Athanasius himself was accused of mistreating Arians and the followers of Meletius of Lycopolis, and had to answer those charges at a gathering of bishops in Tyre, the First Synod of Tyre, in 335.

In the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ( ELCA ) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada ( ELCIC ), the largest Lutheran Church bodies in the United States and Canada respectively and roughly based on the Nordic Lutheran state churches ( similar to that of the Church of England ), bishops are elected by Synod Assemblies, consisting of both lay members and clergy, for a term of 6 years, which can be renewed, depending upon the local synod's " constitution " ( which is mirrored on either the ELCA or ELCIC's national constitution ).

Furthermore, the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church similarly became independent of the Ethiopian Tewahedo Church in 1994, when four bishops were consecrated by Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria to form the basis of a local Holy Synod of the Eritrean Church.

At the Spanish Synod of Elvira ( c. 305 ) bishops concluded, " Pictures are not to be placed in churches, so that they do not become objects of worship and adoration ".

Next, John convened the Synod of Westminster in September 1125, which was attended by both the archbishops of Canterbury and York, together with twenty bishops and forty abbots.

Nevertheless, at the Synod of London ( 1396 ), the English bishops convened to condemn Wyclif.

They took on distinctive views on clerical dress and in opposition to the episcopal system, particularly after the 1619 conclusions of the Synod of Dort were resisted by the English bishops.

* At the Synod of Aquileia ( also referred to as the Synod of Pavia ), the bishops of the diocese of Aquileia decide to end the Schism of the Three Chapters and return to communion with Rome.

* March – The Synod of Jerusalem brings together bishops and representatives from the whole of Eastern Orthodox Christendom to discuss Orthodox dogma against the challenge of Protestantism.

Under these circumstances Berengar decided to concede as much as he could, and the French bishops showed that they wished a speedy settlement of the controversy, when the Synod of Tours declared itself satisfied by Berengar's written declaration that the sacramental bread and wine after consecration were the body and blood of Christ.

The request was granted and the Synod of Tarragona confirmed the nomination of Irenaeus, after which the bishops sought the pope's approval.

* First Synod of Tyre: Constantine I convenes a gathering of bishops at Tyre to depose and exile Athanasius, the Patriarch of Alexandria.

On 7 November 680, a mere 37 bishops and a number of presbyters convened in the imperial palace, in the domed hall called Trullo, from which the council also took the name Trullan Synod.

" However, in 2004 Patriarch Bartholomew, with the help of the Turkish government, succeeded, after eighty years, in altering the composition of the twelve-member Standing Synod of Metropolitan Bishops in Constantinople so that it can include six bishops from outside Turkey.

The Synod of Hippo of 393 ordered a general meeting yearly, but this was found too onerous for the bishops, and in the Synod of Carthage ( 407 ) it was decided to hold a general synod only when necessary for the needs of all Africa, and it was to be held at a place most convenient for the purpose.

At the Synod of Aachen on 28 April 862, the bishops of Lotharingia approved this union, contrary to ecclesiastical law.

Theodore conducted a survey of the English church, appointed various bishops to sees that had been vacant for some time, and then called the Synod of Hertford to institute reforms concerning the proper celebration of Easter, episcopal authority, itinerant monks, the regular convening of subsequent synods, marriage and prohibitions of consanguinity, and others.

Having meanwhile become archbishop of Canterbury Courtenay summoned a synod, in London, the so-called " Earthquake Synod ", which condemned the opinions of Wycliffe ; he then attacked the Lollards at Oxford, and urged the bishops to imprison heretics.

In Orthodox Russia too, when Peter I the Great assumed the Byzantine imperial titles Imperator and Autokrator, instead of the ' merely ' royal Tsar, the idea in founding the Russian Holy Synod was to put an end to the old Imperium in imperio of the free Church, by substituting the synod for the all too independent Patriarch of Moscow, who had become almost a rival of the Tsars — Peter meant to unite all authority in himself, over Church as well as State: through his Ober-Procurator and synod, the Emperor ruled his Church as absolutely as his army and navy through their respective ministries ; he appointed its members ( mostly bishops ) just as his generals ; and the Russian Government continued his policy until the end of the empire in 1917.

Upon the application of some bishops, the Coptic Orthodox Holy Synod, based on the direction of Pope Shenouda, also decided to ask Copts not to visit Jerusalem until the Church possessions and the monastery be returned.

The decision to publish a catechism was taken at the Extraordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops that was convened by Pope John Paul II on 25 January 1985 for the 20th anniversary of the close of the Second Vatican Council, and in 1986, the pope put a commission composed of 12 bishops and cardinals in charge of the project.

Apart from its distinct customs and liturgies ( such as the Sarum rite ), the organizational machinery of the Church of England was in place by the time of the Synod of Hertford in 672 – 673, when the English bishops were first able to act as one body under the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

In 410, the Synod of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, held at the Sassanid capital, allowed the Church's leading bishops to elect a formal Catholicos, or leader.

