Egypt's new Coptic pope

[Aramis]

Ah, I see. Thank you for clarifying why you asked that. I don’t think this is one of those terms we would take issue with. I’ve seen “autocephalous”, “autonomous”, etc. used in writings by OO, and I don’t really know what else we could call ourselves if not some variation of that. The objection to “Vicar of Christ” is something different because it has Christological implications (depending on how it’s interpreted, of course). I don’t know what similar implications could be found in “autocephaly”, since the Christology of the Church is not threatened by or even related to its form of governance.

Autocephalous means “Self-headed” - a term that implies Christ isn’t the head of the church in very much a mirror image of how many feel “Vicar” reflects the absence of Christ.

 

[dzheremi]

Yep, except for the fact that this is not the general understanding of “autocephaly”, so it’s not really directly comparable to the “vicar” situation.

 

[Tamelyne]

With God’s blessing, hopefully this new Coptic patriarch can help the Middle East survive the turmoil there!

 

[Aramis]

Yep, except for the fact that this is not the general understanding of “autocephaly”, so it’s not really directly comparable to the “vicar” situation.

Actually, it’s DIRECTLY comparable, since a vicar is an agent of the one they are vicar for, not a replacement. It’s EXACTLY the same kind of willful misinterpretation. Neither actually means in modern nor ecclesiastical use its literal translation.

And I have heard fundamentalists misinterpret autocephaly exactly that way in dealing with Russian Orthodox in Alaska.