Ecclesiastical courts

hen, in 1329, the institution of the katholikoi kritai ("universal judges") was established, there already existed another supreme court, that of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which judged the cases not only of members of the clergy but also of laymen.

Alexios I Komnenos had given the Church the right, in 1107, to intervene in secular justice in disputes over family and inheritance matters. But the lack of a secular supreme court from the time of Andronikos II until 1329 led many citizens to the Patriarchal Court to seek a solution for other differences as well, in cases of financial disputes or in others concerning the interpretation of private contracts.

The Patriarchate retained its competence in such cases even after the establishment of the institution of the katholikoi kritai, simply because it was never officially revoked. There was no legislation to allocate judicial authority among secular and ecclesiastical courts, a fact which shows that the Emperors were never overly concerned by this expansion of the jurisdiction of the Church, which rested on long-standing custom. It was probably a convenient arrangement as well, since the demand being so great, the hearing of a good number of differences by the ecclesiastical courts would alleviate the task of the secular judges. Besides, to a people as pious and religious as the Byzantines, the sanctions imposed by the ecclesiastical courts (aphorism, refusal of Holy Communion etc.) were far more effectve in containing criminality than the penalties inflicted by secular courts.