Autocephaly

Autocephaly (literally "self-headed") is the status of a hierarchical church whose primatial bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop. When an ecumenical council or a high-ranking bishop, such as a patriarch or other primate, releases an ecclesiastical province from the authority of that bishop while the newly independent church remains in full communion with the hierarchy to which it then ceases to belong, the council or primate is granting autocephaly. For example, the Church of Cyprus was granted autocephaly by the Council of Ephesus and is ruled by the Archbishop of New Justiniana and All Cyprus, who is not subject to any higher ecclesiastical authority, although his church remains in full communion with the other Orthodox sees. Similarly, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church was granted autocephaly by the Coptic Orthodox Church in 1950, and the Orthodox Church in America was granted autocephaly by the Church of Russia in 1970. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America is not autocephalous, but is part of the Church of Constantinople.

One step short of autocephaly is autonomy. A church that is autonomous has its highest-ranking bishop, such as an archbishop or metropolitan, appointed by the patriarch of the parent church, but is self-governing in all other respects.