reglament) upon which the synodal constitution and the other church reforms were based, were drawn up by Theophan and revised by Peter in person.
The constitution of the synod was in conformity, not with monarchical patriarchalism, but with the secular system of government by committee. In the regulations a definite reference was made to the papacy, pointing out how this had wrongfully outgrown the control of the temporal power. The analogous usurpation of power by the Moscow patriarchate was censured, and it was decreed that there must be no place for such an evil in the administration of the ecclesiastical committee. The members of the synod had to take oath as follows: "I testify and swear that the monarch of all the Russias is the supreme authority of this ecclesiastical committee."[1]
Peter, supported by Theophan, interpreted the term autocracy in its most literal sense, holding that the church and the hierarchy which governed it were subject to the emperor. "Here is your patriarch," said Peter, tapping his breast, when a deputation of spiritual dignitaries besought him to appoint an incumbent to the patriarchal see. Theophan spoke of his imperial patron as "the anointed" (using the Greek term χριστός). It is unquestionable that electoral powers within the church were greater before than after the days of Peter.
The committee constitution of the synod, in which the lay representative of the emperor, the chief procurator, sat beside the ecclesiastical members, has been commonly regarded as a Protestant institution but this view is not altogether correct
The synod corresponded to the ancient episcopal organisation of the church, but the introduction of a lay element into church administration and the inauguration of the office of chief procurator were Protestant. It is possible that Peter and his contemporaries were influenced by the example of the Protestant national or state churches.
Peter did not venture upon any innovations in the matter of religious doctrine. Although in other respects he was
- ↑ This oath was abolished in 1901, but section 65 of the state fundamental law runs as follows: "In the government of the church, autocratic authority works through the instrumentality of the holy directing synod, constituted by that authority."
