Headquarters of the Holy Synod of the Russian Empire in St. Petersburg.

The Most Holy Directing Synod (Russian: Святейший Правительствующий Синод) was the highest governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church between 1721 and 1918–when the Patriarchate was restored. At the time of its disestablishment, it was the oldest governing body (Holy Synod) among the various Orthodox Churches. The jurisdiction of the most Holy Synod extended over every kind of ecclesiastical question and over some that are partly secular. Image File history File linksMetadata Senatesynod. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Senatesynod. ... The Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (Russian: ), also known as the Orthodox Christian Church of Russia, is that body of Christians who are united under the Patriarch of Moscow, who in turn is in communion with the other patriarchs and primates of the Eastern Orthodox Church. ... A patriarchate is the office or jurisdiction of a patriarch. ... In several of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches, the patriarch or head bishop is elected by a group of bishops called the Holy Synod. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Eastern Christianity. ...

The Synod was established by Peter I of Russia on January 25, 1721 as a part of his church reform. Its the establishment was followed by the abolition of the Patriarchate. This Caesaropapist reform was framed by two Ukrainian clerics, Stephen Yavorsky (the Synod's first president) and Feofan Prokopovich. The Synod was composed partly of ecclesiastical persons, partly of laymen appointed by the tsar. Among them were the Metropolitans of Saint Petersburg, Moscow and Kiev, and the Exarch of Georgia. Originally, there were to be twelve ecclesiastical members, but the number has been constantly changed by tsars. Peter the Great or Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov (Russian: Пётр I Алексеевич Pyotr I Alekséyevich) (9 June 1672–8 February 1725 [30 May 1672–28 January 1725 O.S.][1]) ruled Russia from 7 May (27 April O.S.) 1682 until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his weak and sickly... January 25 is the 25th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... // Events Pope Innocent XIII becomes pope Johann Sebastian Bach composes the Brandenburg Concertos April 4 - Robert Walpole becomes the first prime minister of Britain September 10 - Treaty of Nystad is signed, bringing an end to the Great Northern War November 2 - Peter I is proclaimed Emperor of All the Russias... Caesaropapism is the phenomenon of combining the power of secular government with the spiritual authority of the Christian Church; most especially, the inter-penetration of the theological authority of the Christian Church with the legal/juridical authority of the government; in its extreme form, it is a political theory in... Stephen Yavorsky (c. ... Feofan/Theophan Prokopovich (1681-1736) was a Ukrainian archbishop and statesman, who elaborated and implemented Peter the Greats reform of the Russian Orthodox Church. ... Tsar (Bulgarian, Serbian and Macedonian цар, Russian  , Croatian car, in scientific transliteration respectively car and car ), occasionally spelled Czar or Tzar and sometimes Csar or Zar in English, is a Slavonic term designating certain monarchs. ... In hierarchical Christian churches, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop (then more precisely called Metropolitan archbishop) of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of an old Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital. ... Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and... Location Position of Moscow in Europe Government Country District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov Geographical characteristics Area  - City 1,081 km² Population  - City (2007)    - Density 10,469,000   9684. ... Map of Ukraine with Kiev highlighted Coordinates: Country Ukraine Oblast Kiev City Municipality Raion Municipality Government  - Mayor Leonid Chernovetskyi Elevation 179 m (587. ... In the Byzantine Empire, an exarch was an essentially military viceroy who governed a part of the empire at some remove from the central (oriental) authorities, the Emperor and the Patriarch of Constantinople. ...

Sources

This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to today as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language encyclopedia published in 1913 by The Encyclopedia Press. ...