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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Holy Synod</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07428a.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="The name of the council by which the Church of Russia and, following its example, many other Orthodox Churches are governed"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="07428a.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/h.htm">H</a> > Holy Synod</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Holy Synod</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>In its full form M<font size=-2>OST</font> H<font size=-2>OLY</font> D<font size=-2>IRECTING</font> S<font size=-2>YNOD</font>, the name of the council by which the Church of Russia and, following its example, many other Orthodox Churches are governed.</p> <h2 id="section1">History of the holy synod</h2> <p>The principle of summoning a synod or council of <a href="../cathen/11727a.htm">ecclesiastical persons</a> to discuss some grave question affecting the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> goes back, of course, to the very beginning of her history. Since the day when the Apostles met at <a href="../cathen/08344a.htm">Jerusalem</a> to settle whether <a href="../cathen/06422a.htm">Gentile</a> converts were to keep the <a href="../cathen/10582c.htm">Old Law</a> (<a href="../bible/act015.htm#vrs6">Acts 15:6-29</a>), it had been the custom to call together such gatherings as occasion required. Bishops summoned <a href="../cathen/14388a.htm">synods</a> of their <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a>, <a href="../cathen/10244c.htm">metropolitans</a> and <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchs</a> summoned their suffragans, and then since 325 there was a succession of those greatest <a href="../cathen/14388a.htm">synods</a>, representing the whole <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> world, that are known as <a href="../cathen/04423f.htm">general councils</a>. But all these <a href="../cathen/14388a.htm">synods</a> met only on certain occasions, for a short time, to discuss some one, or at most a few, of the burning questions. We shall find the predecessors of present Orthodox Holy Synods rather in permanent councils at the courts of certain chief <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>. Such councils formed themselves naturally, without any detriment to the monarchical principle. The <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> was always autocrat in his own diocese, the patriarch in his <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchate</a>. Nevertheless, when he had a number of wise and learned <a href="../cathen/11726a.htm">persons</a>, <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a> of his city, suffragan and <a href="../cathen/08025a.htm">titular</a> <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> in his palace or near at hand, it was very natural that he should consult them continually, hear their advice, and then follow it or not as he thought best. Two examples of such advisory committees established permanently under their <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> are famous. The <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a> had at hand his suburban <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>, the Roman <a href="../cathen/11499b.htm">parish</a> <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a>, and regionary <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacons</a>. Without going through the formality of summoning a <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">diocesan</a> or provincial synod he could always profit by their collected wisdom. He did so continually. From the fact that it was normally just these three bodies who joined to elect a new <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a> when the <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">see</a> was vacant they had additional importance, and their views gained additional weight. The assembly of these <a href="../cathen/11726a.htm">persons</a> around the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a> as a permanent institution was the <em>Concilium apostolic&oelig; sedis</em> to which <a href="../cathen/09202a.htm">papal letters</a> from the fifth to the eighth or ninth centuries often refer. The same name was, however, also used for specially summoned Roman <a href="../cathen/12515a.htm">provincial synods</a>, which were quite a different thing. The <em>Concilium apostolic&oelig; sedis</em> in the first sense evolved into the <a href="../cathen/03333b.htm#x">college of cardinals</a>, who still form a kind of permanent synod for the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a> to consult. But there has never been any <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a> of so radical a revolution as the government of the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Roman Church</a> by a synod. Once the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a> was lawfully elected he was absolutely master. He could consult his <a href="../cathen/03333b.htm">cardinals</a> if he thought fit, but after they had given their opinions he was still entirely free to do as he chose.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>A nearer example for the Orthodox was a similar institution at Constantinople. As the &oelig;cumenical <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchs</a> gradually grew in importance, as they spread the boundaries of their <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">jurisdiction</a> and were able more and more plainly to assert a kind of authority over all <a href="../cathen/05230a.htm">Eastern Christendom</a>, so was their palace filled with a growing crowd of suffragans, auxiliary and <a href="../cathen/08025a.htm">titular</a> <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>, <a href="../cathen/16024c.htm">chorepiscopi</a>, and <a href="../cathen/01695c.htm">archimandrites</a>. Bishops from outlying provinces always had business at the patriarchal city. The presence of the imperial court naturally helped to attract <a href="../cathen/11727a.htm">ecclesiastical persons</a>, as well as others, to Constantinople. The <a href="../cathen/01663a.htm">Arab</a> and <a href="../cathen/15097a.htm">Turkish</a> conquests in <a href="../cathen/05329b.htm">Egypt</a>, <a