A synod is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word synod comes from the Ancient Greek σύνοδος 'assembly, meeting'; the term is analogous with the Latin word concilium 'council'. Originally, synods were meetings of bishops, and the word is still used in that sense in Catholicism, Oriental Orthodoxy and Eastern Orthodoxy. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not. It is also sometimes used to refer to a church that is governed by a synod.
Diocesan synod in Kraków in 1643 presided by Bishop Piotr Gembicki
Holy Sobor of 1917, following the election of Saint Tikhon as Patriarch of Moscow
EKHN's 10th Church Synod (general assembly), 2009
Members of a Reformed Synod in Amsterdam by Bernard Picart (1741)
A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role or office of the bishop is called episcopacy. Organizationally, several Christian denominations utilize ecclesiastical structures that call for the position of bishops, while other denominations have dispensed with this office, seeing it as a symbol of power. Bishops have also exercised political authority within their dioceses.
A 6th-century image of Saint Augustine, bishop of Hippo Regius
Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, student of John the Apostle
A bishop with other officials on an 11th-century grave in Sweden
Johann Otto von Gemmingen, Prince-Bishop of Augsburg