Part of Council:

1. Theology

2. History

A distinction is still usual today between assemblies which represent the universal Church by virtue of their composition (Ecumenical Council) or which gather together bishops of a number of ecclesiastical provinces (plenary council) or of a single province (provincial council) and, on the other hand, the diocesan synod. The terms σύνοδος and concilium were originally equivalent; there was as yet no hierarchy of different kinds of …