Synod

“ The Holy Synod takes precedence over all the other great bodies of the State; it replaces the patriarch, with all his rights and privileges; originally, it was more of a representative assembly, comprising the different ranks of the clergy, and bishops were in a numerical minority; now, in accordance with the practice of the early Church, which placed authority in the hands of its bishops, the episcopal element predominates. ”

“ If any one has been excommunicated by his own bishop, let him not be received by others until he has either been restored by his own bishop, or until, when a synod is held, he shall have appeared and made his defence, and, having convinced the synod, shall have received a different sentence. ”

“ XXVIII. The more weighty criminal charges against bishops which deserve deposition and deprivation may be judged and determined only by the supreme Roman pontiff. (See Pope.)
XXIX. This holy synod enjoins all patriarchs, primates, archbishops, bishops, and all others who, by right or custom, ought to assist at a provincial council, that in the first provincial synod that may be holden after the conclusion of the present council, they do openly receive all and each of the things which have been defined and enacted by this holy synod ”

“ XII.—"The Bishop once a year, at Midsummer, to summon a diocesan synod: there to hear, and by general vote, to determine [528] all such matters of scandal in life and doctrine amongst clergymen, as shall be presented unto them.
XIII.—"Every three years a national synod to be held, which shall consist of all the Bishops in the land; of two Presbyters, to be chosen by the rest out of each Presbytery; and of two clerks, to be chosen out of every diocese by the Clergy thereof. ”

“ The Holy Synod which by the grace of God was assembled at Ephesus the Metropolis to the most holy and our fellow-minister Cœlestine, health in the Lord.
The zeal of your holiness for piety, and your care for the right faith, so grateful and highly pleasing to God the Saviour of us all, are worthy of all admiration. For it is your custom in such great matters to make trial of all things, and the confirmation of the Churches you have made your own care. ”

“ The doctrine of the New England Synod at Boston in 1680 was the same: "The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father." If many of our American theologians at the present day reject the doctrine of the derivation of the Son from God, they are not responsible to the Synod's Confession or Creed, but certainly they are to holy Scripture and to Reason. ”

“ At the synod of Lyons (1563) the canons of the three preceding national synods held at Paris, Poitiers, and Orleans, were reduced to a single series of articles. The deliberations of most of the provincial synods still remain in manuscript or are lost (Frossard, Etude historique et bibliographique sur la discipline ecclésiastique des églises réformées de France, 18) .
[1109] Chap. vi, canon 1.
[1110] Chap. viii, canon 2. Chap. v, canon 1, provides that “a consistory shall be made up of those who govern it (the individual churches) , to-wit, of its pastors and elders.” ”

“ The holy synod decrees that those who in the name of marriage carry off women and those who in any way assist the ravishers, if they be clerics, they shall lose their rank, but if they be laymen they shall be anathematized. ”

“ We cannot be forced to count that synod as ecumenical, since we do not at all recognize it but in fact reject it....“A few years afterwards was held a second synod which restored Photius and annulled the acts of the preceding assembly, and this synod also bears the title of the Eighth Ecumenical. ”

“ Whenever it is not possible for a synod to meet according to the decree formulated long ago, twice in each year, at least let it be held once, as seemed good to the Sixth Synod. Should any magistrate forbid such meeting, let him be cast out: and a bishop who shall take no pains to assemble it, shall be subject to punishment. ”

“ The church of the United Brethren is episcopal; and the order of succession in their bishops is traced with great exactness in their history; yet they allow to them no elevation of rank, or preeminent authority; their church having from its first establishment been governed by synods, consisting of deputies from all the congregations, and by other subordinate bodies, which they call conferences. The synods, which are generally held once in seven years, are called together by the elders, who were in the former synod appointed to superintend the whole Unity. ”

“ To this letter we subjoin the decrees of the synod, which are briefly as follows.
In accordance with the great and orthodox synod we confess that the Son is of one substance with the Father. And we do not so understand the term ‘of one substance’ as some formerly interpreted it who signed their names with feigned adhesion ”

“ We therefore beseech your Piety that the decree of the synod may be ratified, to the end that as you have honored the Church by your letter of citation, so you should set your seal to the conclusion of what has been decreed. May the Lord establish your Empire in peace and righteousness, and prolong it from generation to generation; and may He add unto your earthly powers the fruition of the heavenly kingdom also. ”

“ It comes to the front whenever the Colonial Church has to face the problem of ruling its own household. Having thought much of this subject, I have set the ball rolling at each Synod, and so far it has been well received, bringing out an amount of debating power and acquaintance with civil and ecclesiastical law which would do credit to any assembly. Synod is keenly alive to its great responsibility, as a Legislative body, not a mere conference or congress, or even such an assembly as Convocation at Home in its present form. ”

“ As long as the General Synod regards with equal favor, and is ready to receive, the Old Lutheran as well as the American Lutheran Synods, the symbolical men have a vast advantage, and they, no doubt, regard it as a triumph when the General Synod, meeting after meeting, continues to hold out its arms to every Lutheran synod, and recommends as heartily the reviews and institutions which are laboring to upturn its present foundations, as it does those which are known to hold the sentiments which it has hitherto fostered. ”

“ To assemble the Church in Convocation or Synod, for such a purpose as this, would be to place her in a most undignified position, that of exhibiting herself for approbation. We should be treating her as a mob would treat a popular leader ”

