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Submitted November 17, 2004

Regarding “The Return of Our Saints to Their Home”

"For those who appreciate Orthodox history and ecclesiology, the Ecumenical Patriarchate is, and always has been, the center of Orthodox unity, yesterday, today and tomorrow. If we study history, we should realize how wrong the dismantling of the Ecumenical Patriarchate was with the establishments of various autocephalous and autonomous churches around the world."

Au contraire, Mr. Kalmoukos. For those who not only appreciate but *know* Orthodox Christian history and ecclesiology, this misstatement is patently untrue and unorthodox.

The Ecumenical Patriarchate has not "always" been the "center" of Orthodox Christian unity, "yesterday, today and tomorrow." The canons of the seven Ecumenical Councils designate Constantinople as the *second* see of Christendom, first place *in honor* going to Rome -- based on their *civic status* in the Roman Empire of the councils' time. (When Rome fell into heresy and out of the Church, Constantinople moved up to *first among equals* -- first in honor, *not* authority or jurisdiction.) These canons also

limit the jurisdiction of Constantinople to "Asia, Pontus and Thrace" (now the southern Balkans and much of Turkey), along with any "barbarian" (borderland, outside the legal borders of the Roman Empire) dioceses neighboring these three outlying provinces.

Early in her history, the Church organized herself, as a convenient and practical matter, along the Roman Empire's existing divisions and subdivisions: provinces and dioceses (somewhat like American states and counties, for explanation's sake). Bishops headed dioceses, and metropolitans headed provinces (since a provincial capital was called a "metropolis," a Greek word meaning "mother city"). The bishops of a given province met in synod under the chairmanship of their metropolitan to regulate local church life, and elected their own metropolitans to head them when replacements were needed. This is, in a nutshell, *autocephaly*: the ability to elect one's own (in Greek, *auto*) head (in Greek, *kefale*) and regulate one's local church life without outside interference.

In line with this organization, the canons of the seven Ecumenical Councils strictly forbid bishops from interfering in others' dioceses, and metropolitans from interfering in others' provinces. They outline the specific jurisdiction of Alexandria in Africa, Antioch in the East, Constantinople in Asia Minor and the Balkans, and Rome in the West, since these sees were major civic centers of the Roman Empire. They rank them in terms of *honor* (again, *not* authority or jurisdiction): Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria and Antioch, whose bishops became known as "patriarchs" (from the Greek words for "father" and "ruler"). Later canons accorded Jerusalem patriarchal status, because of its historic significance in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ and the historic beginnings of the Church, though originally it was a diocese within the province of Antioch, subject to that metropolitan. They also fixed in writing the autocephaly of the Church in Cyprus, confirming the self-rule long exercised by the metropolitan and bishops of that island.

Whenever any of these autocephalous churches planted new churches in unchurched missionary territory, they naturally assumed oversight of them, as their sponsors, until they were mature and self-sustaining enough to be autocephalous as well. New autocephalies emerged from the Middle Ages onward, such as Bulgaria, Georgia, Serbia and Russia, to name but a few. By dint of historical accident, Constantinople also exercised various levels of control or influence -- despite the canons limiting its jurisdiction to Asia, Pontus and Thrace -- over Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem from the 16th through the 20th centuries, because the Muslim rulers of the Ottoman Empire segregated their subjects by religion (*millet* in Turkish) and designated its patriarch, the resident bishop in their capital, as sole civic and religious leader (*millet bashi* in Turkish) of all Orthodox Christians within their borders, regardless of language, ethnicity or the system of autocephalies put in place by the canons of the Church's councils. However, this was an aberration: needless to say, Muslim political policy is no basis for sound Orthodox Christian ecclesiology.

Nowhere in the sacred Tradition of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church -- in her Bible, the creeds and canons of her councils or the writings of her holy fathers -- does one find the idea that the unity of the Church has a physical or institutional "center," an individual see whose bishop has overriding, universal jurisdiction and authority over the rest of the Church worldwide by divine right or canonical sanction. This is the heresy of papism, into which the Church at Rome fell and lost its orthodoxy. The title “ecumenical" (from the Greek word *oikoumene,* "the inhabited or civilized world"), applied to the patriarch of Constantinople, must not be misunderstood. When it was first applied to him in the sixth century, it was merely a synonym for "imperial," since he was bishop of the imperial capital city, and the Romans and Byzantines thought of their empire as being the extent of the "inhabited and civilized world." Why, the chief palace librarian of Constantinople was even titled "ecumenical librarian" at the time! Saint Gregory the Dialogist, among others, protested this new title back then as something ambiguous and prideful, fearing it would be misunderstood and misused to assert a universal jurisdiction and authority that no single bishop on earth possesses, the Lord Jesus Christ being the one and only universal head of the Church. Given the fall of Old Rome into papism, perhaps his fears were justified; one hopes and prays that New Rome does not follow suit.

