Synods

Catholic diocesan synods have been profoundly changed after Vatican II, especially by the ecclesiology of communion and by the importance given to the People of God. They are processes, not just regular onetime events (1). The nearly 800 celebrated synods so far show a specific rediscovery of ecclesiological dimensions (2).This synodality of the local churches also extends to other forms of diocesan assemblies and to local councils (3). This essay then develops five theological perspectives and practices (4).
Riassunto: I sinodi diocesani della chiesa cattolica sono profondamente cambiati dopo
il concilio Vaticano II, grazie alla sua ecclesiologia di comunione e all’importanza data
al Popolo di Dio. Essi sono processi, e non più solo eventi isolati nel tempo (1). I circa
800 sinodi celebrati finora mostrano la riscoperta di una dimensione ecclesiologica e
pneumatologica (2). Questa sinodalità delle chiese locali si estende anche ad altre forme
di assemblee diocesane e ai concili particolari (3). Infine il saggio sviluppa cinque prospettive teologiche e pratiche circa i sinodi (4).

The Church of the East, even if it was outside the Byzantine Empire and did not take part in the Christological discussions and controversies there, could not be silent. Our analysis of the Christological statements and professions of faith shows the reaction of this Church to the Christological controversies. These statements demonstrate this Church’s own progress in Christological thought, its way of responding to the most important Christological questions, in two different Christological currents: the qnomâ-parúopâ current and the two-qnomê current. This analysis could help scholars understand better the development of the Christology of this Church before the assembly of bishops in 612 and her “Nestorianization,” namely, the doctrine of two kyanê (natures) and two qnomê (hypostases) in the one parsopâ (persona) of Christ. This analysis could also assist scholars who study the Christology of the Church of the East after the year 612, since the controversy between the two different Christological currents did not stop with the victory of the two-qnomê movement in 612.

“Questions of power and its exercise in the Church are real and need to be resolved, but we must not let them become a distraction from the more fundamental questions of truth, fidelity, and apostolic mission, to which all authority in the Church is ordered.”

(Introduction)

1. The Experience of Pope Leo and his teachings on synods and councils
1.1 Leo as Peter's heir
1.2. Leo's leadership

2. The Synodal Way: nature and goals
2.1. How the Synodal Way began
2.2 The Synodal Way's constitution and membership

3. Comparison
3.1 Vatican II as mediator between Pope Leo and the present day
3.2 The Church and the world

Conclusion

«Єпископ Київської Церкви» — праця, метою якої є показати, яким повинен бути єпископ цієї Церкви на підставі документів, прийнятих самими ж єпископами на різних синодах 1589-1891 рр. З того виходить цікава канонічна праця, яка доводить, якою багатогранною може бути особа єпископа як основний об’єднуючий і еклезіотворчий чинник Київської Церкви. Монографія також показує, яка велика прогалина існує в канонічній науці Київської Церкви і на скільки нинішних актуальних церковних питань (включно з проблемою тотожності) не можна бути найти належної відповіді, якщо канонічне право як повноцінна наукова галузь не розвинеться в Україні.
"Bishop of the Kyivan Church" is a work whose purpose is to show what should be the bishop of this Church based on the documents adopted by the same bishops at various synods of 1589-1891. From this, an interesting canonical work proves that the person of the bishop can be multifaceted as the main unifying and ecclesiological factor of the Church of Kyiv. The monograph also shows what a great gap exists in the canonical science of the Kyivan Church. It will not be possible to find appropriate answers to many topical church questions (including the problem of identity), if canon law as a full-fledged scientific industry does not develop in Ukraine.

""Le document présente une liste des synodes diocésains célébrés ou en cours depuis 1965. Cette 5e édition intègre aussi les « parasynodes » (assemblées diocésaines extraordinaire relevant de la même synodalité) et les conciles particuliers (et d’autres formes analogues mêlant synodalité et collégialité locale).
Ce document sera mis à jour à l’aide des corrections et ajouts proposés par les chercheurs et responsables pastoraux du monde entier. L’objectif est que le plus grand nombre de personnes puissent accéder à ces précieuses sources de la vie des Églises locales. Sont indiqués les Actes synodaux ou la documentation spécifique disponible à l’Université catholique de Louvain. Des liens actifs renvoient parfois directement vers certains documents sur Internet.
Une bibliographie est donnée au niveau national et au niveau diocésain. Suit une bibliographie générale portant sur l’ensemble de la question des synodes diocésains.""

