Folia Canonica 5. (2002)

PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE "Tra Chiesa universale e Chiesa particolare", Budapest, 2nd February 2002 - Gennadios of Sassima: The Canonical Status of the Ecumenical Patriarch in the Canonical Order of the Orthodox Churches: Nature and Extension of its Authority

THE CANONICAL STATUS OF THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH

269

congregations are called ‘ eucharistie congregations ’ and ‘workshops of God's Kingdom

Once more, the bishop - presiding over the faith, life and worship of his diocese as concretely manifested in the parish, where the bishop is represented by the parish priest - is the sign of unity of the Church. He guarantees the unity of his own diocese, as he guarantees the unity of the ‘universal ’ Church as well. For it is through the bishop that the parishes exit their isolation to become part of the diocese; and it is through the diocesan bishop that the diocese is in communion with the ‘universal ’ Church, that is the rest of the ‘sister Churches ’ throughout the world, also presided over their bishops.

As the concélébration of the presbytery of a given diocese with the their God-loving bishop expresses the unity of the diocese, so the concélébration of the Orthodox bishops under the presidency of their ranking, First bishop, is the expression of the unity of the local, national, regional, or even ‘universal’ Church. As there is a first bishop in every region, presiding over the concélébration, so there is an order among the ranking bishops, the Ecumenical Patriarch, presiding over the concélébration of all the Orthodox sister Churches, and also presiding over the Episcopal conferences, councils, and synod of Orthodox bishops. It is through these structures of unity that the unity of the Orthodox Church is practically and empirically expressed. II.

II. The Canonical Structure of the Church

The understanding of the canonical structure of the Orthodox communion, which perhaps appears paradoxical, it is essential to take into consideration a fundamental doctrinal conviction of the early Church is clearly ecclesiological, proceeding, from the conception of the Church and of its own nature.

Even that God is a Trinity, a Trinitarian God, it follows that the principal ecclesiological premises must be Trinitarian, which means that the Church, founded so that it might participate in the divine life, having its model and archetype in the life of the Holy Trinity.

In what relation do the persons of the Holy Trinity stand to one another? The Trinitarian doctrine of the early Church was quite precise; three persons in one essence. The Church has struggled hard for this central mystery of the Christian faith. The relation of the unity and Trinity, or generally of unity and multiplicity, has been the greatest problem of all Christian theology, from the Trinitarian disputes of the early Church up until the ecclesiological discussions of our contemporary times.

The undivided Church soon solved this problem as far as the Holy Trinity was concerned. The unity of the essence is not allowed to lead to confusion of the