The modernising church law-making of St. emperor Justinian, with the regulation of provincial councils as an example

Abstract

The Church Councils of the ante-Nicene period had neither a clear periodicity nor a strictly defined competence. Their competence was very broad, almost limitless: questions of faith, discipline, the calendar, the practice of the Sacraments. These local councils of the ante-Nicene era were replaced, from the fourth century, by provincial councils.In 325 a number of rules for provincial councils were approved in Nicaea: they had to be convened twice a year, consist of bishops of one particular province, take place in a provincial civil centre (metropolis) and their competence was limited to second-instance judicial proceedings. Further church legislation did not extend this competence, although in fact the councils dealt not only with judicial, but also with doctrinal problems. The biannual councils as prescribed by Nicaea canons becomes burdensome because of the large size of some provinces and some other reasons. The novels of Justinian I for the first time clearly defined the competence of a "provincial" council. The emperor included not only judicial, but also canonical and doctrinal topics in the competence of the provincial councils, while establishing a regularity of holding them "once a year". The modernizing legislative activity of St. Emperor Justinian proved useful and was recognized by the church hierarchy.