Autocephaly

Poll without page-refresh

Article on other languages:

	del.icio.us
	Digg
	Furl
	Reddit
	Rojo
	Add to OnlyWire

Part of the series on
Eastern Christianity Portal
History Byzantine Empire Crusades Ecumenical council Christianization of Bulgaria Christianization of Kievan Rus' East-West Schism By region Asian - Copts Eastern Orthodox - Georgian - Ukrainian
Traditions Armenian Apostolic Church Assyrian Church of the East Coptic Orthodox Church Eastern Orthodox Church Eastern Catholic Churches Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church Oriental Orthodoxy Syriac Christianity
Liturgy and Worship Sign of the cross Divine Liturgy Iconography Asceticism Omophorion
Theology Hesychasm - Icon Apophaticism - Filioque clause Miaphysitism - Monophysitism Nestorianism - Theosis - Theoria Phronema - Philokalia Praxis - Theotokos Hypostasis - Ousia Essence-Energies distinction Metousiosis

Autocephaly, in hierarchical Christian churches and especially Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches, is the status of a hierarchical church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop. 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 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. Similarly, the Georgian Orthodox Church was granted autocephaly (independent) in 466 by the Patriarchate of Antioch, the Tewahedo Church of Ethiopia was granted autocephaly by the Coptic pope in 1950, and the Orthodox Church in America was granted autocephaly by the Patriarch of Moscow in 1970. (The Greek Orthodox Church in North America is not autocephalous, but is subject to the Patriarch of Constantinople).

Autonomy

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.

While autocephalous does mean self-governing, it literally means "self-headed". Kephalos means "head" in Greek. Hence, autocephalous denotes self-headed, or a head unto itself, while autonomous literally means "self-legislated", or a law unto itself. Nomos is the Greek for "law'.