Father Alex and the Mother Church
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This is the third in a series of articles based on my interviews with Fr
Alex Karloutsos. You can read the first two articles here: The Father Alex
Karlo...
1 month ago
4 comments:
So, I'm confused. Where's the Apostolic succession, if a Patriarch is 'voted' in? Is that only with bishops?
He was already a bishop, only in another diocese. Basically, all they did is take him out of one diocese and put him in another, and give him a new title.
When he was consecrated a bishop, it was done by two other bishops, who each were consecrated by two bishops, and so on, all the way back to the Apostles.
No one can be a bishop (or a priest) in the Orthodox Church without having two or more bishops lay hands on them, who in turn can trace the laying on of hands back to the Apostles.
Okay, I get it.
Still, Patriarhs, Bishops, Metropolitans, Archimandites, Primates (I thought those were monkeys), priests ... so many strange titles. Confusing, really.
It is confusing, I agree.
But keep in mind that there are only four orders of church government: laity, deacon, priest, and bishop. All the other many titles (and there are a lot more than the ones you listed) simply indicate one's administrative function or varying degrees of responsibility. For example, bishops, archbishops, metropolitans, and patriarchs are all bishops. And technically no bishop outranks any other. The different titles point to the size and/or importance of their diocese.
Also, priests, archimandrites, hieromonks, archpriests, protopresbyters, protosyngellos, igumens, etc are all priests, and all have the same sacramental functions, but different administrative roles.
To be honest, I don't know what all the titles mean myself.
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