Eparchy
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(
eparchia
).
Originally the name of one of the divisions of the Roman Empire.
Diocletian
(284-305) and
Maximian
divided the empire into four great
Prefectures
(Gaul,
Italy
, Illyricum, and the East). Each was subdivided into (civil)
Dioceses
, and these again into
Eparchies
under governors (
praesides
,
pegemones
). The
Church
accepted this division as a convenient one for her use. The Prefectures of Gaul,
Italy
, and Illyricum made up the Roman
Patriarchate
; the Prefecture of the East was divided (in the fourth century) between the
Patriarchs
of Alexandria and Antioch and three
exarchs
. The
Diocese
of
Egypt
was the Patriarchate of Alexandria, the Diocese of the East (not to be confused with the Prefecture of the East) became that of Antioch.
Asia
was under the Exarch of Ephesus,
Pontus
under Cappadocia, and Thrace under Heraclea. Under these
patriarchates
and exarchates came the eparchies under
metropolitans
; they had under them the
bishops
of the various cities. The original
ecclesiastical
eparchies then were provinces, each under a
metropolitan
. The First
Council of Nicaea
(325) accepts this arrangement and orders that: "the authority [of appointing
bishops
] shall belong to the
metropolitan
in each eparchy" (can. iv). That is to say that in each such civil eparchy there shall be a
metropolitan
bishop
who shall have authority over the others. This is the origin of our provinces. Later in
Eastern Christendom
the use of the word was gradually modified and now it means generally the
diocese
of a simple
bishop
. The name
Eparchy is
, however, not commonly used except in
Russia
. There it is the usual one for a diocese. The Russian Church now counts eighty-six eparchies, of which three (Kiev,
Moscow
, and St. Petersburg) are ruled by
bishops
who always bear the title "Metropolitan", and fourteen others are under
archbishops
.
Sources
HINSCHIUS, Kirchenrecht, I, 538, 576; FORTESCUE, The Orthodox Eastern Church (London, 1907), 22-23, 297.
About this page
APA citation.
Fortescue, A.
(1909).
Eparchy.
In
The Catholic Encyclopedia.
New York: Robert Appleton Company.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05484a.htm
MLA citation.
Fortescue, Adrian.
"Eparchy."
The Catholic Encyclopedia.
Vol. 5.
New York: Robert Appleton Company,
1909.
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05484a.htm>.
Transcription.
This article was transcribed for New Advent by Michael Waggoner.
Ecclesiastical approbation.
Nihil Obstat.
May 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, Censor.
Imprimatur.
+John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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