Eparchy

Eparchy

Controlling authority	CCEO canons 177–294
Status	Binding Eastern canonical form expressing the conciliar doctrine of the Particular Church

Eparchy is an Eastern Catholic Particular Church: a portion of the People of God entrusted to an eparchial bishop with the cooperation of the presbyterate and gathered by the Gospel and Eucharist in the Holy Spirit.

Authority level: Authoritative doctrine

Overview

Eparchy (Greek: ἐπαρχία eparchía "overlordship") is an ecclesiastical unit in Eastern Christianity that is equivalent to a diocese in Western Christianity. An eparchy is governed by an eparch, who is a bishop. Depending on the administrative structure of a specific Eastern Church, an eparchy can belong to an ecclesiastical province (usually a metropolis), but it can also be exempt. Each eparchy is divided into parishes, in the same manner as a diocese in Western Churches. Historical development of eparchies in various Eastern Churches was marked by local distinctions that can be observed in modern ecclesiastical practices of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches and Eastern Catholic Churches.

The Eastern Particular Church

CCEO canon 177 uses substantially the same ecclesiological formula that Latin canon 369 applies to a Diocese. The eparchy is not a regional office of a Church sui iuris but a true Particular Church in which the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of Christ is present and operative around its bishop, presbyterate, Gospel, and Eucharist.

An eparchy belongs to a Church sui iuris, but the two terms are not interchangeable. A large patriarchal or major archiepiscopal Church contains many eparchies; a small Church sui iuris may have only one primary jurisdiction. Neither numerical size nor ethnic composition settles the distinct canonical questions.

Eparchy and Diocese

Eparchy is the ordinary Eastern counterpart of Diocese, not a lesser missionary grade. Their codes and institutions are not identical, so Latin terminology should not be imposed mechanically. Both nevertheless name episcopally governed Particular Churches and share the doctrinal structure taught by Vatican II.

Eparchy and Exarchate

An Exarchate is a portion not erected as an eparchy because of special circumstances. Its law generally follows eparchial law with adaptations, but that equivalence does not erase the difference expressed in the decree of erection or make an exarch automatically an eparchial bishop.

Erection and episcopal government

Within the proper territory of a patriarchal Church, erection, alteration, and suppression follow the competencies of the patriarch and Synod of Bishops established by the Eastern code. In other cases those acts belong to the Apostolic See. No group acquires eparchial status merely by customary usage or civil incorporation.

The eparchial bishop governs in his own name as vicar and legate of Christ with ordinary, proper, and immediate power, while remaining within Hierarchical Communion and subject to powers reserved by universal law. His office is neither delegated branch management nor independent sovereignty.

Patrimony and overlapping care

An eparchy normally serves faithful ascribed to its Church sui iuris and preserves that Church's liturgical, theological, spiritual, and disciplinary patrimony. In diaspora several Catholic jurisdictions can overlap territorially by Church, rite, or personal criterion without dividing the unity of the Catholic Church.

The eparchy itself, its episcopal see, its curia, and the wider Church sui iuris are distinct. A bishop can hold a titular Eparchy without governing its present faithful, and an apostolic administrator can govern an existing eparchy without converting it into an Apostolic Administration.

Terminology

The English word eparchy is an anglicized term that comes from the original Greek word (Koine Greek: ἐπαρχία, romanized: eparchía, lit. 'overlordship', Byzantine Greek pronunciation: [e.parˈçi.a]). It is an abstract noun, formed with an intensive prefix (ἐπι-, epi-, lit. 'over-' + ἄρχειν, árchein, lit. 'to be ruler'). It is commonly Latinized as eparchia. The term can be loosely translated as the rule over something (literally: an overlordship). The term had various meanings and multiple uses throughout history, mainly in politics and administration, starting from the Hellenistic period, and continuing throughout the Roman era.

In the Greco-Roman world, it was used as a Greek equivalent for the Latin term provincia, denoting province, the main administrative unit of the Roman Empire. The same use was employed in the early Byzantine Empire until major administrative reforms that were undertaken between the 7th and 9th centuries, abolishing the old provincial system. In modern times, the term was also employed within administrative systems of some countries, like Greece and Cyprus.

Since it was commonly used as the main Greek designation for an administrative province of the Roman Empire, the term eparchy consequently gained an additional use among Greek-speaking Christians, denoting ecclesiastical structures on the provincial level of Church administration, within Eastern Christianity. Such terminological borrowing resulted from the final consolidation of the provincial (metropolitan) system in the 4th century. The First Ecumenical Council (325) confirmed (Canon IV) that all bishops of each civil province should be grouped in one ecclesiastical province, headed by a metropolitan (bishop of the provincial capital). Since civil provinces were called eparchies in Greek, the same term was used to define ecclesiastical provinces. Such use became customary, and metropolitan provinces came to be known as eparchies.

