List of autocephalous and autonomous churches

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Autocephalous and Autonomous Churches of Orthodoxy
Autocephalous Churches
Four Ancient Patriarchates: Constantinople · Alexandria · Antioch · Jerusalem
Russia · Serbia · Romania · Bulgaria · Georgia · Cyprus · Greece · Poland · Albania · Czech Lands and Slovakia · OCA* · Ukraine*
Autonomous Churches
Sinai · Finland · Estonia* · Japan* · China* · Ukraine*
The * designates a church whose autocephaly or autonomy is not universally recognized.


The autocephalous and autonomous Orthodox churches are those churches which have self-government.

There is not currently unanimous agreement on which churches are autocephalous or autonomous. There is, however, an order which is followed in international Inter-Orthodox gatherings, which is included here first. There is an expanded order which is recognized by some churches, most notably the Church of Russia and its dependencies and historical daughter churches. Despite the disagreement on which churches have autocephalous or autonomous status, all these churches maintain full communion with one another.

Inter-Orthodox order

Autocephalous churches

Autonomous churches

Expanded order

Autocephalous churches

Autonomous churches

Formerly independent churches

These churches were either formerly autocephalous or autonomous, or in some cases no longer exist.

Unrecognized independent churches

The following churches are variously unrecognized by the mainstream churches as independent and/or canonical.

See also

Sources

  • Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity (ISBN 0631232036)
  • Fitzgerald, Thomas E. The Orthodox Church. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1998, p. 151.
  • World Orthodox Churches, from the OCA website