Autocephalous

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Autocephalous (Gk., autos, ‘self’ + kephalē, ‘head’). Term describing an Orthodox church whose hierarchy is independent of any other. Thus ‘the Orthodox Church’ comprises a variable number of autocephalous ‘Orthodox churches’, whose patriarchs are ranked only in honour (1. Constantinople, 2. Alexandria, 3. Antioch, 4. Jerusalem, 5. Moscow, etc.). Some autocephalous churches are very small, e.g. Sinai (one monastery) and Czechoslovakia (autocephalous since 1951).

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