A synod (also known as a council) is a council of a church, usually a Christian church, convened to decide an issue of doctrine or administration. An ecumenical council is so named because it is a synod of the whole church (or, more accurately, of what those who call it consider to be the whole church.)
The word comes from the Greek "synodos" meaning assembly, and it is synonymous with the Latin word "concilium" - council. Originally synods were meetings of bishops, and is still used in that sense in Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.
In the Catholic and Orthodox churches, synods are composed of bishops while in the Anglican Communion, General Synods are elected by clergy and laity.
In some Presbyterian polities of church, a synod is a level of administration between the general assembly and the local presbytery. This applies in the Uniting Church in Australia which incorporated many Presbyterians and their ideas when they united with Congregational and Methodist members. In most Anglican churches, there is a geographical hierarchy of synods, with "General Synod" at the top; bishops, clergy and laity meet as "houses" within the synod.
Sometimes the phrase general synod or general council refers to an ecumenical council. The word synod also refers to the standing council of high-ranking bishops governing some of the autocephalousEastern Orthodox churches.
The 431 Council of Ephesus, the Third Ecumenical Council, was chiefly concerned with Nestorianism, which emphasized the distinction between the humanity and divinity of Jesus and taught that, in giving birth to Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary could not be spoken of as giving birth to God.
This Council rejected Nestorianism and affirmed that, as humanity and divinity are inseparable in the one person of Jesus Christ, his mother, the Virgin Mary, is thus Theotokos, God-bearer, Mother of God.
The Alexandrian Church rejected the terms adopted by this Council, and the ChristianChurches that follow the tradition of non-acceptance of the Council - they are not Monophysite in doctrine - are referred to as Pre-Chalcedonian or Oriental Orthodox Churches.
The First Vatican Council (1869–1870) affirmed the doctrine of papal infallibility which Catholics hold to be in continuity with the history of Petrine supremacy in the Church, but Eastern Orthodox and Protestant churches consider a theological innovation.
The Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) was convened by Pope John XXIII primarily as a pastoral council, to make the historic teachings of the Catholic Church clear to the modern world.
Since the Second Vatican Council, the Latin Church admits married men of mature age to ordination as Permanent deacons, but not if they intend to advance to priestly ordination (Ordination to the order of Deacon (transitional) is part of the process through which Priests pass on their way to Priestly ordination).
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