§ 116. Diocesan Assemblies

In that same period when presbyteral councils arose at the episcopal sees (§. 113), we find that the bishops of various churches, on extraordinary occasions, convoked to common counsel all the clergy, or at least the principal priests of their dioceses, for the discussion of some question of greater importance, on which the bishop concerned wished to hear the voice and opinion of all his clergy. In the 3rd century we see this in the Church of Alexandria on the occasion of the Chiliastic disputes, and in the Church of Carthage in the time of Cyprian. In the 4th century, on the occasion of the Arian disputes, priestly gatherings at their bishops’ sees are frequently mentioned; likewise in the 5th century, in the time of John Chrysostom. From that time it enters into general church practice, and becomes the institution that is today called the diocesan assembly, in Greek: χωρικὴ σύνοδος, as distinct from the ἐπαρχιακὴ σύνοδος (the provincial, metropolitan council), and which is defined as “the council which the bishop forms with his subordinate priests.”[1] At these assemblies, under the presidency of the competent bishop, or of his deputy, representatives of the clergy of the whole diocese take part, and there are discussed all the needs of the diocese, both as concerns the church, the pastoral office, and clerical discipline, and equally the popular education and the Christian upbringing of the people. These assemblies, as an institution which developed out of the presbyteral council, are nothing other than diocesan councils in which the unanimous opinions of the whole diocesan clergy on the matters concerned are formulated by agreement, and these opinions are submitted to the judgment of the consistory, which then issues the relevant ordinances on the basis of them, ordinances which then bind everyone in the diocese.

Such diocesan assemblies exist today in every well-organized diocese. In Russia they are called епархіальные съѣзды [diocesan congresses]. Their task is: popular education, care for parish schools, for the building of churches, for the construction of houses for the clergy, for the enlightenment of non-Russians [inorodtsy] in Christian doctrine, for the spread of the Orthodox faith among the Old Believers [raskolniki], and likewise the discussion of various questions of pastoral practice.

The topics of discussion at the assembly are determined by the diocesan bishop himself; but the priests too bring forward various occurrences from their pastoral life, and these occurrences are discussed and proposals adopted as to how one is to proceed in future. So that the clergy should not be burdened with the business of electing delegates to these assemblies, it has been established since 1884 that only the благочинные (district protopresbyters) come to the diocesan assemblies.[2]

Similar to these are the священническіе собранія that take place in Bulgaria. These assemblies meet every year on 1 June, in the place where the episcopal see is, and under the presidency of the diocesan bishop or his deputy, and there questions concerning the moral and material condition of the diocesan clergy, the moral-religious condition of the people, and the means that ought to be employed to improve that condition, are discussed. The proposals of the assembly are submitted to the higher spiritual authority, which issues appropriate ordinances according to those proposals. In the assembly there take part those priests from the parishes who are elected each year for that purpose and who represent the clergy.[3]

In the Metropolitanate of Sibiu these diocesan priestly assemblies have developed into a particular kind of assembly, in the spirit that pervades the whole of today’s ecclesiastical constitution and administration in that metropolitanate. The diocesan assembly, which by general Orthodox church law ought to be composed solely and exclusively of clergy under the presidency of their bishop or his deputy, has in the Metropolitanate of Sibiu become a national-ecclesiastical assembly, and is called by the improper name of diocesan synod (sinodul eparhial). This “synod” is composed of 60 members, among whom 40 laymen and 20 clergy, and for all these members the mandate lasts three years, after which new members are again elected. This “synod” meets every year on Thomas Sunday. The competence of the “synod” is enormous. Besides all matters concerning church property and popular education, this “synod” elects the bishop, and the episcopal synod subjects the bishop thus elected only to a canonical examination; it exercises care of clerical discipline and issues its ordinances thereon, examines and issues instructions concerning theological institutions, assesses and awards prizes for scholarly books of theological content, and, what is especially characteristic, sees to it “that the difficulties which appear in the execution of the canons or in the fulfillment of church ordinances be removed.”[4]

This is likewise the case today in the Metropolitanate of Karlovci. There too a diocesan assembly exists, only with a more limited competence than the “diocesan synods” of the Metropolitanate of Sibiu. The number of members of these assemblies varies according to the extent of the diocese concerned, from 30 to 135. Besides the diocesan bishop and the members ex officio, among the elected delegates to the diocesan assembly two-thirds are laymen and one-third clergy.[5]

III. ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANS IN THE DISTRICTS OF THE DIOCESES.