In the first centuries of the history of theChristian church, the autocephalous status of a local church was promulgated by canons of theecumenical councils. There developed thepentarchy, i.e., a model of ecclesiastical organization where the universal Church was governed by the primates (patriarchs) of the five majorepiscopal sees of theRoman Empire:Rome,Constantinople,Alexandria,Antioch, andJerusalem.[4] The independent (autocephalous) position of theChurch of Cyprus by ancient custom was recognized against the claims of thePatriarch of Antioch, at theCouncil of Ephesus (431); it is unclear whether the Church of Cyprus had always been independent, or was once part of theChurch of Antioch. When the Patriarch of Antioch claimed the Church of Cyprus was under its jurisdiction, the Cypriot clergy denounced this before the Council of Ephesus. The Council ratified the autocephaly of the Church of Cyprus. After the Council of Ephesus, the Church of Antioch never again claimed that Cyprus was under its jurisdiction.[5] The Church of Cyprus has since been governed by theArchbishop of Cyprus, who is not subject to any higher ecclesiastical authority.
InEastern Orthodoxy, the right to grant autocephaly is nowadays a contested issue, the main opponents in the dispute being theEcumenical Patriarchate, which claims this right as its prerogative,[6][7] and theRussian Orthodox Church (the Moscow Patriarchate), which insists that one autocephalous jurisdiction has the right to grant independence to one of its components.[8][9] Thus, theOrthodox Church in America was granted autocephaly in 1970 by the Moscow Patriarchate, but this new status was not recognized by most patriarchates.[10] During themedieval period, Orthodox empires wanted their church to be "equal" to the state and declare their own patriarchates.[11] In themodern era, the issue of autocephaly has been closely linked to the issue ofself-determination and political independence of a nation; self-proclamation of autocephaly was normally followed by a long period of non-recognition andschism with themother church.
Following theestablishment of anindependent Greece in 1832, the Greek government in 1833 unilaterally proclaimed the Orthodox church in the kingdom (until then within the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate) to be autocephalous; but it was not until June 1850 that the mother church (i.e. the Ecumenical Patriarchate), under the PatriarchAnthimus IV,recognized this status.[12]
In May 1872, theBulgarian Exarchate, set up by theOttoman government two years prior, broke away from the Ecumenical Patriarchate, following thestart of the people's struggle for national self-determination. TheBulgarian Church was recognized in 1945 as an autocephalous patriarchate, following the end of World War II and after decades of schism. By that time, Bulgaria was ruled by the Communist party and was behind the "Iron Curtain" of theSoviet Union.
Historically, within thePatriarchate of Constantinople, adjectiveautocephalous was sometimes also used as an honorary designation, without connotations to real autocephaly. Such uses occurred in very specific situations. If adiocesan bishop was exempt fromjurisdiction of his metropolitan, and also transferred to the direct jurisdiction of the patriarchal throne, such bishop would be styled as an "autocephalous archbishop" (self-headed, just in terms of not having ametropolitan).[20]
Erickson, John H. (1991).The Challenge of Our Past: Studies in Orthodox Canon Law and Church History. Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press.ISBN978-0-88141-086-0.
Grdzelidze, Tamara (2010). "The Orthodox Church of Georgia: Challenges Under Democracy and Freedom (1990–2009)".International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church.10 (2–3):160–175.doi:10.1080/1474225X.2010.487719.ISSN1747-0234.S2CID143474746.
——— (2012). "The Georgian Tradition". In Casiday, Augustine (ed.).The Orthodox Christian World. Abingdon, England:Routledge. pp. 58–65.ISBN978-0-415-45516-9.
Lawrence, John (1963). "Anglicans and Orthodoxy". InArmstrong, A. H.; Fry, E. J. B. (eds.).Re-Discovering Eastern Christendom: Essays in Commemoration of Dom Bede Winslow. London: Darton Longman & Todd. pp. 119ff.
Sanderson, Charles Wegener (2005).Autocephaly as a Function of Institutional Stability and Organizational Change in the Eastern Orthodox Church (PhD diss.). College Park, Maryland: University of Maryland, College Park.hdl:1903/2340.
Zhukovsky, Arkadii (1984). "Autocephaly". InKubiyovych, Volodymyr (ed.).Encyclopedia of Ukraine. Vol. 1. Toronto: University of Toronto. pp. 141–142.ISBN978-1-4426-3280-6.
A. Schmemann, “A Meaningful Storm: Some Reflections on Autocephaly, Tradition, and Ecclesiology,” SVTQ 15 (1971) 3–27
Papakonstantinou. (2011). Autocephaly. In Encyclopedia of Christianity Online. Leiden, Koninklijke Brill NVdoi:10.1163/2211-2685_eco_A776
Tudorie. (2020). The time has come : debates over the autocephaly of the OCA reflected in St Vladimir’s quarterly (Tudorie, Ed.). St Vladimir’s Seminary Press.
^The ROCsevered full communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 2018, and later severed full communion with theprimates of the Church of Greece, the Patriarchate of Alexandria, and the Church of Cyprus in 2020.
^abcdefghiAutocephaly or autonomy is not universally recognized.
^UOC-MP has moved to formally cut ties with the ROC as of 27 May 2022.
^Semi-autonomous part of theRussian Orthodox Church whose autonomy is not universally recognized.
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