Dear brother JMJ_coder,
From
Saints and Sacraments of the Armenian Church by Bishop Kaloustian:
"
The office of Catholicos is the highest office in the Armenian Church. The Catholicos is the head of the whole Armenian Church. It is a Greek word meaning General. The full title of the head of the Armenian Church is “Supreme Patriarch Catholicos of All Armenians.”
Among all the bishops in the Armenian Church, only the Catholicos has the prerogative to bless the Holy Myron for distribution to all the local Churches under him.
From the Official website of the Armenian Church:
"*The Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians is the worldwide spiritual leader of the Nation, for Armenians both in Armenia and in the Dispersion. He is Chief Shepherd and Pontiff to nearly 9 million Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Christians, dispersed throughout the world.
The supreme head of the Church is Jesus Christ. In the hierarchy of the Armenian Apostolic Church the Catholicos, a Greek term signifying “Universal Leader of the Church”, ranks higher than Patriarchs, Archbishops and Bishops in the Armenian Church. He is typically chosen from the College of Bishops, and once elected is regarded as the “First Among Equals." The Catholicos is consecrated by 12 bishops.
The Catholicos represents the centralized authority of the Armenian Church. He is the supreme judge and the head of the legislative body. He is President of the Supreme Spiritual Council as well as the College of Bishops. Ordination of bishops, blessing of Holy Chrism, proclamation of Feasts, invitation and dismissal of National-Ecclesiastical Assemblies, issuing decrees concerning the administration of the Armenian Church and establishing dioceses are part of his responsibilities.*"
From an official Syriac Orthodox Church website
sor.cua.edu/Intro/index.html
"*The supreme head of the Syriac Orthodox Church is the Patriarch of Antioch and all the East. He also presides over the Holy Synod, the assembly of all bishops.
The local head of the church in Malankara (India) is the Catholicos of the East. The Catholicos is under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Antioch and is accountable to the Holy Synod and the local Malankara Synod. He is consecrated by the Patriarch and presides over the local Holy Synod.
The local head of every archdiocese is an archbishop. He is under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch and is accountable to the Holy Synod. The archbishop is ordained by the Patriarch and at least two bishops. Some archdioceses are ‘patriarchal vicarates’; the patriarchal vicar, regardless of ecclesiastical office, is accountable directly to the Patriarch.*"
As you can see, the ecclesiology of the Oriental Orthodox Churches is very similar to the Catholic Churches (aside from the office of the Papacy), more similar than it is to the EOC.
Though there are officially 6 autocephalous Oriental Orthodox Churches, one can legitimately say that three of the Churches are really autonomous. The Eritrean and Ethiopian Churches are daughter Churches of the Coptic Orthodox Church; the Indian Church is the daughter Church of the Syrian Orthodox Church.
Blessings,
Marduk
