How Does Hierarchy Work When Including Eastern Catholics?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Catechesis
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
C

Catechesis

Guest
Soo… how does the Universal Catholic hierarchy work when including the Eastern Catholic Patriarchs, Major Archbishops, Metropolitans, and bishops? I’ve always thought it went something like this (List Below). A big question of mine is, are the Eastern Hierarchs (Church Leaders) considered one step below the Pope of Rome and one above the Roman Catholic Cardinals? I’m sorry for my ignorance but can anyone explain?

1.Pope
2.Patriarchs
3.Major Archbishops
4.Metropolitans (Eastern Catholic Leader)
5.Cardinals
6.Metropolitan Archbishops
7.Archbishops
8.Bishops
9.Bishops of Other Titles (Auxiliary, Emeritus, Titular)
10.Vicar General
11.Priest
12.Deacon
13.Laity
 
No need to apologize - how else does one learn? Anyway, to my understanding Eastern patriarchs aren’t “under” the Pope (ideally) because they deal with him on a peer level (as the apostles dealt with each other - a patriarch can refuse communion with the Pope). That being said, the Pope has a certain Peterine and Pauline operational authority that other Patriarchs do not have - but primacy does not equate to be “over” them.

I can see how the above will provoke negative responses but whatever, I would not concede St James was “under” Peter, even though Peter was head of the apostles.
 
Check out this chart from another thread here on CAF for a more accurate depiction of the Catholic hierarchy’s structure.

Basically, the default is that each local bishop teaches, governs, and sanctifies his local church, and holds on Earth the place of God for the people of his diocese (as St. Ignatius of Antioch said).

For practical purposes, the Catholic Church’s bishops are organized into different autonomous jurisdictions, from the metropolitan level (a group of dioceses, one of whose bishops has some degree of headship throughout that province) to - in some cases - truly self-governing jurisdictions run almost entirely by their synods (group of bishops). Six, if I recall, of these self-governing churches have a full patriarch as their head bishop.

While all the bishops are successors of the Apostles, the bishop of Rome is, of course, the successor to Saint Peter and as such has the authority to exercise supreme authority throughout the entire Catholic Church. To assist him in this often complex task, some of his responsibility is delegated to the cardinals, who - aside from the privilege of electing a new pope - possess only whatever authority has been delegated to them by the Holy See (the pope).

The Catholic Church is constituted in such a way that it doesn’t really work for the pope to micromanage the entire Church or rule “from the top down,” so to speak. He assists the local bishops and, when necessary, exercises the supreme authority of the Church to preserve unity among the Catholic churches and orthodoxy throughout them.
 
1.Pope
2.Patriarchs
3.Major Archbishops
4.Metropolitans (Eastern Catholic Leader)
5.Cardinals
6.Metropolitan Archbishops
7.Archbishops
8.Bishops
9.Bishops of Other Titles (Auxiliary, Emeritus, Titular)
10.Vicar General
11.Priest
12.Deacon
13.Laity
Click to expand...
The Cardinal is a personal title, not a job. The below are JOBs. Being a Cardinal doesn’t grant any special power except the ablity to vote for a Pope and grants honors among the other Bishops of the job title.

It is more like this:
  • Pope
  • Patriarchs
  • Major Archbishops
  • Metropolitan Archbishops (Metropolitans and Metropolitan Archbishops are really the same)
  • Archbishops (who are not the primate of a province – this is not as common anymore)
  • Bishop
  • Auxiliary Bishops (Emeritus is retired, Titular can be an Auxiliary or other Bishop who does not have a See anymore, so you cannot really count these in the rankings)
  • Vicar General of a Diocese (may be a Bishop or a Priest)
  • Dean
  • Pastor
  • Priest
  • Deacon
This also doesn’t include other titles like Rector, Abbot, Archpriest, etc.

Among the Cardinals - the ranks are:
Cardinal-Bishop – the six Titular Bishops of the Suburbicarian Sees of Rome and the Eastern Patriarchs (or Emeritus since a Diocese can only have one Cardinal) who have been raised to Cardinal.

Cardinal-Priest – these are the Archbishops of Dioceses who are created Cardinals. The Latin Patriarchs are created Cardinal-Priests too. The majority of Cardinals are Cardinal-Priests. High level Roman Curia posts are often raised to Cardinal-Priest too.

