Definition of "autocephaly" []

• The state wherein a church's leaders have severed ties from a larger body and thus no longer report to a higher authority. (noun)

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• "Russia, because of its distance from the Sublime Porte became autonomous in both deed and in law. 20 Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem, never had their autocephaly officially rescinded and became dependencies of Constantinople."
• "As noted, it was another council which elevated the dioceses of Constantinople and Jerusalem to patriarchal status (and hence, autocephaly) and it was a local decision that allowed the see of Antioch to grant autocephaly to the Church of Iberia (Georgia) almost fifteen hundred years ago."
• "If the autocephaly of Constantinople and Jerusalem was posterior to, and dependent upon, conciliar decisions, by what right then does Constantinople claim the sole prerogative to grant autocephaly?"