In Vatican II they are synonymous, both referring to the council session. In the Catholic Church the distinction between the use of the words “council” and “synod” is a recent one. In fact, “council” enriches the semantic content of “synod” by its reference to the Hebrew קָהָל (qahal), the assembly convoked by the Lord, and its translation into Greek as έκκλησία, which, in the New Testament, refers to the eschatological convocation of the People of God in Christ Jesus. Although the roots of “synod” and “council” are different, their meanings converge. Concilium, in its profane use, refers to an assembly convoked by some legitimate authority. The Greek σύνοδος is translated into Latin as synodus or concilium. Since the first centuries, the word “synod” has been applied, with a specific meaning, to the ecclesial assemblies convoked on various levels (diocesan, provincial, regional, patriarchal or universal) to discern, by the light of the Word of God and listening to the Holy Spirit, the doctrinal, liturgical, canonical and pastoral questions that arise as time goes by. He explains that the Church is actually the assembly convoked to give God thanks and glory like a choir, a harmonic reality which holds everything together (σύστημα), since, by their reciprocal and ordered relations, those who compose it converge in αγάπη and όμονοία (common mind).Ĥ. Saint John Chrysostom, for example, writes that the Church is a “name standing for 'walking together’ (σύνοδος)". In ecclesiastical Greek it expresses how the disciples of Jesus were called together as an assembly and in some cases it is a synonym for the ecclesial community. Equally, it refers to the Lord Jesus, who presents Himself as “the way, the truth and the life” ( Jn 14,6), and to the fact that Christians, His followers, were originally called “followers of the Way” ( cf. Composed of a preposition συν (with) and the noun όδός (path), it indicates the path along which the People of God walk together. “Synod” is an ancient and venerable word in the Tradition of the Church, whose meaning draws on the deepest themes of Revelation. The Introduction indicates the etymological and conceptual data required for a preliminary clarification of the content and use of the word ‘synodality’ it then puts into context what a momentous and new teaching the Magisterium has offered us on this subject in the wake of Vatican II.ģ. This document is meant to offer some useful guidelines for going deeper into the theological sense of this promise and some pastoral orientations about what it implies for the Church’s mission. He stressed that, in fact, synodality “is an essential dimension of the Church”, in the sense that “what the Lord is asking of us is already in some sense present in the very word 'synod’”. “It is precisely this path of synodality which God expects of the Church of the third millennium” : this programmatic commitment was made by Pope Francis at the commemoration of the 50 th anniversary of the institution of the Synod of Bishops by Blessed Paul VI. Ladaria S.J., Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who authorised its publication on 2 nd March 2018, after receiving a favourable response from Pope Francis.ġ. It was later approved by the President, His Eminence Cardinal Luis F. The present text was approved by the majority of the members of the Commission during its 2017 Plenary Session, by means of a written vote. General discussions on this theme took place during the meetings of the sub-committee and during the Plenary Sessions of the Commission itself, held between 20. Alenka Arko of the Loyola Community, Mgr. Mario Ángel Flores Ramos and whose members were Sr. The work was carried out by a specific sub-committee, whose president was Mgr. During its 9 th Quinquennium, the International Theological Commission undertook a study of synodality in the life and mission of the Church.
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