A canonical territory is, in some
Christian denominations
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ� ...
, a geographical area seen as belonging to a particular
bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...
or
Church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* Chri ...
as its own when it comes to ecclesiastical matters, whether by tradition or by
canon law
Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is t ...
. The concept is found both in the
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...
and
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
.
According to Andriy Mykhaleyko, the expression "canonical territory" is "rather difficult to define as it can refer to a variety of different aspects, from an
ecclesiological,
geographical, and
cultural entity to the territorial or canonical
jurisdiction of a church as an expression of its local community, or the
pastoral theological
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the s ...
care of the faithful in a particular territory."
Historical background
Canons of the Apostles
Bishop
Hilarion Alfeyev, of the
Russian Orthodox Church
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, image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg
, imagewidth =
, alt =
, caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia
, abbreviation = ROC
, type ...
, asserts that
Some
canons of the Canons of the Apostles state that:
# the
bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...
should not leave his diocese and go over to another without authorization (can. 14);
# the bishop may not
ordain outside the boundaries of his
diocese
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associ ...
(can. 35);
# when transferring to another city,
excommunicated
Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...
clergymen or laymen cannot be accepted into communion by another bishop (can. 12);
# clergymen who go over to another diocese without the consent of their bishop are deprived of the right to serve (can. 15);
# prohibition of serving or excommunication of a clergyman imposed by one bishop cannot by removed by another bishop (can. 16, 32).
"In defining the boundaries of ecclesiastical territories, the Fathers of the ancient undivided Church took into account civil territorial divisions established by secular authorities," according to Alfeyev. He adds: "
though the principle of having ecclesiastical territories correspond to civil ones was accepted as a guiding principle in the ancient Church, it was never absolutized or viewed as having no alternatives." Alfeyev cites the conflict between two bishops,
Basil of Caesarea and
Anthimus of Tyana, as an example.
Present situation
Eastern Orthodoxy
Even before the
2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism
A schism between the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC, also known as the Moscow Patriarchate) and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople began on 15 October 2018 when the former unilaterally severed full communion with the latter.
Th ...
, the issue of canonical territory had proven to be a significant point of dispute between the
Moscow Patriarchate and the
Ecumenical Patriarchate over
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...
.
Russian Orthodox Church
The meaning of canonical territory in the context of the Russian Orthodox Church "is not self-evident, and no detailed explanation of it is given in any official document."
The Russian Orthodox Church defines the geographic extent of its canonical territory as including all the territory within
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
, and the
post-Soviet states
The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...
excluding
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...
and
Georgia.
It statutes define its sphere of jurisdiction as including "also
asternOrthodox Christians
living in other countries" outside of its canonical territory.
The geographic extent of the canonical territory defined by the Russian Orthodox Church is disputed by other Eastern Orthodox Churches.
Phyletism
In
diaspora
A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...
countries such as
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
, problems with canonical territory have often given rise to the problem of
phyletism
Phyletism or ethnophyletism (from Greek ἔθνος ''ethnos'' "nation" and φυλετισμός ''phyletismos'' "tribalism") is the principle of nationalities applied in the ecclesiastical domain: in other words, the conflation between church and ...
, which is defined as the principle of nationalities applied in the ecclesiastical domain and the confusion between Church and nation.
Catholic Church
Eastern Catholic Churches
Canonical territories are mentioned numerous times in the
Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.
In the
Eastern Catholic Churches
The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous ('' sui iuris'') particular churches of ...
that have the rank of
patriarchate, the patriarchal synod elects bishops for the patriarchate's canonical territory. Bishops who head
eparchies situated outside that territory are appointed by the
Pope
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
.
Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, canon 181
Notes
References
Further readings
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Canonical Territory
Catholic canonical structures
Christian terminology
Canon law of the Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Catholic canon law