Why Rome is looking East
By strengthening the synod of bishops Pope Francis hopes to boost the chances of unity between Catholics and Orthodox Christians
Until quite recently, to most of us, the word “synod” probably meant the governing body of the Church of England. Catholics spoke of the councils, worldwide (“ecumenical”) or local, which have met irregularly to fix matters of Church doctrine and governance. For the Orthodox, meanwhile, the notion of synod presents no novelty. The Greek word synodos means meeting or assembly (literally, a “journeying together”). It is the term used for the ecumenical councils that gave the Church her definitive doctrinal teaching and canonical structure between the 4th and the 8th centuries. Indeed, a well-known Orthodox theologian has described his Church as “the Church of the Seven Councils”.