Cardinal-Deacon – the majority are members of the Roman Curia who are created Cardinals and/or retired Priests/Bishops who are 80 or older and raised to Cardinal.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask 😃

God Bless.
 
There are two different concepts here. One is the order of precedence which is strictly a precedence of honor and governs unimportant things such as diplomatic protocol and position in processions.

The other concept would be “who reports to whom?” and that seems to be accurately, if simplistically, portrayed by the link which Fone Bone gave. Some titles in the Church are honorific and do not figure in a hierarchical structure of management, such as Monsignor (Honorary Prelate) or Cardinal, but they do accord the holders higher precedence of honor.
 
Elizium23 said:
There are two different concepts here. One is the order of precedence which is strictly a precedence of honor and governs unimportant things such as diplomatic protocol and position in processions.

The other concept would be “who reports to whom?” and that seems to be accurately, if simplistically, portrayed by the link which Fone Bone gave. Some titles in the Church are honorific and do not figure in a hierarchical structure of management, such as Monsignor (Honorary Prelate) or Cardinal, but they do accord the holders higher precedence of honor.
Click to expand...
Quite correct!
 
Catechesis said:
Soo… how does the Universal Catholic hierarchy work when including the Eastern Catholic Patriarchs, Major Archbishops, Metropolitans, and bishops? I’ve always thought it went something like this (List Below). A big question of mine is, are the Eastern Hierarchs (Church Leaders) considered one step below the Pope of Rome and one above the Roman Catholic Cardinals? I’m sorry for my ignorance but can anyone explain?

1.Pope
2.Patriarchs
3.Major Archbishops
4.Metropolitans (Eastern Catholic Leader)
5.Cardinals
6.Metropolitan Archbishops
7.Archbishops
8.Bishops
9.Bishops of Other Titles (Auxiliary, Emeritus, Titular)
10.Vicar General
11.Priest
12.Deacon
13.Laity
Click to expand...
The bishops are all in full communion with each other and the whole Catholic Church. Each eparchial bishop has his own proper jurisdiction. Bishops form synods and make decisions together. Some act in the role of president, and some have special functions defined by each Church sui iuris. The Pope and heads of the eastern sui iuris Churches, along with some others, form the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.
 
This excerpt from the Code of Canons of the Eastern Catholic Churches should help:

Canon 43 - The bishop of the Church of Rome, in whom resides the office (munus) given in special way by the Lord to Peter, first of the Apostles and to be transmitted to his successors, is head of the college of bishops, the Vicar of Christ and Pastor of the entire Church on earth; therefore, in virtue of his office (munus) he enjoys supreme, full, immediate and universal ordinary power in the Church which he can always freely exercise.

Canon 44 - §1. The Roman Pontiff obtains full and supreme power in the Church by means of legitimate election accepted by him together with episcopal consecration; therefore, one who is already a bishop obtains this same power from the moment he accepts his election to the pontificate, but if the one elected lacks the episcopal character, he is to be ordained a bishop immediately.
§2. If it should happen that the Roman Pontiff resigns his office (munus), it is required for validity that he makes the resignation freely and that it be duly manifested, but not that it be accepted by anyone.

Canon 45 - §1. The Roman Pontiff, by virtue of his office (munus), not only has power over the entire Church but also possesses a primacy of ordinary power over all the eparchies and groupings of them by which the proper, ordinary and immediate power which bishops possess in the eparchy entrusted to their care is both strengthened and safeguarded.
§2. The Roman Pontiff, in fulfilling the office (munus) of the supreme pastor of the Church is always united in communion with the other bishops and with the entire Church; however, he has the right, according to the needs of the Church, to determine the manner, either personal or collegial, of exercising this function.
§3. There is neither appeal nor recourse against a sentence or decree of the Roman Pontiff.
 
Informative replies, thank you. I seperated Metropolitan as in the leader of a Metropolitan Sui Juris and Metropolitan Archbishop because wouldnt the Sui Juris Metropolitan be higher ranked than a regular Metropolitan of an Archdiocese under a sui juris church? I hope that doesnt sound confusing but here ill give an example, wouldn’t the sole Metropolitan of the Ethiopian Catholic Church ( Metropolitinate) be higher ranked than lets say Metropolitan Mar Andrews Thazath of a Syro Malabar Metropolitan Diocese (im not sure which one).
 
