Eis zoarkeian

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The phrase eis zoarkeian was used in the Church of Constantinople during the times of the Ottoman empire to refer to a position of retirement for patriarchs who had been deposed. An offer was made to the deposed patriarch of a metropolitan's throne of an active ecclesiastical province from which the incumbent received the salary defined by ecclesiastical law without his being obliged to be present at the see nor perform his duties as metropolitan, that is he is without pastoral obligations. The hierarch awarded the title ‘eis zoarkeian’ (as a life support) was not a titular bishop.

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