- published: 15 Jan 2012
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A sobor (Church Slavonic: съборъ, "assembly") is a council of bishops together with other clerical and lay delegates representing the church as a whole in matters of importance, equivalent to synod in the Western churches. It may also be a designation for certain types of church buildings.
The term is found among those Eastern Orthodox Churches that use a Slavic language (the Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Serbian and Macedonian Orthodox Churches), along with the Romanian Orthodox Church.
A sobor is distinct from a synod, which is a gathering composed only of bishops. Sobors are held irregularly, only as need arises; whereas a synod meets regularly and deals with the ordinary governance of the church. The presence of clerical and lay delegates is for the purpose of discerning the consensus of the church on important matters; however, the bishops form an upper house of the sobor, and the laity cannot overrule their decisions.
Important sobors in the History of the Russian Orthodox Church are: