The structure of the church
The canons
The basic structure for the Orthodox church is defined by the New Testament writings; the canons (regulations and decrees) of the first seven ecumenical councils; the canons of several local or provincial councils, whose authority was recognized by the whole church; the so-called Apostolic Canons (actually some regulations of the church in Syria, dating from the 4th century); and the “canons of the Fathers,” or selected extracts from prominent church leaders having canonical importance. The various canons were later compiled in the Byzantine nomocanon, attributed in its final form to the patriarch Photius (9th century). The Byzantine church, as well as the modern Orthodox church, adapted the general principles of this collection to its particular situation.
The canons themselves do not represent a system or a code. They do, however, reflect a consistent view of the church, of its mission, and of its various ministries. They also reflect an evolution of ecclesiastical structure. For the Orthodox church today, only the original self-understanding of the church has a theologically normative value. Thus, those canons that reflect the nature of the church as the body of Christ have an unchanging validity today. Other canons, if they can be recognized as conditioned by the historical situation in which they were issued, are subject to change by conciliar authority, and others have simply fallen out of practice. The use and interpretation of the canons is therefore possible only in the light of some understanding of the church’s nature. This theological dimension is the ultimate criterion through which it is possible to distinguish what is permanent in the canons from that which represents no more than a historical value.