href="../cathen/14399a.htm">Syria</a>, and <a href="../cathen/01782a.htm">Asia Minor</a> added further to the number of idle <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> at court. Refugees, having now nothing to do in their own sees, kept their title and rank, but came to swell the dependence of the &oelig;cumenical patriarch. So from the fifth century there was always a number of suffragans and <a href="../cathen/08025a.htm">titular</a> <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> who established themselves permanently at Constantinople. Again, it was natural that these people should justify their presence and spend their time by helping the patriarch to administer his vast province and by forming a consulting synod always at hand to advise him. So at Constantinople, as at <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>, there was a kind of permanent synod, at first informal, then gradually recognized in principle. This was the "present <a href="../cathen/14388a.htm">synod</a>", "synod of inhabitants" (<em>synodos endemousa</em>), that became for many centuries an important element in the government of the <a href="../cathen/11329a.htm">Orthodox Church</a>. As far back as the <a href="../cathen/03555a.htm">Council of Chalcedon</a> (451) its existence and <a href="../cathen/13055c.htm">rights</a> had been discussed. At that council Photius, <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">Bishop</a> of <a href="../cathen/15109a.htm">Tyre</a>, asked the question: "Is it right to call the assembly of dwellers in the imperial city a synod?" Tryphon of <a href="../cathen/03689b.htm">Chios</a> answered: "It is called a synod and is assembled as such." The Patriarch Anatolius said: "The assembly" (he avoids calling it a synod) "fortifies from on high the most <a href="../cathen/07386a.htm">holy</a> <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> who dwell in the mighty city when occasion summons them to discuss certain <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> affairs, to meet and examine each, to find suitable answers to questions. So no novelty has been introduced by me, nor have the most <a href="../cathen/07386a.htm">holy</a> <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> introduced any new principle by assembling according to custom" (<a href="../cathen/09609c.htm">Mansi</a>, VII, 91 sqq.). The council then proceeded with the business in hand without expressing either approval or dislike of the permanent synod at Constantinople (Kattenbusch, "Konfessionskunde", I, 86). Such was very much the attitude of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> generally as long as the <em>Endemusa</em> Synod lasted. It in no way affected the legal position of the <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">Patriarch</a> of Constantinople, nor was it in any sense a government of his <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchate</a> by synod. In this case too, as at <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>, the consulting synod had no <a href="../cathen/13055c.htm">rights</a>. The patriarch governed his subjects as autocrat, had the same responsibilities as other <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchs</a>. If he chose to discuss matters beforehand with "the most <a href="../cathen/07386a.htm">holy</a> <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> who dwell in the mighty city" that proceeding concerned no one else. So the Endemusa Synod continued to meet regularly and became eventually a recognized body. So little did the <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchs</a> fear a lessening of their authority from it that it was to them rather an additional weapon of aggrandizement. There was a certain splendour about it. The &oelig;cumenical patriarch could contemplate the <a href="../cathen/03333b.htm#x">college of cardinals</a> marshalled around the Western throne with greater complacency when he remembered his <em>hagiotatoi endemountes episkopoi</em>. Much more important was the fact that his orders and wishes could be constantly announced to so many obedient retainers. And <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> from outlying parts of the <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchate</a> who spent a short time at Constantinople, approached their chief through the synod; they too were invited or commanded to attend its sessions as long as they were in the city. So they heard the patriarch's addresses, received his commands, and carried back to their distant homes a great reverence for the lord of so many retainers. Kattenbusch considers the Endemusa Synod an important element in the patriarch's advancement. "He conceived the brilliant <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a> of organizing these <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> into a Synod so that with their help he could interfere in almost any circumstances of all <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">dioceses</a> and eparchies with a certain appearance of authority" (loc. cit., 86). The Endemusa Synod was abolished only in quite recent times as part of the general reorganization of the patriarch's <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> and <a href="../cathen/02137c.htm">civil jurisdiction</a> since the <em>hatti-humayun</em> of 1856.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>This permanent synod then may be considered as a kind of predecessor of the modern Orthodox Holy Synods. It had accustomed people to the <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a> of such assemblies of <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> and made the acceptance of the new <a href="../cathen/14388a.htm">synods</a> among so conservative a folk as the Orthodox possible. But the present Holy Synods are in no sense continuations of the Endemusa. In spite of a general likeness there is this fundamental difference between the old <a href="../cathen/14388a.htm">synods</a> and the new ones: the Endemusa had no sort of <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">jurisdiction</a>; it was simply a consulting body, itself entirely subject to the monarchical patriarch. The modern Holy Synods, on the other hand, are the supreme lawgiving authorities over their Churches; they have absolute authority over every <a href="../cathen/10244c.htm">metropolitan</a> and <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a>. Laws in Churches that have such <a href="../cathen/14388a.htm">synods</a> are made, not by the will of an autocrat, but by a majority of votes in synod. It is in short — what the older Church never dreamed of — government by Parliament.