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TheEastern Orthodox Church, officially theOrthodox Catholic Church and commonly known simply as theOrthodox Church, is acommunion composed of up to seventeen separateautocephalous (self-governing) hierarchical churches that professEastern Orthodoxy and recognise each other ascanonical (regular) Eastern Orthodox Christian churches.[1][2][3][4]
Each constituent church is self-governing;[2] its highest-rankingbishop called theprimate (apatriarch, ametropolitan or anarchbishop) reports to no higher authority. Each regional church is composed of constituenteparchies (ordioceses) ruled by bishops. Some autocephalous churches have given an eparchy or group of eparchies with varying degrees ofautonomy (meaning they have limited self-government). Such autonomous churches maintain varying levels of dependence on their mother church, usually defined in atomos or another document of autonomy. In many cases, autonomous churches are almost completely self-governing, with themother church retaining only the right to appoint the highest-ranking bishop (often an archbishop or metropolitan) of the autonomous church.[5]
Normal governance is enacted through asynod of bishops within each church.[6]
The Eastern Orthodox Church is decentralised, having no central authority, earthly head or a singlebishop in a leadership role. Thus, the Eastern Orthodox use asynodical systemcanonically, which is significantly different from the hierarchical organisation of theRoman Catholic Church that follows the doctrine ofpapal supremacy.[6] References to theEcumenical Patriarch of Constantinople as a sole authoritative leader are an erroneous interpretation of his title “first among equals".[7][8] His title is of honor rather than authority and in fact the Ecumenical Patriarch has no direct authority over churches other than theConstantinopolitan Church.[9] The Ecumenical Patriarch's unique role is sometimes referred to as being the "spiritual leader" of the Eastern Orthodox Church, although even this is disputed.[10][11]
The autocephalous churches are normally infull communion with each other, so any priest of any of those churches may lawfully minister to any member of any of them, and no member of any is excluded from any form of worship in any of the others, including the reception of theEucharist. However, there have been varying instances in the history of the Eastern Orthodox Church where communion has been broken between member churches for short periods, particularly over autocephaly issues or disagreements overecumenism with other Christian denominations.[12][13][14][15]
Following Justinian, the church existed only as a single denomination of five communing churches ruled by fivepatriarchs: the bishops ofRome,Constantinople,Alexandria,Antioch, andJerusalem, collectively referred to as thePentarchy. Each of the five patriarchs had jurisdiction over bishops in a specified geographic region which did not overlap with the jurisdiction of another patriarch. This continued until 927, when theBulgarian Patriarchate became the first newly promoted patriarchate to join the original five.[16]
Historically, the Patriarch of Rome was considered to be the "first in place of honor" among the five patriarchs. Disagreement about the limits of his authority was one of the causes of theGreat Schism, conventionally dated to the year 1054, which split the previously unified Church into theRoman Catholic Church in the West, headed by thePope, and theOrthodox Catholic Church (more commonly known today as the Eastern Orthodox Church), led by the four eastern patriarchs. After the schism, the honoraryprimacy of the Bishop of Rome shifted to the Patriarch of Constantinople, who had previously been accorded second-place rank at theFirst Council of Constantinople.
In the 5th century,Oriental Orthodoxy separated fromChalcedonian Christianity (and is therefore separate from both the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church), well before the 11th century Great Schism. It should not be confused with Eastern Orthodoxy or Roman Catholicism.
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Ranked in order of seniority, with the year of independence (autocephaly) given in parentheses, where applicable.[17][18] There are a total of 17 autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches which are recognized to various degrees among the communion of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Canonicity refers to the state of being in communion with the larger Eastern Orthodox Church (making the church in question undisputedly a constituent of the Eastern Orthodox Church), whereasautocephaly refers to the state of being more or less self-governing. Canonicity is binary (two churches are either in communion or not) while autocephaly exists on a spectrum. Disputes over autocephaly often lead to short-term breaks in communion for political reasons. These short-term breaks are typically not due to differences in doctrine or theology.
