[Maeve]

Unlike in the Latin Church, Orthodoxy doesn't ascribe all wisdom to the hierarchs. It belongs to The Church.

With respect, that is wrong in multiple ways. All wisdom is ascribed to the Word Incarnate in both the Latin Church and in the Byzantine diaspora. The participatory model you describe does not exist juridically throughout Orthodoxy. Nor does it exist de facto. The laity of God are faithful to the guidance of their spiritual fathers. The approbation of the laity is not a factor determining the veracity of any doctrine, dogma, teaching, or instruction in Orthodoxy. That is simply an elegant sounding myth of the sort that Anglicans tell. The Ecumenical Councils are dependent upon the Holy Spirit guiding the conciliar fathers, and the laity of God are in turn dependent upon the conciliar fathers. They have no independent action or veto as your post implies. Either they are faithful or they are faithless to the teachings (inclusive of dogma, doctrine etc.) of the Church.

[redgolum]

Maeve, from the Western view you are correct, but in the East it was often the lay people who kept the clergy in line. Take a look at the iconoclast issue. If the lay people had blindly followed the Patriarch, there would been no resolution to it.

[Kolokotronis]

The False Union of Florence?