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Orthodox Church

Orthodox Church

Patriarchates
 

Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople

His All-Holiness Bartholomew I, Archbishop of Constantinople and New Rome, Ecumenical Patriarch

Patriarchate of Alexandria

His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa

Patriarchate of Antioch

His Beatitude Ignatius IV, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East

Patriarchate of Jerusalem

His Beatitude Theophilus III, Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem and All Palestine

Patriarchate of Russia

His Holiness Alexei II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia

Patriarchate of Serbia

His Holiness Pavle, Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade-Karlovci, Patriarch of Serbia

Patriarchate of Romania

His Beatitude Teoctist, Patriarch of All Romania, Metropolitan of Ungro-Vlachia, Archbishop of Bucharest

Patriarchate of Bulgaria

His Holiness Maksim, Patriarch of Bulgaria, Metropolitan of Sofia

Patriarchate of Georgia

His Holiness Ilia II, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, Archbishop of Mtskheta and Tbilisi

Autocephalous churches

Church of Cyprus

His Beatitude Chrysostomos II, Archbishop of New Justiniana and All Cyprus

Church of Greece

His Beatitude Christodoulos, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece

Church of Poland

His Beatitude Sawa, Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland

Church of Albania

His Beatitude Anastasios, Archbishop of Tirana and All Albania

Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia

His Beatitude Christopher, Archbishop of Prague, Metropolitan of the Czech Lands and Slovakia

 

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
Subpages (1): En_Churches_list