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In the former view, while it is often admitted that other Orthodox churches might cut off communion with an erring patriarch, that break in communion is not regarded as truly binding. Thus, individual sovereignty is absolutely maintained. In the latter view, however, autocephalous churches are truly answerable to one another, and the tribunal which exercises this accountability, when invited by appeal, is the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Both positions have difficulty when worked out in practice, as there is always the possibility that a given patriarch or Ecumenical Patriarch may act in a tyrannical manner. Historically, though, tyrannical patriarchs have been deposed, typically led by either the Ecumenical Patriarch himself (in the case of other patriarchs) or by the clergy of that patriarchate (in the case of the deposition of their own patriarch), often in conjuction with a patriarch from a neighboring autocephalous church, such as [[Church of Alexandria|Alexandria]].
==SourceHistory=====The Resident Synod===Beginning at some point in the 4th century, the affairs of the Patriarchate of Constantinople were governed by a particular form of [[holy synod]], referred to as the ενδημουσα συνοδος (''endimousa synodos'', "resident synod"). Its president was the Ecumenical Patriarch, and its members consisted of all bishops resident in or visiting the imperial capital. The name first appears as a technical term in 448, but the institution itself probably stems from the time of the promotion of Byzantium to the imperial capital of Constantinople in the 4th century. By means of the this standing council of [[bishop]]s, including even hierarchs from outside the jurisdiction of the patriarchate, the business of the church centered at the capital (including the election or deposition of its patriarch) was decided by the participation of representatives from throughout the Orthodox Church. It thus became natural for this synod also to examine affairs of ecumenical importance, particularly those in which it was desired for the emperor to lend his authority. The ''Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium'' describes the institution thus::It was indeed natural, if not inevitable, for individual bishops to gravitate to the imperial capital for personal and official business, that is, whenever they wished to submit some petition or complaint to its court, hence the permanent nature of the synod. Indeed, its convocation was commonplace by the [[Fourth Ecumenical Council|Council of Chalcedon]] (451), when this established custom was first solemnly recognized (canons 9, 17) (p. 697). Resident synods were not peculiar to the Church of Constantinople—similar occasional synods of the same kind of composition were also called in Alexandria and Antioch during the [[Arianism|Arian]] controversy—but such synods held in Constantinople took on a special importance in view of its developing primacy connected with its place in the Roman Empire. The first known synod of this type held in Constantinople was in 336 following the dedication of the city as the capital (Maximos, p. 82). After the Arab invasions of the 7th century, the other Eastern patriarchates participated much less often in the resident synods in the Roman capital, but the synods themselves continued to retain their local and ecumenical authority, and the presidency at them of the Constantinopolitan patriarch naturally led to an increase of his prestige. While the bishops of other autocephalous churches were still taking part in the resident synods, their own prestige and authority grew, as well, connected as they were to the political and ecclesiastical center of Christendom. ==Sources==
*Maximos, Metropolitan of Sardes. ''The Oecumenical Patriarchate in the Orthodox Church''. Thessaloniki: Patriarchal Institute for Patristic Studies, 1976. (A hard to find, but detailed and thorough study of the question from the viewpoint of a Constantipolitan canonist.)
*''The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium'', vol. I
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