Autocephaly (/ËŒÉ"ËtəˈsÉ›fÉ™li/; from Greek: αá½Ï„οκεφαλία, meaning self-headed) is the status of a hierarchical Christian church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop (used especially in Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches).
When an ecumenical council or a high-ranking bishop, such as a patriarch or other primate, releases an ecclesiastical province from the authority of that bishop while the newly independent church remains in full communion with the hierarchy to which it then ceases to belong, the council or primate is granting autocephaly.
For example, the Cypriot Orthodox Church was granted autocephaly by the Canon VIII Council of Ephesus and is ruled by the Archbishop of Cyprus, who is not subject to any higher ecclesiastical authority, although his church remains in full communion with the other Eastern Orthodox churches.
The question of who can grant autocephaly is a controversial issue; notably, the Orthodox Church in America was granted autocephaly by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1970, but was not recognised by most patriarchates. The Russian Church claims that its own autocephaly allows it the right to grant autocephaly to its constituent parts, whereas Constantinople claims that, "in its capacity as the 'mother church' and 'first among equals'", the right to grant autocephaly belongs solely to an ecumenical council.
One step short of autocephaly is "autonomy". A church that is autonomous has its highest-ranking bishop, such as an archbishop or metropolitan, appointed by the patriarch of the mother church, but is self-governing in all other respects. Kephale (κεφαλή) means "head" in Greek, whereas nomos (νόμος) means "law"; hence, autocephalous (αá½Ï„οκÎφαλος) denotes self-headed, or a head unto itself, and autonomous denotes "self-legislated", or a law unto itself.
§See also
- Byzantine response to Orthodox Church in America autocephaly
- Eastern Orthodox Church organization
- Episcopal polity
- List of Orthodox Churches
§References
§Further reading
- Papakonstantinou, Christoporos (1999), "Autocephaly", in Fahlbusch, Erwin, Encyclopedia of Christianity 1, Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, p. 173, ISBN 0802824137Â
§External links
- Autocephaly, an OrthodoxWiki article
- Autocephali Article in Catholic Encyclopedia
- Charles Wegener Sanderson, Autocephaly as a Function of Institutional Stability and Organizational Change in the Eastern Orthodox Church