Les pages web consacrées par quatre diocèses français à leur synode diocésain en cours à la fin de l’année 2005 se révèlent particulièrement significatives et permettent de mieux cerner la question de la présence de l'Eglise catholique sur Internet et son enjeu théologique. Après avoir situé les quatre diocèses concernés (Évry, Luçon, Mende et Nevers), on évaluera la dimension pédagogique mise en œuvre sur leurs sites respectifs. Puis on se posera plusieurs questions. Quels sont les outils mis à disposition de l’internaute pour participer au synode (les moyens) ? Comment l’Église diocésaine se présente-elle à travers la démarche synodale ainsi exposée au grand public (les personnes) ? Au final, on se demandera quels enseignements théologiques et pastoraux peut-on tirer de cet exemple pour la présence de l’Église catholique française sur Internet.

Considérant le sujet de l’éducation huguenote au temps de l’interdit confessionnel, cette enquête interroge l’articulation entre principes d’instruction et modalités de résistance réformées afin de cerner la spécificité d’une éducation militante qui, par le biais d’une instruction de substitution, entend armer ses partisans d’une capacité à faire face à la politique d'éradication du protestantisme et à la tentative de catholicisation des huguenots.

Si tant est que la déstructuration des institutions scolaires officielles n’équivaut pas à un vide instructif, il reste à repérer les principes et les stratégies sur lesquels repose cette éducation combative supplétive. Autrement dit, comment les réformés – pasteurs et fidèles – opèrent face au démantèlement de leurs instances éducatives ? Quelles mesures pratiques et principes idéologiques mobilisent-ils pour remédier à ce défaut d’instruction ? Interrogeant les moyens didactiques dont se dotent, entre 1685 et 1745, les instances du Désert, cette analyse vise à approcher le défi de l’éducation clandestine et la nature du combat enchâssé dans ces préoccupations éducatives.

Abordant en premier lieu l’instruction au temps de l’interdit – les étapes de la déstructuration du système éducatif huguenot et les enjeux de la bataille de l’instruction –, l’on examinera ensuite les dispositifs et règlements élaborés au Désert, avant d’évaluer les principes structurants qui président à la riposte éducative huguenote. L’enquête n’est pas tant axée sur les contenus enseignés que sur le principe d’instruction qui articule, dans le temps long, la résistance protestante et ses pratiques éducatives clandestines.

french: Dans l’Église catholique actuelle, les conciles provinciaux, régionaux et nationaux font figure de parent pauvre, tant comme évènements concrets de la vie ecclésiale que comme objet d’étude des ecclésiologues et canonistes. La situation est telle que c’est à se demander si le concile Vatican II a été véritablement reçu dans ce domaine des institutions délibératives et consultatives supradiocésaines. Si un certain flou a entouré cette conciliarité/synodalité après 1965, le droit canon de 1983 n’a pas eu pour conséquence un grand engouement pour ces conciles dit « particuliers ». De plus, à côté de rares démarches suivant formellement le droit canonique, plusieurs processus nationaux ont eu lieu, parfois durant de longues années. Sont bien connus par de multiples publications les processus des années 1970 en Europe, particulièrement dans le monde germanophone (ce qui était alors les deux Allemagne, Suisse, Autriche). Or des démarches analogues ont eu lieu en Asie et dans une mesure moindre en Afrique et en Amérique latine, dans les années 1980, 1990, 2000. Ces processus allient de manière très créative conciliarité et collégialité.