“ As is plain from the comments already given by the leading organs of English opinion, the second Pan-Anglican Synod attracted even less attention and more general contempt than the first. When men come to ask themselves what has been accomplished by the twenty-five days’ session besides tea and talk, what is the only answer? It is this: the synod ended, as it began, in nothing.
NEW PUBLICATIONS. Ethics, or Moral Philosophy. By Walter H. Hill, S.J., Professor of Philosophy in the St. Louis University, author of Logic and Ontology, or General Metaphysics. Baltimore: Murphy & Co. ”

“ If any bishop without a see shall throw himself upon a vacant church and seize its throne, without a full synod, he shall be cast out, even if all the people over whom he has usurped jurisdiction should choose him. ”

“ If any presbyter or deacon deposed by his own bishop, or any bishop deposed by a synod, shall dare to trouble the ears of the Emperor, when it is his duty to submit his case to a greater synod of bishops, and to refer to more bishops the things which he thinks right, and to abide by the examination and decision made by them ”

“ So that the synod is but the representative church; and therefore not the political head of the church: whether it be the laity, or the whole clergy, or both, which they represent, representation of those that are no national head, maketh them not a national head.
(3.) From the ordinary judgment of episcopal divines, (maintained by Bishop Bilson and many others at large, against the papists,) that all bishops jure divino are equal and independent, further than human laws, or agreements, or difference of gifts may difference them, or as they are bound to consociation for concord. ”

“ It remains that the acts of the Nicene Synod which we now have, and have been determined by the fathers, as well as those things enacted by our predecessors here, who confirmed that same Synod, or which according to the same form have been usefully enacted by all grades of the clergy, from the highest even to the lowest, should be brought forward. The whole Council said: Let them be brought forward. ”

“ His reports were published in the Minutes of the Synod from 1887 to 1897 and contributed to the introduction of the office into the Synod's scheme of church work.
The years under review, the closing period of the nineteenth century, were years of stress and storm in our synodical relations. But the questions that divided us did not stop the practical work of the synods. Under the stimulus of a generous rivalry some things were accomplished and foundations were laid for still larger work in the new century. ”

“ It provided a court of [Pg 337] appeal in the provincial colloques or synods, to be held at least twice a year, in which each church was to be represented by its pastor and elder. Above all stood the National Synod, the ultimate ecclesiastical authority. ”

“ Canon 9. “Concerning those who through transgression have been rebaptized, and have fallen without necessity, it is our will, that the statutes of the Nicene synod be observed respecting them, which are considered to have been passed for such offenders: that they shall pray for seven years among the catechumens, and two years among the catholics, and then,” &c.
Canon 14. “Godly believers shall not eat with the rebaptized”. Bapt. Hist., pages 477, 478, from the 6th Cent. Magd,. cap. 9, fol. 240, ex Decret. Synod, Ilerdensis. ”

“ It is not in the will or power of every man to be saved.”
These articles, asserting the most offensive of the Calvinistic positions, were not accepted by the Church, and consequently were of no authority, although they were employed at the time to silence those by authority against whom argument could not prevail. The prelates who drew them up acted without authority, for they were not assembled in a synod. A synod is an assembly of bishops and presbyters duly convened. ”

“ I beseech you, therefore, in post haste, as the phrase goes, to assemble together, without any delay, in formal synod; so that you may support those who require your assistance, heal the brethren who are in danger, restore unanimity to the divided members, and rectify the disorders of the Church while time permits; and thus restore to those great provinces the harmony which, alas! the arrogance of a few men has destroyed. ”

“ A committee chosen for the purpose drew up an outline of a synodal and congregational order, which provides for the election of bishops at an annual meeting at Pentecost of a synod, of which all the clergy are members and to which the congregations send deputies, one for every 200 members. Alongside of the bishop stands a permanent synodal board of five priests and seven laymen. The bishop and synodal board have the right of vetoing doubtful decrees of synod. The choice of pastors lies with the congregation ”

“ To be the instruments, then, of dividing the Church, which God has gathered by their hands, may be to sin against their consciences. They may therefore ask the Board to appoint other agents to carry out the decision of Synod. ”

“ The bishop shall have power over ecclesiastical goods. But should he not be content with those things which are sufficient for him but shall alienate the goods and revenues of the church, without the advice of the clergy, penalties shall be exacted from him in the presence of the synod. But if he has converted to his own uses what was given for the poor, of this also let him give an explanation to the synod. ”

“ The convocation or ecclesiastical synod, in England, differs considerably in it's constitution from the synods of other christian kingdoms: those consisting wholly of bishops; whereas with us the convocation is the miniature of a parliament, wherein the archbishop presides with regal state; the upper house of bishops represents the house of lords; and the lower house, composed of representatives of the several dioceses at large, and of each parti-270-cular chapter therein, resembles the house of commons with it's knights of the shire and burgesses [i] . ”

“ In such matters as do not immediately interfere with the doctrines of faith and government of the Church, as, for instance, to appoint the time and place for the meeting of a synod, or the erection of a synod, and such like things, herein our Church doth not seek to exercise any authority, but granteth liberty to each congregation and to each of her ministers to act and do as they judge it most convenient for themselves. No one is despised for not joining with us in our Synod; no one is oppressed who is not in conformity with us in matters which are not essential to the doctrine of faith. ”

“ A divine and sacred provincial synod, gathered together at Rome by Stephen, the blessed martyr and father [1] which excommunicated those who in an African synod had, without reason, conceded that they who came to the Catholic Church from any heresy should be re-baptized. ”