§ 88. II. The Constitution of the Regional Churches—1. On Regional Councils

II. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE REGIONAL CHURCHES

1. On regional councils.

Just as for the ecumenical Church the organ of church authority is the ecumenical council, so for the local, regional church it is the regional council (σύνοδος τοπική). The regional council derives from the church practice of the apostolic age, and we already find, from the middle of the second century, that in various regional churches bishops assembled in council whenever, in one or another regional church, some more important question arose that required common deliberation in order to be properly resolved.[1] The canonical expression of this practice is already found in the apostolic canons. Once the respective regional churches, in which there were several bishops with their appointed first bishop (ἐν αὐτοῖς πρῶτον), had taken shape, Apostolic canon 34 ordains that no bishop may undertake anything of importance without the knowledge of his first bishop, and likewise that this first bishop is to do nothing without the knowledge of the other bishops. This was a general provision; and Apostolic canon 37 already establishes the basic norm that “a council of bishops must assemble twice a year, so that they may jointly examine the dogmas of piety and resolve whatever church disputes arise.” In the fourth century, canon 2 of the Second Ecumenical Council ordains that all the affairs of each individual regional church are to be governed by the respective regional council, which is to be made up of all the bishops of that regional church. These regional councils are usually called, in the canonical sources, the eparchial council (ἡ τῆς ἐπαρχίας σύνοδος), that is, a council made up of all the bishops of the given “eparchia,” that is, of one church district headed by a metropolitan, for which reason this council was also called the metropolitan council (ἡ οἰκεία τοῦ μητροπολίτου σύνοδος).[2]

From these councils are to be distinguished other, further regional councils, mentioned in the canonical sources, which are called the diocesan council (ἡ τῆς διοικήσεως σύνοδος), that is, a council made up of all the bishops and metropolitans of one extensive church district, which was formerly called a “diocese” and later a patriarchate. On account of this latter name, these councils are also called the patriarchal council (ἡ πατριαρχικὴ σύνοδος). Such a council is spoken of in canon 1 of the Third Ecumenical Council, and it used to be convened in extraordinary circumstances, when judgment had to be pronounced upon some metropolitan—that is, in matters that exceeded the bounds of the competence of the eparchial or metropolitan council.[3]