</p> <p>The beginning of Holy Directing Synods was made by Peter the Great for the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> of <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a>. The Russian Synod is the oldest, and the example was followed long afterwards by other Orthodox Churches. Peter the Great (1689-1725), as part of his great reform of the empire, set about reforming the national Church too. This reform was openly, frankly, in the direction of subjecting the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> to the State, that is to himself. His modern and liberal <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">ideas</a> never went to the length of modifying his own absolute authority. His <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a> was rather that of a paternal tyranny: he meant to use his <a href="../cathen/13055c.htm">rights</a> as autocrat in order to force German and Western principles and improvements on an unwilling people, for their own good. So the rigidly conservative Russian found himself in the difficult position (not the only case in history) of being bitterly opposed to the autocrat's <a href="../cathen/09212a.htm">liberalism</a> while basing his opposition on the principle of autocracy. The <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a> — always conservative, especially in the Orthodox Churches — had already long led this opposition to the <a href="../cathen/12652a.htm">rationalist</a> "German tsar". Then the tsar set to work to crush their power by reforming the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> and making it a department of the State.</p> <p>The Church of <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a> in the first period (988-1589) had formed part of the Byzantine Patriarchate. By the sixteenth century <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a> had become a great empire, whereas Constantinople was now in the hands of the <a href="../cathen/15097a.htm">Turks</a>. So the Russians, especially their tsar, thought that such a dependence no longer suited the changed conditions. Feodor Ivanovitch (1584-1598) wrote to Jeremias II, <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">Patriarch</a> of Constantinople (1572-1579, 1580-1584, 1586-1595), demanding recognition of the independence of the Russian Church. Jeremias, though unwilling to lose so great a province, understood that he had no chance of resisting the tsar's demand, made the best of a bad business, and comforted himself by accepting a heavy <a href="../cathen/02778c.htm">bribe</a>. It was the first of a long series of dismemberments of the Byzantine Patriarchate. Jeremias's successors have often had to submit to such losses; in modern times they have not even had the comfort of a <a href="../cathen/02778c.htm">bribe</a>. So in 1589 the <a href="../cathen/10244c.htm">metropolitan See</a> of <a href="../cathen/10591b.htm">Moscow</a> became an independent <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchate</a>. The Orthodox rejoiced; the new <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchate</a> was admitted everywhere as fifth, after <a href="../cathen/08344a.htm">Jerusalem</a>, leaving the first place to Constantinople; they explained that now the sacred pentarchy, the (not really very) ancient order of five <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchs</a>, was restored; <a href="../cathen/10591b.htm">Moscow</a> had arisen to atone for the fall of <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>. The restored pentarchy was not destined to last very long. From 1589 to 1700 the Russian Church was ruled by the <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">Patriarch</a> of <a href="../cathen/10591b.htm">Moscow</a>. In 1700 Adrian, the last patriarch, died. Peter the Great had already conceived the <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a> of his Holy Synod, so, instead of allowing a successor to be appointed, he named various temporary, administrators till his scheme should be ready. First the <a href="../cathen/10244c.htm">Metropolitan</a> of Sary, then the <a href="../cathen/10244c.htm">Metropolitan</a> of Ryazan administered the <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchate</a> during this period of twenty-one years. Peter did not allow either of them to make any new <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> or take any steps of importance. Meanwhile he himself reorganized the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, like his army and his government, on a German model. He abolished many <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monasteries</a>, brought the control of all <a href="../cathen/12466a.htm">ecclesiastical property</a> under the State, modified the administration of <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">dioceses</a>, appointed, deposed, and transferred <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> as he liked. At last on 25 Jan., 1721, the ukase appeared, abolishing the <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchate</a> and establishing a <em>Most Holy Directing Synod</em> in its place. The <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a> of this synod (obviously a quite different thing from the traditional <a href="../cathen/14388a.htm">synods</a> that met at intervals to examine some special question), like most of Peter's reforms, came from <a href="../cathen/06484b.htm">Germany</a>. <a href="../cathen/09438b.htm">Luther</a> had proposed commissions of <a href="../cathen/11537b.htm">pastors</a> and <a href="../cathen/08748a.htm">laymen</a> to be sent by the head of the State (the Elector of Saxony in the first instance, 1527) to hold visitations of districts in the interest of the <a href="../cathen/13674a.htm">sect</a>. Out of these commissions grew the <em>Consistories</em>. They are meant to take the place of <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> and to have episcopal authority, as far as such a thing is possible in <a href="../cathen/09438b.htm">Lutheranism</a>. They judge "all cases which belonged to <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">ecclesiastical jurisdiction</a> of old" (Richter, "Gesch. der evangel. Kirchenverfassung", p. 82), can <a href="../cathen/05678a.htm">excommunicate</a>, and could in the eighteenth century punish by torture, fines, and <a href="../cathen/12430a.htm">prison</a>. They are appointed by the secular government, have a state official, the "Kommissarius" or <a href="../cathen/12451a.htm">procurator</a>, at their head, with a notary, and consist of superintendents, <a href="../cathen/11537b.htm">pastors</a>, <a href="../cathen/14580a.htm">theologians</a>, and lawyers, all appointed by the Government. The Russian Holy Synod is an exact copy of this. Its object was to bring the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> into absolute dependence on the State. Under this synod the Russian Church is certainly the most Erastian religious body in the world. As soon as he had established the synod, Peter wrote to Jeremias III of Constantinople announcing its erection, demanding his recognition of it, and that it should be recognized equally by the other <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchs</a>. Jeremias made no difficulty. In 1723 he published an <a href="../cathen/05413a.htm">encyclical</a> declaring that the Russian Synod "is and is named our brother in Christ, a <a href="../cathen/07386a.htm">holy</a> and sacred Council. It has authority to examine and determine questions equally with the four apostolic holy Patriarchs. We remind and exhort it to respect and follow the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> and customs of the seven holy General Councils and all other things that the <a href="../cathen/05230a.htm">Eastern Church</a> observes" (Silbernagl, p. 102). So the principle of a Holy Directing Synod was accepted by the <a href="../cathen/11329a.htm">Orthodox Church</a>. It was to take the place of a patriarch and to have patriarchal authority. Such was not, however, the tsar's <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a>. When the Russian <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> petitioned him to restore the Patriarchate of <a href="../cathen/10591b.htm">Moscow</a> he struck his breast and exclaimed: "Here is your Patriarch" (Kattenbusch, p. 190, note). Nor has any Holy Synod in <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a> ever been allowed any sort of independent authority over the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>. The synod is always the agent of the State's power.</p> <h2 id="section2">The Russian holy synod</h2> <p>This is the model of the others. The ukase of 1721 is still the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> determining its <a href="../cathen/13055c.htm">rights</a> and <a href="../cathen/05215a.htm">duties</a>. An examination of this will show how radically Erastian the whole arrangement is. The ukase begins by explaining what the synod is and giving the reasons for its establishment. The government of many is better than that of one; moreover, if the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> has one head it is difficult for the State to control it. Countless abuses in the Russian Church have made this reform not only desirable but absolutely <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a>. The second part of the ukase describes what causes are subject to the <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">jurisdiction</a> of the synod. The general ones are that it has to see that all things in <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a> take place according to the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> of <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a>, to put down whatever is contrary to that law, and to watch over the <a href="../cathen/05295b.htm">education</a> of the people. The special categories subject to the synod are five:</p> <div class="bulletlist"><ul><li>(1) <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>;</li><li>(2) <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a>, <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacons</a>, and all the <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a>;</li><li>(3) <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monasteries</a> and <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convents</a>;</li><li>(4) <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">schools</a>, masters, students, and also all preachers;</li><li>(5) the <a href="../cathen/08748a.htm">laity</a> inasmuch as they are affected by church law (questions of marriage, etc.).</li></ul></div> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>The third part of the document describes the <a href="../cathen/05215a.htm">duties</a>, <a href="../cathen/13055c.htm">rights</a>, and methods of the synod (Gondal, "L'Église russe", p. 42; Kattenbusch, p. 191). The synod meets at Petersburg. Its members are partly <a href="../cathen/11727a.htm">ecclesiastical persons</a>, partly <a href="../cathen/08748a.htm">laymen</a>. All are appointed by the tsar. Originally there were to be twelve <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> members; but this number has been constantly changed at the tsar's pleasure. A ukase of 1763 determined that there should be at least six <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> members. The Metropolitans of St. Petersburg, <a href="../cathen/10591b.htm">Moscow</a>, Kiev, and the Exarch of Georgia are always members (these <a href="../cathen/11726a.htm">persons</a>, as all <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>, are appointed by the Government); one or two other <a href="../cathen/01691a.htm">archbishops</a>, a titular <a href="../cathen/10244c.htm">metropolitan</a>, the tsar's confessor, the head <a href="../cathen/03579b.htm">chaplain</a> of the army and navy, and some other <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> make up the number. Bishops who have <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">dioceses</a> may only attend the meetings of the synod for half the year. During the other half they must return to their <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">sees</a>. The lay members consist of the <a href="../cathen/12451a.htm">procurator</a> (<em>Oberprocuror</em>) and a number of commissioners. The eldest <a href="../cathen/10244c.htm">metropolitan</a> present is chairman but has no more authority than any other <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a>. In spite of the protests of Russian <a href="../cathen/14580a.htm">theologians</a> it is evident that the real head of the synod is the <a href="../cathen/12451a.htm">procurator</a>. He is always a <a href="../cathen/08748a.htm">layman</a>, generally an officer in the army. He sits as representing the Government, and must be present at all meetings. The <a href="../cathen/12451a.htm">procurator</a> has to prepare and examine beforehand all questions to be discussed; he can quash any proceedings at once, can forbid any law to be passed till he has consulted his — and the synod's — imperial master about it. He is assisted in his work by a chief secretary, an "executor", two secretaries, and other officials, all of course <a href="../cathen/08748a.htm">laymen</a> like himself. So obvious is it that the <a href="../cathen/12451a.htm">procurator</a> is really the head of the synod that <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russians</a> themselves (except the <a href="../cathen/14580a.htm">theologians</a> who write to defend their Church from the charge of Erastianism) are quite conscious of it. When Mr. Palmer was in <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a> it was a common joke to point to the <a href="../cathen/12451a.htm">procurator</a> in his officer's uniform and say: "That is our patriarch" (Palmer, "Visit to the Russian Church", 1895, pp. 48, 73, 221). Every member of the Holy Synod before taking his place in it has to swear this <a href="../cathen/11176a.htm">oath</a>: "I swear by the Almighty and by His holy Gospel that I will do my <a href="../cathen/05215a.htm">duty</a> in all assemblies, decisions and discussions of the Spiritual law-giving Synod, that I will seek only <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truth</a> and <a href="../cathen/08571c.htm">justice</a>, that I will act according to my <a href="../cathen/04268a.htm">conscience</a> without respect of <a href="../cathen/11726a.htm">persons</a>, according to the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> of the Synod approved by his Imperial Majesty. I swear by the <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">living God</a> that I will undertake all business of the law-giving Synod with <a href="../cathen/15753a.htm">zeal</a> and care. I promise as servant and subject fidelity and obedience to my <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> and natural master the Tsar and Emperor of all <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a> and his illustrious successors, and to those whom he may appoint by virtue of his undoubted right in this matter. <em>I acknowledge him as supreme judge in this spiritual assembly</em>. I swear by the all-knowing <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> that I understand this <a href="../cathen/11176a.htm">oath</a> according to the full force and meaning which the words have to all who read or hear them" (Silbernagl, op. cit., pp. 104-105).</p> <p>Of the Erastian nature of the Russian Holy Synod, then it would seem that there can be no <a href="../cathen/05141a.htm">doubt</a>; and since the whole Church of <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a>, every <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a>, <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monastery</a>, and <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">school</a>, is submitted absolutely and without appeal to the synod, it is not <a href="../cathen/08010c.htm">unjust</a> to describe it as the most Erastian religious body in the world. This statement, however, much offends many modern Russian <a href="../cathen/14580a.htm">theologians</a>. A century or so ago they accepted the tyranny of the tsar over Church as well as over State as a matter of course; nor did they seem to be much distressed by it. Now, contact with Western <a href="../cathen/14580a.htm">theology</a>, the spread of better <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">ideas</a> among them, and study of the Fathers have evoked in <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a> too the ideal of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> as a perfect <a href="../cathen/14074a.htm">society</a>, a city of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> on earth, too sacred to be placed under the secular government. The result is that some Russians, candidly admitting the hopeless Erastianism of Peter the Great's arrangement, demand its abolition and the restoration of the Patriarchate of <a href="../cathen/10591b.htm">Moscow</a>. Agreeing with Peter the Great that if the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> has one head it is difficult for the State to control it, they demand one head for that very reason. One hears constantly of this movement in favour of a restored <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchate</a> in <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a> (see, for instance, the "Echos d'Orient" for 1901, pp. 187, 232; for 1905, pp. 176, etc.; and Palmieri, "La Chiesa Russa", chap. ii). But there is another class of <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russians</a> whose loyalty to their Church leads them to defend her under any circumstances, even those of Peter the Great's tyrannical arrangement. To them everything is satisfactory, the Holy Synod a free <a href="../cathen/04447a.htm">ecclesiastical tribunal</a>, the relations between <a href="../cathen/14250c.htm">Church and State</a> in <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a> the ideal ones for a <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> and Orthodox land. Erastianism, they protest indignantly, is a libellous misrepresentation by <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> controversialists (most <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestants</a> make the same accusation, by the way). Of these apologists is Dr. Alexis von Maltzew, Provost of the Russian Church at <a href="../cathen/02493b.htm">Berlin</a>, certainly one of the most learned and sympathetic of modern Orthodox <a href="../cathen/14580a.htm">theologians</a>. Provost Maltzew constantly returns to the question of this alleged Erastianism (<em>Cäsaropapismus</em> is the German term used by him). His defence is summarized especially in his "Antwort auf die Schrift des hochw. Herrn Domcapitulars Röhm" (Berlin, 