Synodal management in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church (18th-20th centuries)

The study considers the history of synodal (conciliar) management in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. The Zamość Council of 1720 became the first synod in the history of the Russian Uniate Church. In Galicia, such councils were not convened until 1891 while a synod with the participation of local bishops took place in Lviv. A great contribution to the revival and development of the Synodal Administration was made by Metropolitan Andrey (Sheptytsky) (1865-1944). Bishops’ Councils were constantly held under the guidance of the next head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Metropolitan Joseph Slepoy (1892-1984). The Synodal Administration was regulated in the Patriarchal Charter of 1973, which defined the highest ecclesiastical administration prior to the adoption of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches in 1990. The research analyzes the most important points of this document and describes the rules of the present-day particular law of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church regarding the structure and powers of the synod.