Eastern Orthodox Church

Throughout the late antiquity and the early medieval period, within Eastern Orthodox terminology, the term eparchy remained a common designation for a metropolitan province i.e. metropolis (Greek: μητρόπολις, Latin: metropolis).

During the later medieval period, terminology started to shift, particularly within the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The process of title-inflation that was affecting Byzantine bureaucracy and aristocracy also gained momentum in ecclesiastical circles. In order to promote centralization, patriarchal authorities started to multiply the numbers of metropolitans by elevating local bishops to honorary metropolitan ranks without giving them any real metropolitan powers, and making them directly appointed and thus more dependent on Constantinople. As a consequence, the use of the word eparchy was expanded to include not only proper metropolitan provinces, but also the newly created honorary metropolitan sees that were no real provinces, and thus no different then simple bishoprics except in honorary titles and ranks. In spite of that, such honorary metropolitan sees also came to be called eparchies. This process was systematically promoted, thus resulting in a major terminological shift.

Since the fragmentation of the original metropolitan provinces into several titular metropolises that were also referred to as eparchies, the Patriarchate of Constantinople became more centralized, and such structure has remained up to the present day. Similar ecclesiastical terminology is also employed by other autocephalous and autonomous churches within Eastern Orthodox community. In those who are non-Greek, term eparchy is used in local variants, and also has various equivalents in local languages.

Eparchies of the main Eastern Orthodox churches:

• Eparchies of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
• Eparchies of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria
• Eparchies of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antiochia
• Eparchies of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem
• Eparchies of the Russian Orthodox Church
• Eparchies of the Serbian Orthodox Church
• Eparchies of the Romanian Orthodox Church
• Eparchies of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church
• Eparchies of the Georgian Orthodox Church
• Eparchies of the Cypriot Orthodox Church
• Eparchies of the Orthodox Church of Greece
• Eparchies of the Polish Orthodox Church
• Eparchies of the Albanian Orthodox Church
• Eparchies of the Czech and Slovak Orthodox Church

Eastern Catholic Churches

In the Eastern Catholic Churches, eparchy is equivalent to a diocese of the Latin Church, and its bishop can be called an eparch (equivalent to a diocesan of the Latin Church). Similarly, an archeparchy is equivalent to an archdiocese of the Latin Church and its bishop can be called an archeparch (equivalent to an archbishop of the Roman Rite).

Individual eparchies of some Eastern Catholic Churches may be suffragan to Latin Church metropolitans. For example, the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Križevci is suffragan to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Zagreb. Also, some minor Eastern Catholic churches have Latin prelates. For example, the Macedonian Greek Catholic Church is organized as a single Eparchy of Strumica-Skopje, whose present ordinary is the Roman Catholic bishop of Skopje.

See also

• Eparchy (Roman province)
• Eparchy (Byzantine province)
• Eparchy (modern Greece)
• Eparchy (modern Cyprus)

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Eparchy (eparchia) was originally the name of one of the divisions of the Roman Empire. Diocletian (284-305) and Maximian divided the empire into four great Prefectures (Gaul, Italy, Illyricum, and the East). Each was subdivided into (civil) Dioceses, and these again into Eparchies under governors (proesides, hegemones). The Church accepted this division as a convenient one for her use. The Prefectures of Gaul, Italy, and Illyricum made up the Roman Patriarchate; the Prefecture of the East was divided (in the fourth century) between the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch and three exarchs. The Diocese of Egypt was the Patriarchate of Alexandria, the Diocese of the East (not to be confused with the Prefecture of the East) became that of Antioch. Asia was under the Exarch of Ephesus, Pontus under Cappadocia, and Thrace under Heraclea. Under these patriarchates and exarchates came the eparchies under metropolitans; they had under them the bishops of the various cities. The original ecclesiastical eparchies then were provinces, each under a metropolitan. The First Council of Nicaea (325) accepts this arrangement and orders that: "the authority [of appointing bishops] shall belong to the metropolitan in each eparchy" (can. iv). That is to say that in each such civil eparchy there shall be a metropolitan bishop who shall have authority over the others. This is the origin of our provinces. Later in Eastern Christendom the use of the word was gradually modified and now it means generally the diocese of a simple bishop. The name Eparchy is, however, not commonly used except in Russia. There it is the usual one for a diocese. The Russian Church now counts eighty-six eparchies, of which three (Kiev, Moscow, and St. Petersburg) are ruled by bishops who always bear the title "Metropolitan", and fourteen others are under archbishops.

External links

• The dictionary definition of eparchy at Wiktionary
• Catholic Encyclopedia (1909): Adrian Fortescue: Eparchy
• Map with all Dioceses of the Eastern Churches

Bibliography

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