church-organizational paradigm

Orthodox Commonwealth: A Typology of Autocephalous Churches

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.