In the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops vi ...

, the endemic synod or ( gr, ἐνδημοῦσα σύνοδος) was the permanent standing synod of bishops of the

Patriarchate of Constantinople The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople ( el, Οἰκουμενικὸν Πατριαρχεῖον Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, translit=Oikoumenikón Patriarkhíon Konstantinoupóleos, ; la, Patriarchatus Oecumenicus Constanti ...

that met frequently but irregularly to deal with issues of discipline and dogma. It was convoked and presided over by the

patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in ce ...

. The term was first used to refer to the Council of Constantinople of 448, but the custom of convoking all bishops visiting or living in or near

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth ( Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

to a synod as needed was already common when it was formalized by the

Council of Chalcedon The Council of Chalcedon (; la, Concilium Chalcedonense), ''Synodos tēs Chalkēdonos'' was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian. The council convened in the city of Chalcedon, Bi ...

on 451. By the 9th century, the variable structure of the endemic synod had begun to crystallize. Only

metropolitan bishops In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan (alternative obsolete form: metropolite), pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis. Originally, the term referred to the ...

, autocephalous archbishops and the administrative functionaries of the patriarch (of which there were five) were permitted to attend meetings. The synod gathered after the death of a patriarch and proposed three names to the emperor to fill the vacancy, although the emperor was not bound by these. It also proposed three names to the patriarch upon the vacancy of a metropolitanate. The synod could on occasion be called by an emperor against a patriarch, as when Emperor

Leo V Leo V or Leon V may refer to: * Leo V the Armenian (813–820), Byzantine emperor * Pope Leo V, pope in 903 * Leo V, King of Armenia (1342–1393), of the House of Lusignan; last Latin king of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia * Leo V (dwarf galaxy) ...

deposed Patriarch

Nikephoros I Nikephoros I or Nicephorus I ( gr, Νικηφόρος; 750 – 26 July 811) was Byzantine emperor from 802 to 811. Having served Empress Irene as '' genikos logothetēs'', he subsequently ousted her from power and took the throne himself. In r ...

in 815. During the 11th-century Byzantine–Seljuq wars, a number of bishops fled to Constantinople and the size of the synod increased. In 1054, Patriarch

Michael Keroularios Michael I Cerularius or Keroularios ( el, Μιχαήλ Α΄ Κηρουλάριος; 1000 – 21 January 1059 AD) was the Patriarch of Constantinople from 1043 to 1059 AD. His disputes with Pope Leo IX over church practices in the 11th century p ...

convoked the synod at the height of the Great Schism. It was also convened to try John Italos for heresy in 1082. Under the Palaiologan emperors, the endemic synod continued to exist but there were frequent extraordinary synods, especially during the controversy over

Palamism Palamism or the Palamite theology comprises the teachings of Gregory Palamas (c. 1296–1359), whose writings defended the Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox practice of Hesychasm against the attack of Barlaam of Seminara, Barlaam. Follo ...

. The lasted through the end of the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

(1453) and continued under the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

. In the 18th century, its remit was limited to strictly spiritual affairs and it was renamed the

Holy Synod In several of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches and Eastern Catholic Churches, the patriarch or head bishop is elected by a group of bishops called the Holy Synod. For instance, the Holy Synod is a ruling body of the Georgian Orthod ...

. It was also put on a more permanent footing.E. B. Tellan (2019)
"The Patriarchate of Constantinople and the 'Reform of the Synod' in the 18th-Century Ottoman Context"
''Chronos'' 39: 7–22.

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Further reading