Position · 325

Conciliarity

The view that the highest authority in the church belongs to bishops acting together in council, guided by the Holy Spirit, with no single bishop ruling over the rest.

Its model is the ecumenical councils, beginning with the Council of Nicaea in 325. The Eastern Orthodox are organised as a family of self-governing churches, each led by its own synod, with the Patriarch of Constantinople given a primacy of honour. The Oriental Orthodox churches are organised in a similar way. Both contrast this with Papal Primacy. A council’s teaching is understood to be confirmed when the wider church receives it.