INTRODUCTION The Confession of Saint Dositheos [1672], Patriarch of Jerusalem, which is respected throughout all of Orthodoxy, teaches that the Church is comprised only of all the faithful that believe and profess correctly the blameless Faith that was handed down to us and preached and explained by our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ, the Holy Apostles and their successors, the Holy Fathers and the Ecumenical and Local Synods. And even if the faithful be responsible for whatever sin, as long as they have not fallen into despair and they retain the pious Faith and are members of the Orthodox Church and are known as such, they are judged and led to repentance by the Church. The universal head of the Orthodox Church is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, our true God, and He Himself holds the rudder of the Church and shows the way through the Holy Fathers and successors of the Holy Apostles, leading the Church through the Holy Spirit to the "fulfillment of the truth." This is why, according to him who was lifted up to the heavens, the Apostle Paul, that the Holy Spirit assigned bishops over local Churches as visual authorities and heads shepherding Christ's rational flock. According to Apostolic Tradition, Orthodox bishops gathering together in synods would find answers to every developing dogmatic, spiritual, and administrative problem and issue, discussing and deciding with great deliberation and without passion, private interest and persuasion, but rather with the enlightenment of the Holy and Sanctifying Spirit, as the words of the Apostle says: "as it seems fit to the Holy Spirit and so unto us. However they did not have uncontrolled authority and unlimited power, but rather they were obliged to act according to the boundaries of the Sacred Canons and Traditions. According to the late and most wise Serbian Canonist Bishop Nikodim Mila , in the counter case, "every episcopal act is invalid and nothing and no one is required to heed it if it is contrary to the Canons; if it contains something that the Canons do not include; if it does not express whatever the Local Synods have determined and have been proclaimed as institutions; and lastly, if they are in opposition to civil laws that are not contrary to the spirit of the Church."