Genevan Consistory

The Genevan Consistory (French: Consistoire de Genève) is a council of the Protestant Church of Geneva similar to a synod in other Reformed churches.

The Consistory was first organized in November 1541 as part of the implementation of John Calvin's Ecclesiastical Ordinances. It initially consisted of the city's pastors and twelve lay elders who were selected from among the city's councils. The Consistory was to meet every Thursday and exercise church discipline by summoning and formally rebuking Genevans who had refused to repent when confronted by elders and pastors in private with issues of sin. If they remained obstinate, they were suspended from the Lord's Supper temporarily. The Genevan consistory, as well as that of Neuchâtel, struggled to maintain ecclesiastical independence unlike other Swiss consistories which were dominated by secular authorities. Calvin was emphatic that the church must retain the power of excommunication, a position known within Reformed churches as the "disciplinarist" view which was first articulated by Johannes Oecolampadius and Martin Bucer. This was a consistent application of the two kingdoms doctrine, which is often associated with Martin Luther and Philip Melancthon, but political realities prevented it from having much effect in the Lutheran territories. The opposing view in the Reformed churches is the "magistrical" model, advocated by Reformed leaders such as Wolfgang Musculus, Heinrich Bullinger, and Peter Martyr Vermigli, which is that secular authorities are responsible for the care of religion and should retain jurisdiction over ministers and the power to excommunicate.

...
Wikipedia