No, Orthodox Christian ecclesiology teaches the Church is present in all her fullness wherever a bishop, his presbyters, his deacons and his laypeople in a single locality profess the Orthodox Christian faith, live the Gospel and celebrate the Eucharist as one body in Christ. It also teaches these church bodies cannot live in isolation from each other, but must "keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:3): so bishops belong to synods chaired by a primate ("first bishop," from the Latin word *primus,* "first") -- variously titled as archbishop, catholicos, metropolitan, patriarch or pope -- and their dioceses band together on a given territory, defined by geographical, cultural or sociopolitical realities, as a province or autocephaly. Nonetheless, all bishops are equals among themselves in terms of sacramental office and authority, as are all primates among themselves, according to the canons of the Church. At the present time, the patriarch of Constantinople holds a "primacy of *honor*" and is "first among *equals*" among them, contingent on his orthodoxy. (As noted, Rome once held this primacy, but lost it when it fell into heresy.) Bishops *bear witness* as *living signs* to the unity of the Church at the diocesan level; primates, at the provincial or autocephalous level; the Ecumenical Patriarch, at the worldwide level, though the history of Muslim persecution and unpleasant realities of Turkish politics, as well as the requirement of Turkish citizenship, often stunt his potential for doing so fully, freely and internationally, with regard to his brother primates around the globe.

Finally, "the dismantling of the Ecumenical Patriarchate" into "various autocephalous and autonomous churches around the world" was not "wrong," because it was never really dismantled in the first place! By and large, the territories allotted to it by the Ecumenical Councils remain under its jurisdiction (Asia and Pontus, now parts of Turkey; Thrace now is part of the autocephalous Greek and Balkan Churches, for the most part). The various autocephalous and autonomies around the world grew out of Orthodox Christian missionary labors in new territories and adjustment to the changing geopolitical and cultural realities of the world, so the Church could best reach all people and carry out her God-given mission among them at the local level. One cannot "dismantle" something that was never "centralized" in the first place!

When it comes to church organization in the form of dioceses and provinces, the canons of the Church's councils stress territoriality, local control and non-interference from afar, so long as the bishops can maintain apostolic succession and a full, healthy church life in their particular area without outside help. Such "decentralization" may have its drawbacks in presenting a neat, tidy and unified front to the world at large (and if we Orthodox Christians fail in this regard, let's be honest and admit that ethnocentric pride has a lot to do with aggravating the situation), but the system of autocephaly ultimately benefits the Church in different lands in ways that centralization could not. Locals can best gauge the culture around them, to which they must present the Gospel in its own language and ethos, in a way foreigners cannot. Autocephaly also frees the Church from the burden of being perceived as something "foreign" or "alien" as it goes about doing Christ's work in a particular land and culture. It also enables a local church to order her life and maintain her leadership unimpaired even when its mother or sister churches might be under persecution or in communicado, as was often the case under the Muslim and Communist persecutions of European and Middle Eastern Orthodox Churches in the 20th century. Finally, decentralization prevents one central authority figure from forcing heresy on the Church at large, should he fall into it.

Orthodox Christian history and ecclesiology shows there is great wisdom, strength and flexibility in the system of autocephaly and decentralization ordained by the canons of the Church, when it comes to being equipped to do Christ's work and spread His Gospel wherever and whenever He opens the opportunity. Notions of papal centralization and universal supremacy are foreign to the Orthodox Christian mindset. May God grant us the prudence and wisdom to resist the temptations of human pride, power and politics, appreciate the framework He has set up for us through the Councils and Fathers of the Church, and live up to her sacred Tradition as it has been handed down to us.



Volume 6 Number 47 - Tuesday, November 23rd, 2004	A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY