Ecclesiastical authority in the Byzantine world
Article summary proposed by the Contacts review with LLM assistance
This article by Michel Stavrou examines the structures of ecclesial authority in the Byzantine Empire, drawing on both a historical and ecclesiological approach. Starting from the observation that the dispute over Roman primacy remains the main obstacle to ecumenical dialogue between Rome and Constantinople, the author successively analyzes the different poles of authority in Byzantium: the bishop, the council, the Patriarch of Constantinople and his permanent synod, the emperor, and the bishop of Rome. The central idea is that Byzantine ecclesial authority rests on a dialectical tension between primacy and conciliarity, ecclesiologically grounded in the eucharistic and trinitarian model. The article provides valuable historical insight into the Byzantine vision of Roman primacy, showing that it was always conceived as being exercised within the episcopal college and not above it, which constitutes a direct contribution to contemporary ecumenical dialogue.
This article has not been translated yet — it is available in its French version here.
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