Often, when we visit a temple or learn about news about events taking place in the religious world, we come across the term "eparchy". This word, or rather its meaning, often baffles many people. What is meant by the term "eparchy"? Let's analyze this problem in more detail.
Meaning of the word "eparchy"
Before turning to dictionaries and church acts, let's clarify where the term we are interested in originates from. "Diocese" is a word of Greek origin. The "epi" part is translated as "above", and "arche" means "power". We can say that the literal translation of this term is some kind of domain of ownership.
The dictionaries say that the diocese is one of the main units of the administrative-territorial division of the Russian Orthodox Church, which was created for local government. It is headed by a bishop, who is always elected by the Synod after receiving a corresponding decree from the Patriarch. The ROC is divided into these separate units according to the territorial principle. As a rule, each city has its own diocese. In total, the composition of the Russian Orthodox Church includes more than 200 such parts.
Composition of the diocese
This part of the RIC includes many other religious institutions. The charter of the Russian Orthodox Church includes the following units in this category:
- churches;
- diocesan institutions;
- revenues;
- deanery;
- monasteries;
- Metochion, spiritual educational institutions;
- brotherhoods and sisterhoods;
- missions;
- monastic sketes.
The composition of the diocese and its boundaries are established by the Holy Synod, and then by the Council of Bishops. There are also special controls within this unit. There are many dioceses under the ROC, which are located not only in Russia and neighboring countries, but also exist all over the world, including the European, American and Asian continents.
Composition of the Russian Orthodox Church
The entire Russian Orthodox Church is divided into separate parts. It includes numerous dioceses, metropolitanates, exarchates, metropolitan districts, autonomous and self-governing churches, brotherhoods and sisterhoods, missions, vicariates, synodal institutions, monasteries, parishes and deaneries. The Orthodox Church also includes spiritual educational institutions, representative offices and farmsteads. Thus, we can say that the diocese is one of the main parts of the Russian Orthodox Church, which includes many religious institutions, created for the convenience of organizing local government.
