It Pays to Pay Attention

Tuesday night I was in church for Orthodox Holy Week. It was a beautiful evening, peaceful and reflective. Towards the end of the service, the names of the saints and holy events honored on the particular day were recounted. I heard the date of 1722 go by, and was intrigued. What happened at that time that was important for Orthodox Christians?

Today, in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese website, I found the following:

April 15, Encyclical of the Synod in Constantinople in 1722 to the Orthodox Antiochians.

Various synods of the Orthodox Church pertaining to the faith are celebrated throughout the ecclesiastical year. A "synod" is a gathering council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application.

As the Archdiocese website reports, the Orthodox Christian should know the content of his religion as taught by the Church. He should be guided in studying what the Church has in its written (Bible) and unwritten (Sacred Tradition) teaching. There are two specific distinctions within the Orthodox Church. One is the relationship between freedom and authority in the government of the Church. The other is the system of self-governing churches. These distinctions are not very well known among the other Christian churches. The highest authority in the Orthodox Church is the "Conscience of the Church", which is the consent of the people of the Orthodox Church on the explanation of the faith given at times of its disputes. The general assemblies (synods) of the self-governing national Orthodox churches, made up of clergy, especially bishops, meet to decide, by unanimous opinion, matters of faith in dispute.

These synods help the development of opinions of the Orthodox church. Though I cannot find detailed information on the particular 1722 synod, I found the following:

I™n 1722 a Synod in Constantinople, in which Athanasios of Antioch and Chrysanthos of Jerusalem participated, decided for the rebaptism of the Latins as retaliation for the schism that the Latin missionaries caused in Syria.This retaliation reached its height in 1755, due to continuous Latin aggression in Antioch and generally in the East. Α Synod summoned in Constantinople produced a Statement which demanded rebaptism of Latins.This retaliation reached its height in 1755, due to continuous Latin aggression in Antioch and generally in the East. Α Synod summoned in Constantinople produced a Statement  which demanded rebaptism of Latins.
So, there it is. You learn something new everyday, if you are paying attention.