Synody według świadectw św. Augustyna – rozumienie ich roli i znaczenia w Kościele afrykańskim
Synods According to the Testimonies of St. Augustine: Understanding Their Role and Meaning in the African Church

Summary/Abstract: The article looks at the Church of Africa, at the turn of the 4th century and into the 5th, through the prism of the institution of the synod. Particularly valuable in this regard is the testimony of St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo. We owe to his ecclesiology an important chapter in the doctrine of synods in the Christian West. Two crucial controversies at the time were the Donatist schism and the heresy of Pelagianism. When talking about synods, Augustine uses the term synodus several dozen times and the term concilium several hundred times. He understands synodus and concilium essentially as a gathering, an assembly into one (in unum congregare), of bishops (coetus episcoporum), although priests and deacons were sometimes present at these assemblies. In his teaching on synods, the Bishop of Hippo addresses several important issues: the authority (auctoritas) of synods; the tasks facing them, especially regarding the orthodoxy of teachings and principles within the life of the Church; collegiality among bishops; and claims of autonomy on the part of the Church of Africa. Synods, while not possessing the weight of either the Holy Scriptures or customs drawn from apostolic tradition, nevertheless played a critical role in the life of the African Church. Their decisive and binding provisions (constitutionis, gesta concilii) not only strengthened its authority, but also made it the leading Church within the arena of the universal Church of that day.

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