In this article we will analyze the question: “Autocephalous church - what is it, what is its difference from the usual?” We will also consider recognized and unrecognized churches, as well as those that are part of the autocephalous and are called autonomous.
Autocephalous Church Definition
The Autocephalous Church is a completely independent organization, which does not depend on the Ecumenical Council and can independently make decisions that relate to its schedule and work. In the Ecumenical Council, by the way, the leadership consists of representatives of all autocephalous churches.
If we consider the question of how the autocephalous church differs, then we can say that at the head of each is a bishop who has the rank of metropolitan, patriarch or archbishop. His choice is made within the organization itself. Another difference is that the autocephalous church makes peace without the help of others.
The emergence of Russian autocephaly
The year when the Russian Autocephalous Church was formed , can be considered the 1448th. The split from the Church of Constantinople occurred for many reasons. One of the main ones was the too far distance between the two states, as well as their complete independence from each other. The Russian church had a large number of bishops, even exceeding the number required by canons for separation.
At the time the Russian Church acquired autocephalous status, two of them were already disconnected. These are Serbian and Bulgarian. In Russia, this need was also ripening, and the next event became the impetus. The last Greek Metropolitan Isidore accepted the union together with the Roman Church. In addition, at a meeting to elect a new metropolitan, the Russian bishop was not elected again.
Of course, Isidore was deposed, but all the clergy of Constantinople accepted the obligations of the Florence Cathedral. This led to the fact that in 1448, the Russian successor Ion Ryazansky was first elected Metropolitan. This event is the beginning of the emergence of Russian autocephaly.
Of course, the Russian and Greek churches did not lose touch with each other. This was manifested in letters, regular visits to Moscow. Such a relationship was to the taste of both parties.
Other Orthodox Autocephalous Churches
In addition to the fact that there is a Russian Orthodox Autocephalous Church, there are others that are considered recognized. There are only fifteen of them:
- Constantinople;
- Alexandria;
- Antioch;
- Georgian
- Jerusalem
- Serbian;
- Romanian
- Cyprus
- Bulgarian
- Hellas
- Polish
- Albanian;
- Church in America;
- In the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Despite the fact that there are many churches, the most numerous is precisely the Russian one. It has about a hundred million parishioners. However, the oldest is considered to be Constantinople, since it was from her that all other autocephaly, and later autonomy, originated (split off). This patriarchy is also called “ecumenical”, since in ancient times the Roman Empire was called so, which Constantinople was at that time.
Unrecognized independent churches
So, now it’s clear that the autocephalous church is an organization independent of all. However, already existing similar churches should have recognized this status. Today, in addition to the recognized ones, there are those whose status is not entirely unambiguous (some are not accepted at all). A few of them will be listed below:
- Macedonian Church;
- Montenegrin
- Ukrainian autocephalous church.
In addition to the existing Orthodox and unrecognized churches, there are others that do not obey the adopted charters of Orthodoxy. These, for example, are Old Believer movements, such as Fedoseyevites, Netovtsy, Spasovtsy, the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church, and others.
It is worth mentioning those sects that were formed under the influence of a misunderstanding of the Holy Scriptures. The misinterpretation of the Bible and other treatises led to the formation of certain formations, which were later called sects. The essence of each of them is that they, having found in the Holy Scripture that which seems very important and correct to them, follow this instruction, forgetting about everything else. Moreover, most often the highlighted indication is misunderstood.
In conclusion, it must be said that each direction has its own differences, its own reason not to obey the charter, the authority of the Orthodox Church, but this does not mean that it is true.
Autonomous church concept
So, above we figured out that the autocephalous church is an organization completely independent from others. However, there are also dependent (local) autonomous churches. They also have independence, but not so wide.
In contrast to the autocephalous, in the autonomous church, the bishop is appointed from the Cyriarchal Church. Also, the charter of autonomy corresponds to it, and the world is also sent from it. The expenses of such churches are built in such a way as to send some share to the maintenance of senior management.
It is believed that autonomy can be:
- metropolitan district;
- diocese;
- monastery;
- coming.
For example, on Athos it often happened that some monasteries enjoyed almost complete independence, being part of the central Athos administration.
We list what autonomy exists in the Orthodox Church:
- Japanese
- Chinese
- Latvian;
- Moldavian;
- Estonian
- Ukrainian;
- Sinai
- Finnish
- foreign Russian.
Status of Uniate Churches
It should also be said about the existence of Uniate churches. The Autocephalous Orthodox Church considers their presence a problem, since, according to some theologians, they rather share the churches of the East and West than they unite. This is because in their parishes the services are held in the Orthodox form of worship, but the teaching is Catholic. As well as the submission of the Uniate churches is also Catholic.
These include the following churches:
- Czechoslovak.
- Polish
- Western Ukrainian.
Conclusion
So, we figured out what the autocephalous church means, what are its differences from others like her. Other areas that are present in Orthodoxy, various unrecognized churches, Old Believers and some sects were also considered. From all this we can conclude that in fact there are many areas of Orthodox belief that have arisen from unwillingness to obey or as a result of theological differences. Anyway, all this led to the fact that many believers are not in the bosom of the original Orthodox Church.