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    STUDIA THEOLOGIA%20ORTHODOXA - Issue no. 2 / 2010  
         
  Article:   THE INSTITUTION OF THE EPISCOPATE FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF THE 19TH CENTURY LEGISLATION.

Authors:  GABRIEL-VIOREL GÂRDAN. 		 
       
         
  Abstract:  According tot the teachings of the Orthodox Church, the bishop is Christ’s representative, unique and unifying high priest. Every bishop is the head of a local church, “the head of Christ’s fullness.” The bishop is by excellence Christ’s perceived representative, working „under the will of Jesus Christ”. This guarantees a unique position in the life of the Church for the bishop. Starting from these theological considerations, the Church encoded in the collection of its canons all the aspects related to the election, the ordination and the prerogatives of the bishop in the life of a diocese. However, our study is limited to the illustration of the way in which the hierarchs were elected in different local churches in the 19th century; we shall also analyse the situation of the episcopate institution from the point of view of the ecclesiastical legislation from Romania. Legally speaking, the institution of the episcopate underwent major changes. These changes were not related to the sacramental aspect of a bishop’s activity, but that of the institutional organization, the criteria and the ways of becoming a bishop, the level of the bishop’s involvement in the social and political life of a country and the limits of political interference in the life of the church.

Key words: church, bishop, canons, laws, regulations, synod, election 		 
         
     
         
         
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