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The Second Vatican Council shaped a new model for a diocesan synod, which was adopted, among others, in Poland, and is characterised by a departure from making the norms of particular law and the popularisation of the council teaching in particular Churches. On the other hand, after the promulgation of the new Code of Canon Law in 1983, the diocesan synods adjusted the diocesan law to the code norms. When this period of the reception of the code law to the diocesan legislation achieved its result, the final resolutions of the subsequent diocesan synods, which were usually extensive, do not meet — to a large extent — the requirements set by the documents of the Holy See: Instruction of the Congregation for Bishops and the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Nations of 1997 and the Directory of the Congregation for Bishops Apostolorum successores of 2004. The author calls for the use of these enunciations so that diocesan synods can be an effective tool for the renewal of a particular Church.

The synodal form of organisation — sought and established for His Church by Her Founder, that is, by Our Lord Jesus Christ, and affirmed by His Apostles — was also expressly reaffirmed by the canonical legislation of the Eastern Church of the first millennium. By adapting the form of administrative-territorial organisation of the Church to that of the Roman State — sanctioned by the canons of the Ecumenical Synods (cf. can. 4, 6 Sin. I Ec.; 2, 6 Sin. II Ec.; 9, 17, 28 Sin. IV Ec.; 36 Sin. VI Ec.) — in the life of the Eastern Church several types of synods appeared, starting with the eparchial (metropolitan) synod of a local Church and ending with the patriarchal synod, both still present in the autocephalous Churches of Eastern Orthodoxy.

In this canonical study, the reader of the article will have an opportunity to become acquainted with an old European canonical-juridical institution, that is, the synodality, and, ipso facto, about its juridical regime. And, naturally, the reader can get acquainted more closely with the provisions of the canonical norms of the Eastern Church regarding the eparchial (metropolitan) synodality institution, and, ipso facto, with the issue of the regime of the synodality. Since the canonical bases of the synodality regime are foreseen in the canonical legislation of the first millennium, we had to make an hermeneutical analysis of its text, which showed us that, by resorting to ad fontes, we can also pave the way that would go towards the restoration of the unity of the two Christian worlds, namely, Pars Orientis and Pars Occidentis.

The concept of the synod plays a special role in the Evangelical ecclesiology. In the 20th century, the synod was radically defined as “the personification of the Church.” In the Evangelical tradition, however, there are equal Church management systems: episcopal, synodal-consistory, presbyterian (mainly in the Evangelical-Reformed denomination), and to a lesser extent congregational (especially observed in the so-called free Churches). Reformation theology understands the Church as a community of all saints, where the Gospel is preached purely and the sacraments are properly administered (Augsburg Confession — CA VII). The system of the Church does not belong to the so-called notae ecclesiae. An important theological doctrine of the Reformation is the teaching about the universal priesthood of all believers, which is the theological foundation of the idea of the synodal responsibility of the Church. In the 19th century synods concerned mainly clergy. In the 20th century, in the course of democratisation processes, most Evangelical Churches raised the importance of the synod in the overall management of the Church, and the Polish Lutheran Church introduced a provision into her law which stipulates that the synod is “the embodiment of the Church” and its supreme authority.

In the communio Ecclesiae reality, of a unitarian, charismatic, and institutiona structure, the crucial concepts of participation and co-responsibility are firmly anchored in the juridical and canonical discourse. This is the way in which the horizon of the subject matter reveals itself, the study of which — from the point of view of the title triad: synodality — participation — co-responsibility — will never lose its relevance. What is, at the same time, important is the idea of “synodality,” which is adequately recognized as the sacra potestas of a sacramental origin (ontological aspect), which gains the dynamism of libertas sacra (existential and dynamic aspect) through the charisms of the Holy Spirit, thus leading to the inseparability of its personal and synodal aspects. Therefore, in the attempt to illuminate the determinant of the aggiornamento of the Church law in this study, it was appropriate, on the one hand, to consistently refer to the essence of the idea of the communio hierarchica, according to which Christ makes selected servants participate in his authority by means of an office, the exercise of which always remains a diaconia in the community of faith. On the other hand, in reference to the contemporary understanding of communio fidelium, the axis of scientific reflection was to be the communion-creative phenomenon of charisms — gifts of the Holy Spirit that awaken in the People of God synodal co-responsibility for the good of the entire Church community. In both cases — without losing sight of the obvious truth that, in the sacramental structure of the Church (communio), both hierarchical and charismatic gifts converge in the service of the bishop, who updates — according to the logic of the Vaticanum II aggiormamento and the ecclesiological principles of the Council: collegiality, the title synodality and subsidiarity — the fullness of Christ’s service: as Prophet, Priest, and King.

One of the basic categories used to describe the nature of the Church is communion with its spiritual, structural, and legal dimensions. On the basis of their  aptism, all the faithful should undertake common responsibility and real care for the life and particular areas of the Church. This also includes discernment within the Church. Synods and synodality are a special case which expresses the communal character of the Church. However, synodality and communal discernment cannot be understood similarl to a parliament where the majority decides. It is about recognising contemporary needs and searching for the place of the Church in the world while preserving the Revelation. In recognising the ways for the Church, her movements are important as they form Catholics who increasingly identify with the mission of the baptised. Deepening their meaning and determining the degree of their influence on discernment in the Church, both universal and local, remains a challenge.

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