Catechesis said:
Informative replies, thank you. I seperated Metropolitan as in the leader of a Metropolitan Sui Juris and Metropolitan Archbishop because wouldnt the Sui Juris Metropolitan be higher ranked than a regular Metropolitan of an Archdiocese under a sui juris church? I hope that doesnt sound confusing but here ill give an example, wouldn’t the sole Metropolitan of the Ethiopian Catholic Church ( Metropolitinate) be higher ranked than lets say Metropolitan Mar Andrews Thazath of a Syro Malabar Metropolitan Diocese (im not sure which one).
Click to expand...
Unless I’m mistaken, technically the only Archbishops to be “over” another are the Major Archbishops. The Archbishop of the Ethiopian Catholic Church is more akin to the Archbishop of Mexico City or the the Archbishop of Buenos Aries. They are both Metropolitian Archbishops and also Prelate of a Conference. The Ethiopian Catholic Church is small (most Ethiopian Christians belong to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church). So they are organized more like an Episcopal Conference or Synod.

Keep in mind that some Metopolitian Archbishops have additional duties, but they are still Archbishops. Another example is the Metropolitian Archbishop of Detroit. The Archbishop of Detriot is also appointed as the Ecclesiastical Superior of Cayman Island (in the Cayman Islands).

Finally, if you look at the Anglican Use Ordinates, the Prelates act as bishops and are part of the Bishop’s conferences, but are Monsignors (because they were married). There are also other Prelates of small, remote areas who are simply Priests.

gcatholic.org is a good site to learn a little about the hierarchy (in terms of who reports to who)

Hope this helps

God Bless
 
MorEphrem said:
No need to apologize - how else does one learn? Anyway, to my understanding Eastern patriarchs aren’t “under” the Pope (ideally) because they deal with him on a peer level (as the apostles dealt with each other - a patriarch can refuse communion with the Pope). That being said, the Pope has a certain Peterine and Pauline operational authority that other Patriarchs do not have - but primacy does not equate to be “over” them.

I can see how the above will provoke negative responses but whatever, I would not concede St James was “under” Peter, even though Peter was head of the apostles.
Click to expand...
My response is 👍👍👍
 
In Canon law at one place you can find (roughly speaking) that “cardinals are just after the Pope” and at another place that “patriarch are just after the Pope”. This is not a contradiction when you admit that the Catholic Church does not have a simple linear structure. Imagine that there is not just a line but branches after the Pope: one is college of his advisers and voters, another are patriarchal… It can happen that someone less prominent in one branch is more prominent in another.

Major Archbishops (catholicoi) are now heads of sui iuris churches and they are not “operating” under patriarch so however “after patriarchs”, they are in effect like patriarchs (well, not absolutely, but…).

During papal inauguration (as Pope, not as bishop of Rome) there are also patriarchs and catholicoi present. Most of them are not cardinals and so these ones have less prominent positions in processions. On the other hand, they are together with Pope in the St Peter’s tomb and “processionaly more prominent” cardinals are not.

Well, “after” could be problematic and in some sense they are around one table, but this table is not so round that it would not be clear who is the Head.

If a congregation is lead by e. g. titular archbishop, he is maybe less honorific than patriarchs or even “normal” archbishops, but he is “stronger” than they in matters which are preceded by him due to his office.

Metropolitan = metropolitan archbishop and metropolia = ecclesiastical province. Metropolitans – Eastern or Western – are of the same honour and it does not matter if their patriarch sits in Rome, Baghdad or Ermakulum. (Due to different discipline, they may have different powers, rights, obligations…).

If we consider head of metropolitan church sui iuris, he is really “more” than these “normal” metropolitans but this is so because of being head of a sui iuris church. So (but not exactly and not 100 % correstly) he is more honorific and stronger as head of sui iuris church, not as metropolitan.
 
MorEphrem said:
Anyway, to my understanding Eastern patriarchs aren’t “under” the Pope (ideally) because they deal with him on a peer level (as the apostles dealt with each other - a patriarch can refuse communion with the Pope). That being said, the Pope has a certain Peterine and Pauline operational authority that other Patriarchs do not have - but primacy does not equate to be “over” them.

I can see how the above will provoke negative responses but whatever, I would not concede St James was “under” Peter, even though Peter was head of the apostles.
Click to expand...
I have to add that, ideally, those canons in the CCEO wouldn’t exist. 🤷 😉
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top