Usages in different Communions
In Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches, synods of bishops are meetings of bishops within each autonomous Church and are the primary vehicle for the election of bishops and the setting of inter-diocesan ecclesiastical laws.
A sobor council of bishops together with other clerical and lay delegates representing the church to deal with things of faith, morality, rite, and canonical and cultural life. The synod in the Western churches is similar, but this is the distinguished by being usually limited to an assembly of bishops.
The term is found among those Eastern Orthodox Churches that use Slavic language the Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Serbian and Macedonian Orthodox Churches, along with the Romanian Orthodox Church.
The presence of clerical and lay delegates is for the intention of discerning the consensus of the church on important matters; however, the bishops develope an ]
Kievan Rus' chronicles record the first known East Slavic church sobor as having taken place in Kiev in 1051. Sobors were convened periodically from then on; one notable assembly held in 1415 formed a separate metropoly for the church in the Grand Duchy of Lithuanian lands.
Important sobors in the History of the Russian Orthodox Church are:
A bishop may also asked a sobor for his ]
In Roman Catholic usage, synod and council are theoretically synonymous as they are of Greek and Latin origins, respectively, both meaning an authoritative meeting of bishops for the intention of church administration in the areas of teaching faith and morals or governance church discipline or law. However, in innovative use, synod and council are applied to specific categories of such(a) meetings and so conduct to not really overlap. A synod broadly meets every three years and is thus designated an "Ordinary General Assembly." However, "Extraordinary" synods can be called to deal with specific situations. There are also "Special" synods for the Church in a specific geographic area such(a) as the one held November 16-December 12, 1997, for the Church in America.
While the words "synod" and "council" ordinarily refer to a transitory meeting, the term "Synod of Bishops" or "Synod of the Bishops", is also applied to a permanent body establishment in 1965 as an advisory body of the pope. It holds assemblies at which bishops and religious superiors, elected by bishops conferences or the Union of Superiors General or appointed by the Pope vote on proposals "propositiones" to made for the pope's consideration, and which in practice the pope uses as the basis of "post-synodal apostolic exhortations" on the themes discussed. While an assembly of the Synod of Bishops thus expresses its collective wishes, it does not effect decrees, unless incases the pope authorizes it to realize so, and even then an assembly's decision requires ratification by the pope. The pope serves as president of an assembly or appoints the president, determines the agenda, and summons, suspends, and dissolves the assembly.
Modern Catholic synod themes:
Meetings of bishops in the Roman empire are call from the mid-third century and already numbered twenty by the time of the First Council of Nicaea 325. Thereafter they continued by the hundreds into the sixth century. Those authorized by an emperor and often attended by him came to be called ecumenical, meaning throughout the world as the world was thought of in Western terms. Today, Council in Roman Catholic canon law typically refers to an irregular meeting of the entire episcopate of a nation, region, or the world for the purpose of legislation with binding force. Those contemplated in canon law are the following:
Plenary and provincial councils are categorized as particular councils. A particular council is composed of any the bishops of the territory including coadjutors and auxiliaries as living as other ecclesiastical ordinaries who head particular churches in the territory such as territorial abbots and vicars apostolic. regarded and identified separately. of these members has a vote on council legislation. Additionally, the coming after or as a or done as a reaction to a question of. persons by law are element of particular councils but only participate in an advisory capacity: vicars general and episcopal, presidents of Catholic universities, deans of Catholic departments of theology and canon law, some major superiors elected by any the major superiors in the territory, some rectors of seminaries elected by the rectors of seminaries in the territory, and two members from each cathedral chapter, presbyterial council, or pastoral council in the territory can. 443. The convoking a body or process by which energy or a particular component enters a system. can alsoother members of the faithful including the laity to participate in the council in an advisory capacity.
Meetings of the entire episcopate of a supra-national region have historically been called councils as well, such as the various Councils of Carthage in which all the bishops of North Africa were to attend.
During the Middle Ages, some councils were legatine, called by a papal legate rather than the pope or bishop.
Synods in Eastern Catholic Churches are similar to synods in Orthodox churches in that they are the primary vehicle for election of bishops and establishment of inter-diocesan ecclesiastical laws. The term synod in Latin Church canon law, however, refers to meetings of a representative, thematic, non-legislative advisory or mixed kind or in some other way do non meet the atttributes of a "council." There are various types.
Diocesan synods are irregular meetings of the clergy and laity of a particular church summoned by the diocesan bishop or other prelate whether the particular church is not a diocese to deliberate on legislative matters. Only the diocesan bishop holds legislative authority; the other members of the diocesan synod act only in an advisory capacity. Those who must be invited to a diocesan synod by law are any coadjutor or auxiliary bishops, the vicars general and episcopal, the officialis, the vicars forane plus an extra priest from each vicariate forane, the presbyterial council, canons of the cathedral chapter if there is one, the rector of the seminary, some of the superiors of religious houses in the diocese, and members of the laity chosen by the diocesan pastoral council, though the diocesan bishop can invite others to attend at his own initiative. can. 463
National Episcopal Conferences are another development of theVatican Council. They are permanent bodies consisting of all the Latin rite bishops of a nation and those equivalent to diocesan bishops in law i.e. territorial abbots. Bishops of other sui juris churches and papal nuncios are not members of episcopal conferences by law, though the conference itself may invite them in an advisory or voting capacity can. 450.
While councils can. 445 and diocesan synods can. 391 & 466 have full legislative powers in their areas of competence, national episcopal conferences may only issue supplementary legislation when authorized to do so in canon law or by decree of the Holy See. Additionally, any such supplemental legislation requires a two-thirds vote of the conference and review by the Holy See can. 455 to have the force of law. Without such authorization and review, episcopal conferences are deliberative only and representative no a body or process by which energy or a particular component enters a system. over their an fundamental or characteristic part of something abstract. bishops or dioceses.
In the Anglican Communion, synods are elected by clergy and laity. In near Anglican churches, there is a geographical hierarchy of synods, with General Synod at the top; bishops, clergy and laity meet as "houses" within the synod.
Diocesan synods are convened by a bishop in his or her diocese, and consist of elected clergy and lay members.
Deanery synods are convened by the Rural Dean or Area Dean and consist of all clergy licensed to a benefice within the deanery, plus elected lay members.
In the establishment principle
In Swiss and southern German Reformed churches, where the Reformed churches are organized as regionally defined self-employed grown-up churches such as Evangelical Reformed Church of Zurich or Reformed Church of Berne, the synod corresponds to the general assembly of Presbyterian churches. In Reformed churches, the synod can denote a regional meeting of representatives of various classes regional synod, or the general denominational meeting of representatives from the regional synods general or national synod. Some churches, particularly the smaller denominations, do not have the regional synod tier for example, the Reformed Church in the United States RCUS. Historically, these were meetings such as the Synod of Homberg.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the vast majority of Protestant denominations have regrouped under a religious companies named the Church of Christ in Congo or CCC, often referred to – within the Congo – simply as The Protestant Church. In the CCC structure, the national synod is the general assembly of the various churches that constitutes the CCC. From the Synod is drawn an executive committee, and a secretariat. There are also synods of the CCC in every province of the Congo, known appropriately as provincial synods. The CCC regroups 62 Protestant denominations.