The Relationship between Bishops, Synods, and the Metropolitan-Bishop in the Orthodox Canonical Tradition

Beginning with St. Basil the Great, Orthodox canonists maintain an eye both on the canons themselves and the practice of the Church. St. Basil said towards the end of his Third Canon that it is necessary “to know those things according to the strict rule and those things that are customary.” This two-fold task of a canonist reflects the nature of the canons themselves, which are literary expressions of what the Church considers to be normative. Various Church councils and fathers drafted the canons, which now form the corpus canonum, during the first millennium. The canons however are theological responses to particular problems and in no way comprehensively describe all aspects of Church life. The life of the Church was and is much more extensive. Consequently the vast reservoir of experience that the Church has needs to factor into any canonical activity. Since the canons are fixed points of reference through their acceptance, they provide the starting point for canonical work. And, as with any text of late antiquity, they require careful reading and explanation. Additionally, because they emerge from within the Church (fathers, councils, etc.), they take their full meaning for the Church only when considered in a broad ecclesial context. All of the tools, the material, and the methods a canonist has at hand are formed and forged by the Church. In this way, the canons are understood as theological formulations and the canonist finds his work as a theologian

Examining the Rules of Consensus from the Canonical Perspective

 The rules of consensus posed problems for the Holy and Great Council both prior to the council and during. This paper explores some of these reasons and examines the canonical witness for a clearer understanding of consensus within the canonical tradition. The paper concludes with a call for greater conciliar activity in order to foster a more robust culture of consensus within the Orthodox Church. Keywords:  canon law, consensus, eucharistic ecclesiolog

Power and Authority in Eastern Christian Experience: Papers of the Sophia Institute Academic Conference New York, December 2010

The essays in this volume were delivered at the Third Annual Conference of the Sophia Institute in December 2010 at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. The theme of that conference, “Power and Authority in Eastern Christian Experience,” brought forth a diverse group of scholars who contributed their perspectives on the ways the Eastern Orthodox Church, in its broadest sense, has negotiated the notions of power, authority, (dis)obedience, and resistance over time and space. These insightful essays promise to draw the Orthodox world into a dynamic and productive discourse