The Synod of Zamość was held from August 26 to September 17, 1720, during the tenure of Metropolitan Lev Kishka. It was a provincial synod of the Kyivan Greek Catholic Metropolia and became one of the most important ecclesiastical gatherings in the history of the Church following the Union of Brest.
Its purpose was to review Church life and liturgical practice, strengthen ecclesiastical discipline, improve the formation of the clergy, and bring greater consistency to the life of the Metropolia.
Preparations began several years earlier. In 1715, Metropolitan Lev Kishka began efforts to obtain permission from Rome to convene a provincial synod. Pope Clement XI authorized the gathering. It was originally scheduled to take place in Lviv, but an epidemic there in the summer of 1720 led to its relocation to Zamość, today in southeastern Poland.
The Synod opened on August 26, 1720. Three solemn sessions were held on August 26, September 1, and September 17. Archbishop Girolamo Grimaldi, Archbishop of Edessa and papal nuncio to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally presided over the Synod as the representative of Pope Clement XI.
Metropolitan Lev Kishka was joined by seven bishops of the Kyivan Church: Florian Hrebnytsky, Archbishop of Polotsk; Yosyf Vyhovsky, Bishop of Lutsk-Ostroh; Atanasiy Sheptytsky, Bishop of Lviv-Halych; Yosyf Levytsky, Bishop of Chełm-Belz; Yeronim Ustrytsky, Bishop of Peremyshl; Theophilus Godebski, bishop-elect of Pinsk-Turov; and Lavrentiy Sokolynsky-Drutsky, Archbishop of Smolensk.
The gathering also included the protoarchimandrite of the Basilian Order, seven archimandrites, the vicar of the Supraśl archimandry, and 129 representatives of the secular and monastic clergy. Two representatives of the Lviv Stavropegial Brotherhood and other lay faithful were also present.
The Synod introduced important reforms concerning the liturgical and disciplinary life of the Church. It prescribed the addition of the Filioque to the Creed and required explicit commemoration of the Pope in public prayer.
At the same time, not all of its decisions represented movement toward Latin practice. The Synod strictly prohibited Eastern Catholic priests from using unleavened bread for the Eucharist, preserving the Byzantine tradition of celebrating with leavened bread. It also addressed the celebration of the sacraments and sought greater consistency and care in liturgical practice.
The Synod devoted considerable attention to the education and discipline of the clergy. Its provisions called for improved priestly formation and for bishops to provide for the establishment of seminaries and the education of candidates for the priesthood.
Monastic life was another area of reform. The Synod sought greater organization and discipline among monasteries and directed the monasteries of the province to become part of the Basilian Order.
Taken together, the decisions of Zamość reveal a complex period in the history of the Church. Some provisions reflected the influence of post-Tridentine Latin Catholic practice and contributed to what later historians describe as Latinization. At the same time, other decisions explicitly defended elements of the Byzantine tradition. The Synod therefore sought both to express the Church's communion with Rome and to regulate the distinctive ecclesial life of the Kyivan tradition.
The acts and decrees of the Synod were subsequently examined and confirmed by the Holy See under Pope Benedict XIII and were published in Rome in 1724 as Synodus Provincialis Ruthenorum Habita in Civitate Zamosciae Anno 1720.
The Synod's influence extended far beyond the eighteenth century. Its decisions shaped the liturgical, disciplinary, educational, administrative, and monastic life of the Greek Catholic Church for generations. Most of its resolutions were later reconfirmed by the Lviv Synod of 1891.
The Synod of Zamość thus became a major milestone in the development of the Kyivan Greek Catholic Church. Its legacy reflects both the effort to strengthen the unity and organization of the Church and the continuing historical challenge of maintaining its Byzantine heritage while living in full communion with Rome.
Key:
1715 — Preparations begin for the convocation of a provincial synod of the Kyivan Greek Catholic Metropolia.
1720 — An epidemic in Lviv leads to the relocation of the planned Synod from Lviv to Zamość.
August 26, 1720 — The Synod of Zamość opens and the first solemn session is held.
September 1, 1720 — The second solemn session is held.
September 17, 1720 — The third and final solemn session is held, concluding the Synod.
1724 — The acts and decrees of the Synod are confirmed by the Holy See under Pope Benedict XIII and published in Rome.
1891 — Most of the resolutions of the Synod of Zamość are reconfirmed by the Lviv Synod.
