With this post, I am beginning a two-part article related to Pope Francis' most recent promulgation of the Apostolic Constitution, Episcopalis communio, which teaches that the decisions of Synods of Bishops are to be considered part of the ordinary Magisterium of the Church.
So let us begin.
By the end of the First Millenium, the unity which Christianity once enjoyed had begun to tatter at the seams.
For 500 years, that unity had experienced complex tensions which were revealed in disputes over the Nature of Christ and the place which Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was to be given in terms of Christian devotion and practice.
These tensions finally led to a rupture between the Catholic vs. Orthodox as well as Eastern Oriental Churches following the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD.
Many historians refer to Cardinal Humbert’s placing of the Bull of Excommunication upon the altar of Hagia Sophia (the cathedral of the Patriarch of Constantinople) as the beginning of the Great Schism of 1054.
In reality, however, that act was not the beginning of the split which gave rise to Eastern Orthodoxy and the Latin Church, but rather was in fact the last desperate act which officially recognized that the divisions were beyond repair.
From that point onward, the Latin Church began to systematically organize its internal structure of governance much differently than Christianity had known in its first thousand years of history.
The biggest divergence between the two traditions would be seen in the authority which the Latin Church placed in the Bishop of Rome.
Very early on, the Bishop of Rome enjoyed a primacy of honor and reverence based upon the City’s intimate history as the place of martyrdom of both Peter and Paul as well as its significance in terms of being the capital city of the Roman Empire itself.
Within the Patriarchal structure of the Early Church, all the local churches were serene in their recognition that the Bishop of Rome enjoyed a pre-eminence of dignity, the Office itself being regarding as “the first among equals" (primus inter pares).
However, the Eastern Churches very early on rejected the growing claims of the Bishop of Rome’s supremacy over the Universal Church. Nor did the Eastern Patriarchs accept the suggestion that the Bishop of Rome’s decisions on matters of faith and morals were infallible and thus binding upon all Christians.
From the beginning of the Second Millenium, the Latin Church engaged in an effort to centralize the authority of the Body of Christ situating the Bishop of Rome as the Supreme Apostolic Authority with the power to exercise not only spiritual authority but legal jurisdiction over all the Successors of the Apostles, the Bishops and Patriarchs as well.
And while both the Latin and Orthodox Churches adhere to the credal formulas enunciated by the first 7 Ecumenical Councils, their greatest divisions and antagonism have continued to center upon the primacy issues involving the Bishop of Rome.
The Orthodox Church as a whole is the unity of what are called local autocephalous or autonomous churches. These words mean simply that these churches govern themselves, electing their own Bishops and organizing their own customs and practices.
Each of these churches has exactly the same doctrine, discipline and spiritual practices. They use the same Bible, follow the same canon laws, confess the authority of the same Church Councils and worship by what is essentially the same liturgy.
It is nothing other than this communion in faith and practice which unites all Orthodox Churches together into one world-wide body. In this sense, there is no one dominating authority in the Orthodox Church, no particular Bishop or Diocese or document which has authority over the local autonomous churches.
For centuries, the Patriarch of the Church of Constantinople has functioned for centuries as the Bishop responsible for guiding and preserving the worldwide unity of the family of self-governing Orthodox Churches.
But it must be noted that this responsibility is merely a practical and pastoral one. It carries no Sacramental or juridical power with it and it is possible that in the future this function may pass to some other autonomous church determined by the consensus of all the Eastern Patriarchs.
Governance within this unity of local churches takes place by way of the Synodal gatherings of the Patriarchs who come together to discuss matters of faith or practice which may affect the spiritual lives of those churches within the Orthodox communion.
No individual Patriarch is bound to the consensus which may be achieved in Synod. In the event that a Synod is convened to resolve conflicts between or among the Patriarchs themselves, the Patriarch of Constantinople “invites but does not summon” the Patriarchs to convene.
Out of respect for the dignity of the See of Constantinople, all the Patriarchs are inclined to respond positively to such an invitation.
In the Latin Church, the Bishop of Rome not only enjoyed the primacy of dignity but also claims juridical authority over all the local churches. The Bishop of Rome, therefore, may forcefully summon individual Bishops or all Bishops or may decide a matter of dispute or consideration by way of Papal fiat alone.
Following the Ecumenical Council of Vatican II, Blessed Pope Paul VI in 1965 penned a document establishing the Synod of Bishops in the Latin Church in an attempt to build upon the synodal tradition that Christianity had enjoyed in the East.
However, in the Latin Church, the Bishop of Rome alone had the power to summon the convening of a Synod and he alone had the authority to agree with the consensus of the Synodal Fathers or reject their conclusions, his decision being binding upon all the churches within the Latin communion.
Still, according to the prescriptions of Blessed Paul VI’s constitution regarding Synods, only Bishops were to be involved in the process of discernment in offering consultative advice to the Bishop of Rome.
In recent days, Pope Francis has issued an Apostolic Constitution, Episcopalis Communio, which seeks to provide a novel theological approach to the Synod’s role in Church teaching and governance as well as prescribing the manner by which Synodal Fathers are selected, topics and agendas prepared, how the Synod itself is to be conducted and its authority within the context of the ordinary Magisterium of the Church.
In Part Two of this series, we shall examine the details of Pope Francis’ constitution and consider the impact which this revolutionary document may have upon the life and mission of the Church for decades, if not centuries, to come
No comments:
Post a Comment