§ 43.2. =The Institution of Œcumenical Synods.=--The σύνοδοι οἰκουμενικαί, _Concilia universalia s. generalia_, owe their origin to Constantine the Great (§ 50, 1). The calling of councils was an unquestioned right of the crown. A prelate chosen by the emperor or the council presided; the presence of the imperial commissioner, who opened the Synod by reading the imperial edict, was a guarantee for the preservation of the rights of the state. The treasury bore the expense of board and travelling. The decisions generally were called ὅροι, _Definitiones_; if they were resolutions regarding matters of faith, δόγματα; if in the form of a confession, σύμβολα; if they bore upon the constitution, worship and discipline, κανόνες. On doctrinal questions there had to be unanimity; on constitutional questions a majority sufficed. Only the bishops had the right of voting, but they allowed themselves to be influenced by the views of the subordinate clergy. As a sort of substitute for the œcumenical councils which could not be suddenly or easily convened we have the σύνοδοι ἐνδημοῦσα at Constantinople, which were composed of all the bishops who might at the time be present in the district. At Alexandria, too, these _endemic_ Synods were held. The _Provincial Synods_ were convened twice a year under the presidency of the metropolitan; as courts of higher instances we have the _Patriarchal_ or _Diocesan Synods_ (comp. § 46, 1).[118] § 43.3. =Canonical Ordinances.=--As canonical decrees acknowledged throughout the whole of the Catholic national church or at least throughout the more important ecclesiastical districts the following may be named. 1. The Canons of the Œcumenical Councils. 2. The Decrees of several important Particular Synods. 3. The _Epistolæ canonicæ_ of distinguished bishops, especially those of the _Sedes apostolicæ_, § 34, preeminently of Rome and Alexandria, pertaining to questions which have had a determining influence on church practice, which were at a later time called at Rome _Epistt. decretales_. 4. The canonical laws of the emperors, νόμοι (Codex Theodosianus in A.D. 440, Codex Justinianæus in A.D. 534, Novellæ Justiniani). The first systematically arranged collection of the Greek church known to us was made by Johannes Scholasticus, then presbyter at Antioch, afterwards Patriarch at Constantinople († 578). A second collection, also ascribed to him, to which were added the canonical νόμοι of Justinian, received the name of the _Nomocanon_. In the West all earlier collections were put out of sight by the _Codex canonum_ of the Roman abbot Dionysius the Little (§ 47, 23), to which were also added the extant _Decretal Epistles_ about A.D. 520.