Orthodox Church
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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 |
Autocephalous churches
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Church of Cyprus |
His Beatitude Chrysostomos II, Archbishop of New Justiniana and All Cyprus |
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Church of Greece |
His Beatitude Christodoulos, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece |
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Church of Poland |
His Beatitude Sawa, Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland |
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Church of Albania |
His Beatitude Anastasios, Archbishop of Tirana and All Albania |
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Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia |
His Beatitude Christopher, Archbishop of Prague, Metropolitan of the Czech Lands and Slovakia |
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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[1] 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 [1] Decision-making process where all apostles (nowadays bishops) participate |
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Patriarchate in Jerusalem The history of the Patriarchate begins from the first Christian community in the years of the Apostles. The Church and the Episcopacy of Jerusalem was and is the "Mother of ...
Posted 16 Jan 2012, 03:53 by Greek Orthodox Church -
Ecumenical Patriarchate Following the establishment of Constantinople (the ancient city of Byzantium) as the state capital of the Roman Empire in the early part of the fourth century, a series of significant ...
Posted 16 Jan 2012, 03:50 by Greek Orthodox Church
