Everything about Major Archbishop totally explained
In the
Eastern Catholic Churches,
major archbishop is a title for an
hierarch to whose
archiepiscopal see is granted the same jurisdiction in his autonomous (
sui juris)
particular Church that an Eastern
patriarch has in his.
The title is used for
archbishops of episcopal sees that were founded more recently than the patriarchal sees and are therefore less prestigious. Consequently, there are differences between the two offices. Major archbishops rank below patriarchs but immediately precede
primates in the
order of precedence of the Catholic Church. If made members of the
College of Cardinals, major archbishops join the order of
Cardinal Priests, whereas
patriarchs of the east join the highest order,
Cardinal Bishops. Like patriarchs, major archbishops are elected by the
synod of the
sui iuris Church, but their election requires confirmation by the
Pope, not mere notification and granting of
communion required of patriarchs.
The title was first granted to the head of the
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in 1963. The
Syro-Malabar Church became major archiepiscopal in 1992, followed by the
Syro-Malankara Catholic Church and the
Romanian Greek Catholic Church in 2005, resulting in four major archbishops each leading a major archiepiscopal autonomous Church:
In addition to their role governing their particular Church, all major archbishops are
ipso jure (automatically when installed to their office) members of the
Congregation for the Oriental Churches in the
Roman Curia. They are required to attend the annual general meeting of this congregation, and to attend other sessions if they're visiting Rome or are otherwise able.
The title
major archbishop in the Catholic Church is roughly equivalent to the patriarchal title
catholicos in some Orthodox Churches.
Catholicos is used internally by the Syro-Malankara Church for their major archbishop.
Suggestions have been made at various times to elevate major archbishops to patriarchs, most notably the major archbishops of the Ukrainians and Syro-Malabars. Popes from
Paul VI to
Benedict XVI have rejected this suggestion, at least in part, on
ecumenical grounds: it's the hope among Christians that these Catholic jurisdictions will one day be reunited with their Orthodox counterparts in a reunification of the Church; hence, establishing a "patriarchate" in Ukraine would be interpreted as an insult to the
Russian Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow (as it would seem to deny his legitimate holding of that title).
There was a strong movement within and after the
Second Vatican Council to elevate the late
Josyf Slipyj, then metropolitan of
Lviv for the Ukrainians, to the status of patriarch. Many of his admirers use this title for Slipyj when referring to him historically and many in Ukraine use this title for the current major archbishop even today. However, Pope Paul VI specifically declined to grant this title and instead appointed Slipyj the first "major archbishop" of Lviv, thereby effectively creating this new title (the seat has since been moved to
Kiev).
Sources
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