Synodal activity usually required great organizational and diplomatic skills, theological knowledge, as well as a lot of patience and effort. These assumptions were also manifested by the Nitra Bishop Anton (1492-1500) through the Diocesan Synod of Nitra in 1494. Preserved synodal decrees point to a comprehensive grasp of the topics related to liturgical discipline and clergy discipline. A wide range of topics and their detailed elaboration speaks of the problems that currently plagued the Church towards the end of the Middle Ages. The course of the internal reform of the Diocese of Nitra, which was established by Bishop Anton through the synodal decrees, was so effective that these decrees were confirmed, extended and published in 1560 in Vienna by the Bishop of Nitra Pavol Abstemius Bornemisa (1557-1579). For the life and functioning of clerics and believers, Anton‘s initiative and effort was an important milestone, as the summoning of the Hungarian Synods in the Middle Ages and the Modern Age was not a matter of course.

Political, religious, and socio-economic changes during the Ottoman presence, the struggle for thrones, frequent military strikes, the spread of new religious ideas, and the loss of the spirituality and the worshippers affected the Catholic Church in Hungary. Due to multiple religious changes as well as under the influence of the Trident Council, church leaders have come to a number of regulations or unification in the field of liturgy and clergy discipline. The changes were put into practice thanks to the synodal activity, which was distinguished by Nicolaus Olahus (1558, 1560, 1561, 1562, 1564, 1566), Ferenc Forgách (1611) and Péter Pázmány (1629, 1630, 1632, 1633), during whose reign the synodal legislature experienced its peak in Hungary. Their followers, in the person of Imre Lóssy (1638) and György Lippay (1648), have already repeated and extended their conclusions, designed on the results of the Trident Council. In the territory fragmented by the Ottoman invasions and the anti-Habsburg Estates' uprisings, marked by fraudulent morality and discipline of the clerics, the lack of priests, missing papal confessions for bishops, ruined churches and missing liturgical objects, unoccupied ecclesiastical positions and benefits, and poor economic security, the Synods represented the most effective mechanisms to remove the negatives and afflicitons of the Catholic Church. In the second half of the 16th Century and the first half of the 17th Century, the Synods became one of the key pillars of Catholic renewal in the spirit of Trident Council, alongside with the visitations of the dioceses, setting up Hungarian priests' seminaries and bringing Catholic teachers to the schools.

This concise work reflects on Pope Francis' guide to "discernment" and to "our obligations to each other," as Francis develops those concepts in "Fratelli Tutti" and "Let Us Dream." It demonstrates his "bottom-up" approach to understanding the Beatitudes and Catholic Social Teaching, and how people can apply those principles to practical life.

У цій публікації представлено канони, які повині стати частиною джерел права Української Греко-Католицької Церкви. Матеріали стосуються теми семінарії, кандидатів на свячення, нижчих служителів, дияконів, парафій, протопресвітерів, сотрудників, капеланів, проповідування, єрархії, синодів і трибуналу та представлені мовою оригіналу.

This publication presents the canons that should be included in the collection of sources of law of the Kyiv Church, and in particular the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. The materials concern the topic of the seminary, candidates for ordination, minor orders, deacons, parishes, archpriests, vicars, chaplains, preaching, hierarchy, synods, tribunals.

In the 16th century, there were many confessional and social changes, due to which the position of the Catholic Church seemed to have been shaken and lost many believers and priests. Being faced with the pressure of the spreading Protestant Reformation, Roman Catholicism was itself forced to agree to deeper reforms in its own ranks. His pressure led to attempts at reforming its structures, approach and direction so as to be able to adapt to the early modern conditions and to remain competitive with the new churches. The same regulations constantly reappearing over several decades, numerous cases and disputes, as well as the frequent admonitions from the archbishops and the Holy See, all of these testified to a more difficult and slower application of regulations and their adoption by believers and priests in practice. The Catholic Church had to rethink a number of questions concerning the faith, religious doctrine, teaching the  believers and priests, sacraments, ceremonies, church services and especially the life and discipline of the clerics who had to be an example and moral support for secular representatives. Altough the changes were put into practice slowly, synods with their regulations were one of the most important methods or mechanisms of the early modern Catholic reform in Hungary.