Exarchate

The Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches defines an exarchy as a portion of the people of God which, because of special circumstances, has not been erected as an eparchy and is entrusted to an exarch. It can be territorially defined or circumscribed by another criterion, especially for faithful of a Church sui iuris dispersed beyond its historic territory.^[1]

An exarchate is not merely a mission office, ethnic club, or titular honor. It is an ecclesiastical circumscription with faithful, clergy, parishes or analogous communities, governance, and a pastor exercising authority under the decree of erection and the Eastern code.

The exarch governs either in the name of the authority who appointed him or in his own name, as the act of erection or modification specifies. Rules concerning eparchies and eparchial bishops generally apply to exarchates and exarchs unless law provides otherwise or the nature of the matter prevents it. An exarch can be a bishop, but the office and episcopal ordination are distinct questions.

Within the territory of a patriarchal Church, erection and appointment involve the patriarch and synod according to the Eastern canons. Other exarchates are erected, modified, or suppressed by the Apostolic See, and their exarchs are appointed according to the law. The official decree, not a loose analogy to a Latin apostolic vicariate, establishes the exact dependence.

An apostolic exarchate is immediately dependent upon the Apostolic See according to its erection. A patriarchal exarchate lies within the canonical structure of a patriarchal Church and is entrusted under the patriarchal authority established by the code. Major archiepiscopal and metropolitan Churches sui iuris have their own applicable structures and decrees.

Growth can lead to erection as an eparchy, but an exarchate is not defective as a Catholic community while it remains such. Population, clergy, institutions, financial stability, pastoral conditions, and the Church sui iuris's wider organization inform the competent authority's judgment.