Orthodox Commonwealth: A Typology of Autocephalous Churches

Abstract

The paper explores the relationships between the fourteen independent Eastern Orthodox churches making part of a so called diptychon - a list of churches placed in order of “honor”. These fourteen churches take part at the Pan-Orthodox Council in June 2016. The author firstly defines the current meaning of church “autocephalous” status and then creates a typology of the Orthodox ecclesiastical subjects drawing upon history, current situation, and structural features. The paper concludes that any strict typology is impossible to develop, while the differences in particular aspects would not help to represent the configuration of the entire Orthodox commonwealth. Instead, the paper develops grouping by certain paradigms: national/ transnational; anachronic/diachronic, national/imperial. Also, the paper introduces a new paradigm of a “diffused church” that overlaps with the above paradigms. The paper then deals with the distinction between the “symbolic” and the “real” aspects of church constitution and church self-perception.