The Autocephaly of the Romanian Orthodox Church Between Canonical Order and Constitutional Framework

Abstract

This study examines the process through which the Romanian Orthodox Church attained the status of an autocephalous Church, a process brought to completion by the Synodal Tomos of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of 25 April 1885. Romanian autocephaly operated both as a canonical ecclesial institution, grounded in synodality, the territoriality of jurisdiction, and the principle of aligning ecclesiastical organisation with that of the state, and as a legal expression of Romanian statehood, asserted through an internal act, elevated to the rank of a constitutional norm, and incorporated into organic law before being recognised by the Mother Church. The study also establishes a distinction of principle: autocephaly is the canonical system governing the organisation and functioning of the Church, in conjunction with synodality, rather than a form of ecclesiastical sovereignty; likewise, patriarchal dignity does not constitute a higher degree of independence, but rather the highest administrative title held by the primate of an autocephalous Church. Reconstructing the period from 1857 to 1885, the analysis shows that domestic law preceded ecclesiastical law and that the two normative orders ultimately converged through a gradual process of accommodation, in which the synodal act of the Mother Church recognised the status of autocephaly-the one quality that the state itself could not confer.