1896), §3 (Die Synode) and §4 (Staat und Kirche). The chief points upon which he insists are that only members of the <a href="../cathen/07322c.htm">hierarchy</a> can vote in the synod, that the Oberprocuror has no power to compel the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>, that the synod can even (if the tsar is absent) arrest and try the Oberprocuror, that the synod has no independent authority in dogmatic questions — as successor of the <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">Patriarch</a> of <a href="../cathen/10591b.htm">Moscow</a> it inherits neither more nor less than his <a href="../cathen/13055c.htm">rights</a> in matters of canon law; where <a href="../cathen/05089a.htm">dogma</a> is concerned the other <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchs</a> must be consulted too — that Peter the Great sought and obtained the consent of the <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchs</a> for his synod, and finally that: "Only he who knows the strict order, the admirable discipline, the stable organism that distinguish the <a href="../cathen/11329a.htm">Orthodox Church</a> of <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a>, can properly appreciate the beneficent work done by the Holy Synod under the exalted protection of the Orthodox Emperor" (op. cit., p. 19). With every sympathy for the <a href="../cathen/12517a.htm">provost's</a> loyalty to his Church, one would answer this by saying that a synod of which all members are appointed by the State, whose members take such an <a href="../cathen/11176a.htm">oath</a> as the one quoted above, whose acts can at any moment be quashed by the government agent, is not an independent authority. Certainly Peter's <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a> in founding the Holy Synod was to put an end to the old <em>Imperium in imperio</em> of the free Church, and to the patriarch who had become almost a rival of the tsar. Peter meant to unite all authority in himself, over Church as well as State; and the Russian Government has continued his policy ever since. Never has the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> been allowed the shadow of independent action. Through his Oberprocuror and synod the tsar rules his Church as absolutely as he rules his army and navy through their respective ministries. That most members of the synod are <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> is as natural as that most members of the ministry of <a href="../cathen/15546c.htm">war</a> are generals — the tsar appoints both in any case. It must be admitted that in a country so exclusively committed to one religion as is <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a> there are advantages in Erastianism. It is quite <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> that the synod (except by such small ways as the <a href="../cathen/02364b.htm">canonization</a> of <a href="../cathen/04171a.htm">saints</a>) does not touch <a href="../cathen/05089a.htm">dogma</a>; to do so would be to provoke a <a href="../cathen/13529a.htm">schism</a> with the <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchs</a> and the other Orthodox Churches. <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a> has the same <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> of the seven holy councils as Constantinople, <a href="../cathen/06735a.htm">Greece</a>, <a href="../cathen/03046a.htm">Bulgaria</a>, etc. And in questions of canon law it is a great advantage to have the strong arm of the State to carry out decrees. There can be no opposition, no <a href="../cathen/11703a.htm">persecution</a> by the Government, of a Church whose <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> are countersigned by the Oberprocuror. On the contrary the State — should one not perhaps say: the other departments of the State? — is at hand if it is wanted. Provost Maltzew is right. The Russian Church is extraordinarily orderly, well-organized, uniform. The synod deposes <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>, silences preachers, sends people to <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monasteries</a>, <a href="../cathen/05678a.htm">excommunicates</a>; and if there is trouble the minister of police steps in.</p> <p>The <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">jurisdiction</a> of the Holy Synod extends over every kind of <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> question and over some that are partly secular. All <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>, <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a>, clerks, <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monks</a>, and <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a> have to obey the synod absolutely under pain of deposition, suspension, <a href="../cathen/05678a.htm">excommunication</a>, or maybe even <a href="../cathen/12430a.htm">imprisonment</a>. The synod's chief <a href="../cathen/05215a.htm">duties</a> are to watch over the preservation of the Orthodox <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a>, the instruction of the people, the celebration of feasts, and all questions of Church order and ritual. It has to suppress <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heresies</a>, examine alleged <a href="../cathen/10338a.htm">miracles</a> and <a href="../cathen/12734a.htm">relics</a>, forbid <a href="../cathen/14339a.htm">superstitious</a> practices. All Orthodox <a href="../cathen/14580x.htm">theological</a> works are subject to its censorship. The synod further administers all <a href="../cathen/12466a.htm">church property</a>, controls the expenditure, is responsible for the fabric of churches and <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monasteries</a>. It presents candidates for <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">episcopal sees</a>, prelacies, and the office of <a href="../cathen/01695c.htm">archimandrite</a>, to the tsar for <a href="../cathen/11093a.htm">nomination</a>, and can examine such candidates as to their fitness. It is the last court of appeal against <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> or other <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> superiors, can advise, warn, and threaten any <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a>, and grant all manner of <a href="../cathen/05041a.htm">dispensations</a> and <a