Phyletism

Phyletism or Ethnophyletismus (Greek ἔθνος ethnos "people" and φυλή tribe "tribe" ) refers to a flow in the Orthodox churches. In the 19th century Orthodox national churches were formed, starting from South-Eastern Europe, out, who transferred the principle of nationalism to the church and "carriers of national identity " were. Although the Synod in Constantinople Opel 1872 phyletism condemned as heresy to phyletistische trends continued. They meant that mainly independent, separated by ethnicity Orthodox jurisdictions coexist in the Diaspora on the same territory.

Historical Background

Was a historical basis for the phyletism the ideal of Symphonia, the harmonious unity between Church and State, which had determined the church policy in the Byzantine Empire for centuries. However, the Empire was a multinational state, not a nation-state based on ethnicity, the national concept was perceived geographical- territorial.

The liberation struggle predominantly Orthodox Southeast European peoples of the Ottoman rule in the 19th century led to the emergence of national jurisdictions of the local Orthodox Churches, previously mostly belonged to or were under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople Opel. Indeed, according to the Greek Revolution, the Church of Greece. As part of the Bulgarian Revival Sultan Abdulaziz built by 1870 Ferman announced the Bulgarian Exarchate as an autonomous church, whose head had to be confirmed by the Ecumenical Patriarch as well as by the Ottoman government. As the seat of the Exarch the St. Stephen Church in Constantinople Opel was determined by the Sultan, who was in town for some time as a church of the Bulgarian community. The Exarchate proclaimed in May 1872 the exarch Anthim I. unilaterally declared autocephaly.

A general meeting convened in Constantinople Opel in late summer of 1872 synod, at which the Patriarch of Constantinople Opel, Alexandria, Jerusalem and Antioch and the Archbishop of Cyprus took part, explained that the ethno- national principle for the formation of new states could be useful for the church but not is acceptable because the ethnic origin of the faithful did not matter. While the formation of national churches in sovereign states - such as the Church of Greece in the independent state of Greece - was legitimate, the idea was rejected, that within a state - could occur along ethnic lines various Orthodox churches - here the Ottoman Empire. As the head of the Bulgarian Orthodox had his official residence in Constantinople Opel, the Synod also saw the ancient church's territorial principle, which requires that only one bishop could reside in a city or a territory.

In September 1872, the Synod decided:

" We reject, denounce and condemn the phyletism, that is, the distinction between races, ethnic strife, discord and divisions in the Church of Christ as a contradiction to the teaching of the Gospel and the holy canons of our godly fathers, the holy, the Church support, arrange the entire Christendom and guide them to the worship of God. "

The Bulgarian church was declared schismatic, only in 1945 did the reconciliation.

The condemnation of phyletism by the Synod of 1872 was bestowed not a resounding success in the further course of history. Emigration movements of Orthodox Christians to Western Europe and overseas led to the emergence of foreign jurisdictions, the national home churches whose competence areas overlap in violation of the old territorial principle as before.

Consequences of phyletism

The consequences of phyletism are noticeably less in the Orthodox home countries rather than in the diaspora. Philip Saliba, Metropolitan of the Antiochene Orthodox Archdiocese of North America, had 2007 examples suggest that reside in Paris six and in New York City more than ten Orthodox bishops of various national churches with coinciding or overlapping jurisdiction districts, and complained:

" In my opinion and in the opinion of Orthodox canonists, this is phyletism. This is heretical. How can we condemn phyletism as a heresy in 1872 and still practice the same kind of phyletism in the twenty -first century here in North America? "

"In my opinion and in the opinion of orthodox canonists is the phyletism. This is heretical. How can we condemn as heresy phyletism 1872 and still practicing the same kind of phyletism in the 21st century here in North America? "

In the U.S. and Canada as a typical immigration countries, the problems of fragmentation are most apparent for days. In the U.S., the Orthodox, who make up about 0.6 % of the total population, spread over approximately 20 coexisting churches. Often Orthodox Christians live far away from a church of their origin nation, while other communities are closer. With varying degrees of success, the Orthodox churches open in the U.S. more or less for brothers and sisters of other ethnic descent, English is used as the liturgical language more or less intense. The self-understanding that all Orthodox churches stand together in complete faith and church community is, especially in North America counteracted by different and sometimes conflicting rules in the area of ​​pastoral care. So some jurisdictions recognize the baptism, marriage and partly the ordination of non- Orthodox churches, such as the Roman Catholic Church and Protestant churches, in whole or in part, others recognize no outside Orthodoxy donated sacrament to be valid. In many gradations there are differences in divorce and remarriage, admission to the church funeral and other practical requirements. Some churches allow people to receive the Holy Eucharist, which were expressly excluded from another Orthodox church of some churches take for priests in their service, which was suspended from a sister church or permanently removed from office.

An ethnically -related division of the Orthodox Christians in two churches on the same territory took place after the independence of Estonia by the Soviet Union. 1993 saw the re-establishment of the Autonomous Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church under the 1996 confirmed supremacy of the Patriarch of Constantinople Opel, which had existed prior to 1945. Its members are predominantly ethnic Estonians since 1993. However, most of the people living in Estonia Orthodox ethnic Russians decided to remain with the Estonian Metropolia of the Russian Orthodox Church, which was responsible for the whole of Estonia Orthodox jurisdiction since 1945. Up to found in 2002, there had been significant upsets compromise between the Patriarch of Moscow and Constantinople Opel because of the ecclesiastical situation in Estonia. In the 1990s, the Moscow Patriarchate, the Church community had even temporarily suspended with Konstantin Opel ..

While a part of the Orthodox theologians and ministers of the opinion that in one place, only one bishop could be the head of all Orthodox believers (strict territoriality principle) is represented by another model of the "metropolitan system " whereby one on a continent or country various Orthodox Metropolitanates next to each other as an expression of historically grown manifold within the diaspora were acceptable.