The four ancient Eastern Orthodox Patriarchates, along with the See of Rome, formed the historicalPentarchy, and remained in communion with each other after theEast-West Schism in 1054. The concept of the Pentarchy and the title of "Patriarch" itself, as opposed to Archbishop or Exarch, is attributed to St Justinian in AD 531.[19]
Note:[b]
Note:[b]
The typical order that the four ancient churches appear in thediptychs is the same order given above. While every major church places the four ancient churches in their diptychs before the other autocephalous churches, this order may still differ slightly. For example, in the diptychs of the Russian Orthodox Church and some of its daughter churches (e.g., the Orthodox Church in America), the ranking of the five junior patriarchates is: Russia, Georgia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria. The ranking of the archbishoprics is the same, with the Church of Cyprus being the only ancient one (AD 431).
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The following churches recognize all other mainstream Eastern Orthodox churches, but are not recognised by any of them due to various disputes:
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True Orthodox Christians are groups of traditionalistEastern Orthodox churches which have severedcommunion since the 1920s with the mainstream Eastern Orthodox churches for various reasons, such ascalendar reform, the involvement of mainstream Eastern Orthodox inecumenism, or the refusal to submit to the authority of mainstream Eastern Orthodox Church. The True Orthodox Church in theSoviet Union was also called theCatacomb Church; the True Orthodox in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Cyprus are also calledOld Calendarists.[25]
These groups refrain fromconcelebration of theDivine Liturgy with the mainstream Eastern Orthodox, while maintaining that they remain fully within the canonical boundaries of the Church: i.e., professing Eastern Orthodox belief, retaining legitimateapostolic succession, and existing in communities with historical continuity.
The churches which follow True Orthodoxy are:
Old Believers are divided into various churches which recognize neither each other nor the mainstream Eastern Orthodox Church.
The following churches use the term "Orthodox" in their name and carry belief or the traditions of Eastern Orthodox church, but blend beliefs and traditions from other denominations outside of Eastern Orthodoxy:
It is -- or should be -- a synod of bishops of all the 14 recognized autocephalous churches of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Unlike the Catholic Church, which has a single, undisputed leader in the pope, the Orthodox Christians are divided into self-governing provinces, each with its own leadership. The council was meant to be the first meeting of all Orthodox leaders since 787, when the last of the seven ecumenical councils recognized by the heads of both the Eastern and Western Christian Church was held in Nicaea (present-day Iznik in northwestern Turkey).
Unlike the Catholic Church, which has a single supreme spiritual leader in the pope, the worldwide Orthodox Church is divided into 14 universally recognized, independent, autocephalous or self-headed churches. Each autocephalous church has its own head, or kephale in Greek. Every autocephalous church holds to the same faith as its sister churches. Most autocephalies are national churches, such as the Russian, Romanian and Greek Orthodox churches. Now, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine is claiming its place among the other autocephalous churches.
The nominal head of the Eastern Orthodox Churches is the Patriarch of Constantinople. However, he is only first among equals and has no real authority over Churches other than his own. There are 15 'autocephalous Churches', listed in order of precedence.
An "autocephalous" Church is completely self-governing. It elects its own primate and has the right to consecrate its own Holy Chrism, among other prerogatives unique to autocephalous Churches. [The term "autocephalous" literally means "self-heading."] An "autonomous" Church is self-governing to a certain degree in its internal matters, but its head is appointed or confirmed by the autocephalous Church, which nurtures it. An autonomous Church also receives its Holy Chrism from its "Mother Church."
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide, was elected the 270th archbishop of Constantinople and ecumenical patriarch in October 1991. His tenure has been highlighted by ecumenical and interreligious dialogue — including formal visits with Roman Catholic, Orthodox, other Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders — as well as efforts to promote religious freedom, human rights and protection of the environment.
Bartholomew — the spiritual leader of some 300 million Eastern Orthodox Christians internationally — presided over a service at St. Andrew Greek Orthodox Church in South Bend, Indiana, on Thursday, one of the quieter and more intimate moments during the patriarch's historic 12-day visit to the United States.
In 927 Constantinople recognized the king as Emperor of the Bulgarians and the Archbishop of Preslav as their Patriarch.
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