href="../cathen/07783a.htm">indulgences</a>. But to make new <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> even in church matters, it needs the tsar's assent. All processes for <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heresy</a>, <a href="../cathen/02595a.htm">blasphemy</a>, <a href="../cathen/14339a.htm">superstition</a>, <a href="../cathen/01163a.htm">adultery</a>, <a href="../cathen/05054c.htm">divorce</a>, and all matrimonial causes are brought to the synod. Questions of testaments, inheritance, and <a href="../cathen/05295b.htm">education</a> are settled by the synod in agreement with the Senate and are controlled further by the tsar's consent. To administer all these matters the synod has various subcommittees. It has an <a href="../cathen/12213b.htm">economic</a> college for questions of <a href="../cathen/12466a.htm">church property</a> and a committee of control that re-examines the matter. These committees consist of lawyers, chancellors, secretaries, treasurers, architects (for the buildings), etc. They are, of course, entirely subject to the synod. Since 1909 <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> have to send all money for stipends (selling candles, <a href="../cathen/04653a.htm">prayers for the dead</a>, free offerings, collections, alms-boxes) to the synod to be redistributed. Expenses and profits of <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">schools</a> are also controlled by a committee of the synod. It pays for printing service-books and many spiritual works (<a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a> books and so on), also for all imperial ukases that affect the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>. It has special commissions for <a href="../cathen/10591b.htm">Moscow</a>, <a href="../cathen/06460a.htm">Georgia</a>, and Lithuania. There are two synodal presses, at Petersburg and <a href="../cathen/10591b.htm">Moscow</a>, where all Orthodox religious books must be printed, after they have passed the censor. The profits of these presses go to assist poor churches. For the censorship, finally, there are offices at Petersburg, <a href="../cathen/10591b.htm">Moscow</a>, and Kiev. Throughout <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a> the synod is named in the liturgy instead of a patriarch.</p> <p>It will be seen then that the submission of the Russian Church to the synod is so complete that the synod's relation to the State involves that of the whole Church.</p> <h2 id="section3">The Greek holy synod</h2> <p>The first other <a href="../cathen/11329a.htm">Orthodox Church</a> to imitate the Russian Government by synod was that of <a href="../cathen/06735a.htm">Greece</a>. The national assemblies of free Greece in 1822 and 1827 began the process of making their Church independent of the <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">Patriarch</a> of Constantinople. In 1833 the Greek Parliament formally rejected the patriarch's authority and set up a Holy Directing Synod in exact imitation of <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a>. After much dispute the patriarch gave in and acknowledged the Greek synod, in 1850. Since then the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> of Greece is governed by a Holy Synod exactly as is the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> of <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a>. A law in 1852 regulated its <a href="../cathen/13055c.htm">rights</a> and <a href="../cathen/05215a.htm">duties</a>. It meets at <a href="../cathen/02046a.htm">Athens</a> under the presidency of the <a href="../cathen/10244c.htm">metropolitan</a> of that city. Four other <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> are appointed by the Government as members for a year by vote. The members take an <a href="../cathen/11176a.htm">oath</a> of fidelity to the king and government. Their deliberations are controlled by a royal commissioner, who is a <a href="../cathen/08748a.htm">layman</a> chosen by government, just like the Russian oberprocuror. No act is valid without the commissioner's assent. There are also secretaries, writers, and a servant all appointed by the State. The Holy Synod is the highest authority in the <a href="../cathen/06752a.htm">Greek Church</a> and has the same <a href="../cathen/13055c.htm">rights</a> and <a href="../cathen/05215a.htm">duties</a> as its Russian model. It is named in the liturgy instead of a patriarch. Professor Diomedes Kyriakos (<em>Ekkl. Historia</em>, III, 155 sqq.) has tried to defend his Church from the charge of Erastianism with even less success (and certainly with less reasonableness and moderation) than Provost Maltzew. (See <a href="../cathen/06735a.htm">GREECE</a>.)</p> <h2 id="section4">Other holy synods</h2> <p>All the independent Orthodox Churches formed during the nineteenth century have set up Holy Synods. The Churches in the <a href="../cathen/02121b.htm">Austro-Hungarian</a> Monarchy (Karlowitz since 1765, Hermannstadt, 1864, Czernowitz, 1873) form <a href="../cathen/14388a.htm">synods</a> of their <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> to regulate affairs; but, as in this case there is no interference of the Government, the situation is different. These <a href="../cathen/14388a.htm">synods</a> are merely free conferences in which all the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> of each Church take part. The arrangement of the <a href="../cathen/03046a.htm">Bulgarian</a> Church (since 1870) is also different, inasmuch as its <a href="../cathen/05676b.htm">exarch</a> has a certain amount of individual authority — approaching the position of a patriarch — and there are two governing assemblies. The Holy Synod, under the presidency of the <a href="../cathen/05676b.htm">exarch</a>, has four other members, all <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> elected by their fellows for periods of four years. They meet regularly once a year, and exceptionally on other occasions. This synod has absolute authority over the <a href="../cathen/03046a.htm">Bulgarian</a> Church in these matters: election of <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>, questions of <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a>, <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">morals</a>, and rite, <a href="../cathen/05030a.htm">ecclesiastical discipline</a>, <a href="../cathen/05295b.htm">education</a> of the <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a>, censorship of books, marriage questions, and disputes among the <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a>. The other body, the Exarch's Council, also under his presidency, has six lay members elected by the people and <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a>, confirmed by the Government for four years. The council determines questions of <a href="../cathen/05295b.htm">education</a>, building and maintenance of churches, and church finance. Neither body may publish any order without consent of the Government; but their composition, the appointment of members, and authority of the <a href="../cathen/05676b.htm">exarch</a> show that the <a href="../cathen/03046a.htm">Bulgarian</a> Church is less Erastian than her sisters of <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a> and Greece. The <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> of Servia (since 1879) has five <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>, of whom the <a href="../cathen/10244c.htm">Metropolitan</a> of <a href="../cathen/02407a.htm">Belgrade</a> is <a href="../cathen/12423b.htm">primate</a>. All meet in the Holy Synod under his presidency once a year. The synod appoints <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> and regulates all other <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> questions. The Rumanian Church (since 1885) has the same arrangement. The president of the synod is the <a href="../cathen/10244c.htm">Metropolitan</a> of Wallachia, the other <a href="../cathen/12423b.htm">primate</a> (Metropolitan of Moldavia) and all the six remaining <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> are members. Its decisions must have the consent of the Government. The minister of religion attends the sessions, but only as a consultor. Lastly, the four <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> of Herzegovina and Bosnia (independent since 1880) meet in a kind of synod, called consistory, under the presidency of the <a href="../cathen/10244c.htm">Metropolitan</a> of <a href="../cathen/13725a.htm">Sarajevo</a>. In this case the (Austrian) Government does not interfere at all.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>Although the <a href="../cathen/14388a.htm">synods</a> of <a href="../cathen/03046a.htm">Bulgaria</a>, <a href="../cathen/13732a.htm">Servia</a>, and Rumania have a certain dependence on the State (whose sanction is <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> for the <a href="../cathen/12454b.htm">promulgation</a> of their edicts), there is not in their case anything like the shameless Erastianism of <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a> and Greece. Between these two the only question is whether it be more advantageous for the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> to be ruled by an irresponsible tyrant or a Balkan Parliament. Lastly, it may be noticed, the church government by synod is a principle destined to flourish among the Orthodox. The secular governments of Orthodox countries encourage it and approve of it, for obvious reasons. It makes all the complicated questions of church establishment and endowment in the new Balkan States comparatively easy to solve; it has a fine air of democracy, constitutionalism, parliamentary government, that appeals enormously to people just escaped from the Turk and full of such notions. It seems then that the old patriarchal <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a> will linger on at Constantinople, Alexandria, <a href="../cathen/01570a.htm">Antioch</a>, <a href="../cathen/08344a.htm">Jerusalem</a> (though even here, in its original homes, it is getting modified in a constitutional direction), but that all new movement in the <a href="../cathen/11329a.htm">Orthodox Church</a> will be more and more towards the principles borrowed by Peter the Great from <a href="../cathen/09438b.htm">Lutheranism</a>. The vital argument against Holy Directing Synods is their opposition to the old tradition, to the strictly monarchic system of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> of the Fathers. Strange that this argument should be ignored by people who boast so confidently of their unswerving fidelity to antiquity. "Our <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> knows no developments", they told Mr. Palmer triumphantly in <a href="../cathen/13231c.htm">Russia</a>. One could easily make a considerable list of Orthodox developments in answer. And one of the most obvious examples would be the system of Holy Synods. What, one might ask, would their Fathers have said of national Churches governed by committees of <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> chosen by the State and controlled by Government officials?</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="cenotes"><h2>Sources</h2><p class="cenotes">SILBERNAGL, <em>Verfassung und gegenwärtiger Bestand sämtlicher Kirchen des Orients</em> (2nd ed., Ratisbon, 1904); KATTENBUSCH, <em>Lehrbuch der vergleichenden Konfessionskunde,</em> I: <em>Die orthodoxe anatolische Kirche</em> (Freiburg im Br., 1892); SCHMITT, <em>Kritische Geschichte der neugriechischen und der russischen Kirche</em> (Mains, 1854); NEALE, <em>History of the Holy Eastern Church,</em> I (London, 1850), iii; PALMIERI, <em>La Chiesa Russa</em> (Florence, 1908), chap. ii; GONDAL, <em>L'Église russe</em> (Paris, 1905); MALTZEW, <em>Antwort auf die Schrift des hochw. H. Röhm</em> (Berlin, 1896); KYRIAKOS, <em>Ekklesiastike Historia</em>, III (2nd ed., Athens, 1898).</p></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Fortescue, A.</span> <span id="apayear">(1910).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Holy Synod.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07428a.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Fortescue, Adrian.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Holy Synod."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 7.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1910.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07428a.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Douglas J. Potter.</span> <span id="dedication">Dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ.</span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> June 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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