ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by making a comparison of the canonical collections compiled by two sixth-century canonists: the Dionysiana by Dionysius Exiguus in Rome and the Synagoge in Fifty Titles by patriarch John III Scholastikos in Constantinople. When Dionysius came to Rome from Constantinople towards the end of the fifth century, the Church was experiencing its first ever schism between Rome and Constantinople. The Synagoge of John Scholastikos has an important place in the history of canon law in the Eastern Churches. Since John Scholastikos was patriarch of Constantinople, the revised version of his Synagoge soon became the accepted canonical collection for the first patriarchal see of the East. From the survey of sixth-century canon law in Rome and in Constantinople a few conclusions can be drawn. The papal law of the Latin Church in Rome was moving steadily towards a more and more centralised, monarchical, form of administration.
