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Orthodox Church |
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Patriarchates
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Ecumenical
Patriarchate of Constantinople |
His All-Holiness
Bartholomew I, Archbishop of
Constantinople and New Rome, Ecumenical
Patriarch |
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Patriarchate of
Alexandria |
His Beatitude Theodoros
II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and
All Africa |
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Patriarchate of
Antioch |
His Beatitude Ignatius
IV, Patriarch of Antioch and All the
East |
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Patriarchate of
Jerusalem |
His Beatitude Theophilus
III, Patriarch of the Holy City of
Jerusalem and All Palestine |
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Patriarchate of
Russia |
His Holiness Alexei II,
Patriarch of Moscow and All
Russia |
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Patriarchate of
Serbia |
His Holiness Pavle,
Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of
Belgrade-Karlovci, Patriarch of Serbia
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Patriarchate of
Romania |
His Beatitude Teoctist,
Patriarch of All Romania, Metropolitan
of Ungro-Vlachia, Archbishop of
Bucharest |
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Patriarchate of
Bulgaria |
His Holiness Maksim,
Patriarch of Bulgaria, Metropolitan of
Sofia |
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Patriarchate of
Georgia |
His Holiness Ilia II,
Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia,
Archbishop of Mtskheta and Tbilisi
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Autonomous churches
Autonomous Churches:
Those are the local orthodox churches still
under the spiritual supervision of the Ecumenical
Patriarchate but they have their own Synod and
autonomy. |
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Introduction
"The reason I left you in
Crete was that you might straighten out what was
left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as
I directed you."
(Titus 1:5)
This was the advice and instructions from St.
Apostle of Nations Paul to St. Apostle Titus whom he
left in Crete as a Bishop, after his own first
preaching of the Word of the Gospel and later St.
Apostle Titus continued his way of preaching and
ruling the church. This is the traditional Biblical
model of the Church administration which Christ
Himself chose the twelve Apostles to teach and
administrate to all the nations. Starting from
Jerusalem St. James was ordained First Bishop of the
Holly City approached by the apostles every time
they visited Jerusalem. (Act. 21, 18) In every city
in the World where the apostles preached they
appointed Bishops, Priests and Deacons for the
administration of the local Church. Due to the
disagreement between the first Christians whether
the enforcement of Moses’ law was necessary for the
salvation (Act. 15, 1 ) they invited all the
Apostles to Jerusalem (Act. 15,2 ) in order to show
the way of solving potential problems that could
arise in the Church life. Therefore, they
established synodic
system as a way of guiding the Church. The decisions
of the Synod were published in an epistle to the
Christians of Antioch, Syria and Kilikia, (Act 15,
22-29) and announced through the preaching of the
Apostles (Act 16,4).
Pentarchy
The principle of Pentarchy was being developed
until the 5th century and it means the
rule of five Christian Centres as one body. Five
metropolises (the city of Rome, Constantinople or
new Rome, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem,
respectively) gradually grew up to the level of
Patriarchates and Metropolitans received the title
of Patriarchs. These five Patriarchates formed the
Ecumenical Councils as local, independent and equal
churches, where the Patriarch of Rome was the first
among the equals. In 1054, a big schism happened and
the Patriarchate of Rome separated from the other
four Patriarchates. The four remaining Patriarchates
still operate in the same way where the Patriarch of
Constantinople or new Rome, is the first among the
equals with the seat in the capital of the Eastern
Roman Empire, founded by St. Constantine the Great
at the beginning of the 4th century.
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© Copyright 2006 - 2007, Greek Orthodox
Church, All rights reserved, Qatar |
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