The Canonical Institution of Autocephaly and the Diaspora. The Recent Conflict Between the Jerusalem Patriarchate and the Romanian Patriarchate
The Canonical Institution of Autocephaly and the Diaspora. The Recent Conflict Between the Jerusalem Patriarchate and the Romanian Patriarchate

Summary/Abstract: In this study we will evaluate ecclesiological-canonical and historical the canonical doctrine of the Orthodox Church, regarding the autocephaly, the manner of the constitution, on canonical bases, of the local autocephalous Churches, the problem of proclaiming the autocephaly and of the autocephalous Churches jurisdiction over their own ecclesiastical units in Diaspora, emphasizing the contribution of Romanian theologians and canonists in the inter-orthodox dialogue towards the canonical problems of great actuality.I began to write this study based on my own paper, The Principle of Ecclesiastical Autocephaly and the Problems of Inter-orthodox Jurisdiction.An Actual Ecclesiological and Canonical Contribution (2008),56 in order to discuss the issue of autocephaly, of the canonical territory and of the rights of the autocephalous Patriarchies and their jurisdiction over their own Diaspora, an issue of great actuality, with canonical implications in the inter-Orthodox relations. This very issue, along with some other local problems of a different nature, stood at the basis of ecclesiastical conflict between the historical Greek Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Romanian Patriarchate, a conflict that led to the breaking of communion with the Romanian patriarch and to the defrocking of the Romanian Patriarchate’s representative in Jerusalem.

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