Is the local bishop, or the Patriarch, or some combination in-between the final authority in the Orthodox Church?  

http://www.orthodoxanswers.org/ecclesiology.pdf

In this article it seems that, because the Church is centered on the Eucharist, and the Eucharist is at the local Church, and the Bible only refers to deacons, priests, and bishops; then the final authority in the church is that of the local Bishop.  (Although it does indicate that offices above the local Bishop are necessary for coordination.) 

However, the recent abrupt decision of the Antiochean Patriarch about the status of bishops seems to indicate that the Patriarch is the final authority.

In my lack of knowledge about the Orthodox Church I thought that the Patriarch was the final authority.  However, according to the above article, if I understood it correctly, the local Bishop is the final authority.

The amount of open and annonymous defiance the Patriarch of Antioch received in response to his recent, and seemingly unilateral, decision seems to lend support to the idea that he is not the final authority. 

Who is in charge?

Thanks.

Huson

Mar 16, 2009 -- 2:38PM, Andy.community.beliefnet.com wrote:

Simply put, the Church is the final authority in the Orthodox Church.  There is no bishop that is “over” another bishop in the Orthodox Church. All bishops regardless of honor, are bishops.  In the Orthodox Church, the office of bishop is the leading Church ministry, and each of the bishops has exactly the same service to perform.

 

The Orthodox Church teaches that the bishops are the leading members of the clergy in the sense that they have the responsibility and the service of maintaining the unity of the Church throughout the world by insuring the truth and unity of the faith and practice of their respective churches with all of the others.

 

The bishops represent their particular churches (or dioceses) to the other churches (or dioceses), just as they represent the Universal Church to their own particular priests, deacons, and people.

The bishop himself is not "over" his church (or diocese), but is himself within and of the Church as one of its members. He is the one who is responsible and answerable before God and man for the life of his particular church community. All bishops of the Orthodox Church are bishops of a particular geographical territory called a diocese. A bishop of the chief city of a region which has within it other bishops with their own particular dioceses is usually called the metropolitan or archbishop.  The title of archbishop means "leading bishop" of an area, but sometimes the title is given to certain bishops for personal or honorary reasons. The title of patriarch belongs to the bishop of the capitol city of a region containing other metropolitanates and dioceses. Today this usually means a national church.

When the bishops of an area meet in council, as they must do periodically according to Church Law, the metropolitan presides; or in the case of a large territory or national church, the patriarch. Once again, however, it must be clearly understood that sacramentally all bishops are identical and equal. None is "higher" than the others as far as their sacramental position is concerned; none is "over" the others as far as their life in the Church is concerned.

In purely human and practical matters, the metropolitans and patriarchs guide and preside over areas greater than their own particular dioceses, but they are not superior or more powerful as far as their bishop's office is concerned. No bishop in Orthodoxy is considered infallible.

 

None has any "powers" over or apart from his priests, deacons and people or the other bishops. All are servants of Christ and the Church.

 

God's word should be the final authority. It seems to have outlasted fallible man.