Vestnik Pravoslavnogo Svâto-Tihonovskogo Gumanitarnogo Universiteta: Seriâ II. Istoriâ, Istoriâ Russkoj Pravoslavnoj Cerkvi, Vol 106, Iss 106, Pp 11-24 (2022)

canon law, church law, provincial council, bishop, metropolitan, church court, competence, regularity, imperial church law, emperor st. justinian i, novels, codex encyclius, emperor leo i, каноническое право, церковное право, провинциальный собор, епископ, митрополит, церковный суд, компетенция, регулярность, императорское церковное законодательство, император св. юстиниан i, новеллы, император лев i, History of Russia. Soviet Union. Former Soviet Republics, DK1-4735, History and principles of religions, BL660-2680

The Church Councils of the ante-Nicene period had neither a clear periodicity nor a strictly defined competence. Their competence was very broad, almost limitless: questions of faith, discipline, the calendar, the practice of the Sacraments. These local councils of the ante-Nicene era were replaced, from the fourth century, by provincial councils. In 325 a number of rules for provincial councils were approved in Nicaea: they had to be convened twice a year, consist of bishops of one particular province, take place in a provincial civil centre (metropolis) and their competence was limited to second-instance judicial proceedings. Further church legislation did not extend this competence, although in fact the councils dealt not only with judicial, but also with doctrinal problems. The biannual councils as prescribed by Nicaea canons becomes burdensome because of the large size of some provinces and some other reasons. The novels of Justinian I for the first time clearly defined the competence of a "provincial" council. The emperor included not only judicial, but also canonical and doctrinal topics in the competence of the provincial councils, while establishing a regularity of holding them "once a year". The modernizing legislative activity of St. Emperor Justinian proved useful and was recognized by the church hierarchy.