Archbishop ( Greek ἀρχιεπίσκοπος from other Greek. Ἀρχή - “beginning” and ἐπίσκοπος - “overseeing”, “overseeing”, “overseer”) - senior (commanding) bishop . In historical churches - the honorary title of bishop (bishop). In a number of local Orthodox churches of the Greek tradition (except Jerusalem ), the archbishop has a title or one of the titles of the head of this church. In the Russian Church, this title was understood differently in different eras.
In the Eastern Church
Traditionally, the title of archbishop is assigned to the bishop, who is the eldest in this local church . Therefore, as a rule, the archbishop is the ruling bishop of the capital city. The title appeared at the end of the 4th century. The title of archbishop are the primates of autocephalous churches : Cyprus , Hellas , Albania .
Until 2017, in the Russian Orthodox Church , the archbishop had the honorary title of diocesan bishop, which was complained by the decree of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia for merits, is not a separate hierarchical degree. According to the current “Regulation on the Awards of the Russian Orthodox Church” of 2017 (§ 2.2.1): “The metropolitan is the archbishop of the main city of the metropolis and the metropolitan of the region. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of a city and region that is not a member of the metropolis. ” [1] At the same time, the metropolis is traversed in accordance with the Regulations on the Metropolises of the Russian Orthodox Church adopted in 2011 [2]
In the Novgorod land, the Novgorod archbishop (the first in time in the Russian Orthodox Church ) before the accession of the Novgorod land to the Moscow Principality in 1478 was elected by lot, sometimes with the participation of the clergy [3] .
In the Western Church
In the modern Roman Catholic Church, archbishops are divided into:
- the metropolitans who lead the church provinces : the metropolitan occupies the archbishop's pulpit, and the remaining provincial pulpits are suffragan to it;
- archbishops heading archdioceses that are not provincial centers;
- personal archbishops to whom this title is assigned by the Pope personally;
- titular archbishops occupying the departments of the now defunct ancient cities and serving in the Roman Curia or being nunci .
Notes
- ↑ Regulation on the awards of the Russian Orthodox Church . // Patriarchy.ru , December 1, 2017.
- ↑ "The Regulation on the Metropolis of the Russian Orthodox Church . " // Patriarchy.Ru , 10/06/2011
- ↑ Russia, sect. North-Eastern Russia of the XIII — XV centuries