions, procedural decisions, forensic research, and the exper
tise of state judicial institutions in modern ecclesial court proceedings.