Eparchy

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Eparchy is an anglicized Greek word (ἐπαρχία), authentically Latinized as eparchia, which can be
loosely translated as the rule or jurisdiction over something, such as a province, prefecture, or
territory. It has specific meanings both in politics, history and in the hierarchy of the Eastern
Christian churches.

In secular use, the word eparchy denotes an administrative district in the Roman / Byzantine Empire,
or in modern Greece or Cyprus.

In ecclesiastical use, an eparchy is a territorial diocese governed by a bishop of one of the Eastern
churches, who holds the title of eparch. It is part of a metropolis. Each eparchy is divided into
parishes in the same manner as a diocese of western Christendom. In the Catholic Church, an
archieparchy equivalent to an archdiocese of the Roman Rite and its bishop is an archieparch,
equivalent to an archbishop of the Roman Rite.

Secular jurisdictions

Imperial Roman administration

…
Originally eparchy (ἐπαρχίᾱ, eparchia) was the Greek equivalent of the Latin term provincia, one of
the districts of the Roman Empire. As such it was used, chiefly in the eastern parts of the Empire, to
designate the Roman provinces. The term eparch (Greek: ἔπαρχος, eparchos) however, designating
an eparchy's governor, was most usually used to refer to the praetorian prefects (singular in Greek:
ἔπαρχος τοῦ πραιτωρίου, "eparch of the praetorium") in charge of the Empire's praetorian
prefectures, and to the Eparch of Constantinople, the city's urban prefect.

Byzantine administration
…
The Dominate-period administrative system was retained In the Byzantine period of the Empire until
the 7th century. As Greek became the Empire's main administrative language, replacing Latin, in the
latter 6th century even the provinces of the Exarchate of Ravenna, in reconquered Italy, were termed
eparchiae in Greek as well as in Latin.

In the latter half of the 7th century, the old provincial administration was replaced by the thematic
system. Even after that however, the term eparchos remained in use until the 840s for the senior
administrative official of each thema, under the governing strategos. Thereafter, eparchs are evident
in some cases as city governors, but the most important by far amongst them was the Eparch of
Constantinople, whose office had wide-ranging powers and functioned continuously until the 13th
century.[1]

Modern Greece and Cyprus

…
The term eparchia was revived as one of the administrative sub-provincial units of post-Ottoman
independent Greece, the country being divided into nomoi ("Prefectures"), of which in turn some
were subdivided into eparchies. From 1887, the eparchies were abolished as actual administrative
units, but were retained for some state services, especially finance services and education, as well
as for electoral purposes. Before the Second World War, there were 139 eparchies, and after the war,
with the addition of the Dodecanese Islands, their number grew to 147. The provinces were
abolished in the mainland (but retained for the islands), in the wide-ranging administrative reform
implemented in 1997 (the "Kapodistrias plan") and replaced by enlarged municipalities (demoi).

In Cyprus, the term eparchia is used to refer to the Districts of Cyprus.

Church hierarchy

The Christian Church (before the split into Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox) adopted
elements of political, administrative system of the late Roman Empire, as introduced by the reforms
of Diocletian (284–305). Adopted elements included both organizational structure and terminology.

Notwithstanding the primacies of the Apostolic Sees of Rome, Alexandria and Antioch, the
bishoprics of each civil province were grouped in one ecclesiastical province, also called eparchy,
under the supervision of the metropolitan, usually the bishop of the provincial capital. The First
Council of Nicaea in 325 accepted this arrangement and orders that: "the authority [of appointing
bishops] shall belong to the metropolitan in each eparchy" (can. iv), i.e., in each such civil eparchy
(province) there shall be a metropolitan bishop who has authority over the others.[2]

Since the use of the term eparchy was originally linked to metropolitan rights, later in Eastern
Christianity, after a process of title-inflation and multiplying the numbers of metropolitans by
elevating local bishops to honorary metropolitan rank without giving them any real metropolitan
powers, the use of the word "eparchy" was gradually modified and came to refer to dioceses of such
"metropolitan" bishops, and later to dioceses in general. This process was initially promoted in the
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, and later the new usage of term "eparchy" became
prevalent in the Eastern Orthodox Church, the ancient Oriental Churches, and the Eastern Catholic
Churches.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the name eparchy is not commonly used as the usual term for a
diocese except in the Bulgarian, Czechoslovak, Russian, and Serbian Orthodox Churches. The
Russian Orthodox Church in the early 20th century counted 86 eparchies, of which three (Kiev,
Moscow, and St. Petersburg) were ruled by bishops who always bore the title "Metropolitan."

References

1. Ostrogorsky 1956.

2. Meyendorff 1989.

Sources

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann,
Charles, ed. (1913). "article name needed". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton
Company.

Pauly-Wissowa

Ostrogorsky, George (1956). History of the Byzantine State . Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Meyendorff, John (1989). Imperial unity and Christian divisions: The Church 450-680 A.D. The
Church in history. 2. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press.

Nedungatt, George, ed. (2002). A Guide to the Eastern Code: A Commentary on the Code of Canons
of the Eastern Churches . Rome: Oriental Institute Press.

External links

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Eparch.

Map with all Dioceses of the Eastern Churches

The dictionary definition of eparchy at Wiktionary