abstract:In several of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches and Eastern Catholic Churches, the patriarch or head bishop is elected by a group of bishops called the Holy Synod. For instance, the Holy Synod is a ruling body of the Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church.
The question is just one of the ten submitted by the HolySynod of the Russian Orthodox Church to a government commission set up two years ago, but whose work is only now coming into fruition.