Autocephaly
In
hierarchical Christian churches, especially
Eastern Orthodox and
Oriental Orthodox churches,
autocephaly is the status of a hierarchical church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop. When an
ecumenical council or a high-ranking
bishop, such as a
patriarch or other
primate, releases an ecclesiastical province from the authority of that bishop while the newly independent church remains in
full communion with the hierarchy to which it then ceases to belong, the council or primate is granting
autocephaly. For example, the
Cypriot Orthodox Church was granted autocephaly by the
Council of Ephesus and is ruled by the Archbishop of
Cyprus, who is not subject to any higher ecclesiastical authority, although his church remains in
full communion with the other Eastern Orthodox churches. Similarly, the
Tewahedo Church of
Ethiopia was granted autocephaly by the
Coptic pope in 1950, and the
Orthodox Church in America was granted autocephaly by the
Patriarch of Moscow in 1970. (The
Greek Orthodox Church in North America is not autocephalous, but is subject to the
Patriarch of Constantinople, although many are seeking for it to become so.)
While
autocephalous does mean self-governing, it literally means "self-headed".
Kephalos means "head" in
Greek. Hence,
autocephalous denotes self-headed, or a head unto itself, while
autonomous literally means "self-legislated", or a law unto itself.
Nomos is the Greek for "law'.
One step short of autocephaly is
autonomy. A church that is autonomous has its highest-ranking bishop, such as an archbishop or metropolitan, appointed by the patriarch of the parent church, but is self-governing in all other respects.
*
Eastern Orthodox Church organization*
Episcopalian church governance*
Autocephaly, an
OrthodoxWiki article
*
Autocephali Article in Catholic Encyclopedia
