The Moscow Council of 1917:

This article by Catholic theologian Hervé Legrand, O.P., focuses on the local Council of Moscow of 1917-1918 and its ecclesiological significance. Drawing on a comparative and critical study, it examines the notion of synodality in Catholic and Orthodox theology, carefully distinguishing between the often-confused terms of synodality, conciliarity, and collegiality. The main argument is that the Moscow Council constitutes a legitimate and theologically grounded correction of the trajectory imposed by Peter the Great, without thereby democratizing the Church in the political sense of the term. Legrand refutes the criticisms of Fathers Afanassieff and Schmemann by showing that the Council preserved the canonical articulation between the patriarch, the bishops, and the people of God. The article makes a twofold contribution: it illuminates the common Trinitarian foundations of Catholic and Orthodox ecclesiologies, and offers a positive reassessment of the Moscow Council as a model of institutionally balanced synodality.