It was then that he began to study the principles of law and administration under Konstantin Pobedonostsev, then a professor of civil law at Moscow State University and later ( from 1880 ) chief procurator of the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in Russia.

Catholic Christians, following the Canon of Trent, describe these books as deuterocanonical, meaning of " the second canon ," while Greek Orthodox Christians, following the Synod of Jerusalem ( 1672 ), use the traditional name of anagignoskomena, meaning " that which is to be read.

The Coptic Orthodox Church refused to recognize the election and enthronement of Abuna Takla Haymanot on the grounds that the Synod of the Ethiopian Church had not removed Abuna Theophilos, and that the Ethiopian government had not publicly acknowledged his death, and he was thus still legitimate Patriarch of Ethiopia.

The Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria is headed by the Patriarch of Alexandria and the members are the Metropolitan Archbishops, Metropolitan Bishops, Diocesan Bishops, Patriarchal Exarchs, Missionary Bishops, Auxiliary Bishops, Suffragan Bishops, Assistant Bishops, Chorbishops and the Patriarchal Vicars for the Church of Alexandria.

For the list of the members of the Holy Synod and their official titles see main article The Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria

* The Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church

The Church considers the first seven Ecumenical Councils ( held between the 4th and the 8th century ) to be the most important ; however, there have been more, specifically the Synods of Constantinople, 879 – 880, 1341, 1347, 1351, 1583, 1819, and 1872, the Synod of Iaşi ( Jassy ), 1642, and the Pan-Orthodox Synod of Jerusalem, 1672, all of which helped to define the Orthodox position.

With the exception of the Orthodox Church of Greece ( Holy Synod in Resistance ), they will commune the faithful from all the canonical jurisdictions and are recognized by and in communion with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.

Due in part to the re-establishment of official ties between the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia and the Moscow Patriarchate, the Orthodox Church of Greece ( Holy Synod in Resistance ) has broken ecclesial communion with ROCOR, but the converse has not happened.

* Orthodox Church of Greece ( Holy Synod in Resistance )

On March 11, 1969, the Great Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America ( OCA ) solemnly proclaimed the Act of the Universal Church Canonization of the Staretz Herman to Sainthood in the Orthodox Church in America: " Taking into consideration the long and undisputed witness of the grace of God, appearing through the servant of God, the Staretz Herman of Alaska.

Nonetheless, full dogmatic articulations of the canon were not made until the Canon of Trent of 1546 for Roman Catholicism, the Thirty-Nine Articles of 1563 for the Church of England, the Westminster Confession of Faith of 1647 for Calvinism, and the Synod of Jerusalem of 1672 for the Greek Orthodox.

Bishop Raphael was glorified by the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America ( OCA ) in its March 2000 session.

Examples of official documents of the Eastern Orthodox Church that use the term " μετουσίωσις " or " transubstantiation " are the Longer Catechism of The Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church ( question 340 ) and the declaration by the Eastern Orthodox Synod of Jerusalem of 1672:

In the periods between the Councils the highest administrative powers are exercised by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, which includes seven permanent members and is chaired by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Primate of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod ( LCMS ) and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod ( WELS ), the second and third largest Lutheran bodies in the United States and the two largest Confessional Lutheran bodies in North America, do not have a bishop as the head of the church or middle jurisdiction, practicing a form of congregationalism similar to the United Church of Christ.

However, Trent confirmed the statements of earlier and less authoritative regional councils which included also the deuterocanonical books, such as the Synod of Hippo ( 393 ), and the Councils of Carthage of 397.

Pre-ecumenical councils ( also known as synods ) include the Council of Jerusalem ( c. 50 ), the Council of Rome ( 155 AD ), the Second Council of Rome ( 193 AD ), the Council of Ephesus ( 193 AD ), the Council of Carthage ( 251 AD ), the Council of Iconium ( 258 AD ), the Council of Antioch ( 264 AD ), the Councils of Arabia ( 246 – 247 AD ), the Council of Elvira ( 306 AD ), the Council of Carthage ( 311 AD ), the Synod of Neo-Caesarea ( c. 314 AD ), the Council of Ancyra ( 314 AD ) and the Council of Arles ( 314 AD ).

In the Church of England, the General Synod, which was established in 1970 ( replacing the Church Assembly ), is the legislative body of the Church.

Honorius also ensured that Diego should play a leading role in the Synod of Carrión ( February 1130 ), having his legate approach Diego and ask for his assistance during the synod.

Confirming his continued support of the anti-Formosus faction, Sergius honoured the murdered Pope Stephen VI ( 896 – 897 ), who had been responsible for the " Cadaver Synod " that had condemned and mutilated the corpse of Pope Formosus, writing a laudatory epitaph on Stephen VI's tombstone.

* Synod of Worms ( 1076 ), a Reichstag convened by Emperor Henry IV which sought to depose Pope Gregory VII