Métropolite Maximos

This article by Metropolitan Maximos of Sardes presents a historical and canonical study of the foundations of the episcopate and the various forms of primacy in the Orthodox Church. Drawing on a eucharistic-type communion ecclesiology, the author traces the emergence of primacies from the local church to patriarchal and ecumenical structures, showing how these degrees of authority — metropolitan, patriarchal, ecumenical — were constituted at the intersection of dogmatic, historical, and canonical elements. The article draws a clear distinction between primacy as understood in the Orthodox tradition and the Roman papal model, emphasizing that the authority of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is exercised within the framework of collegiality and conciliarity. The principal theological contribution lies in the definition of primacy as diakonia, grounded in the example of Christ the servant, which gives all ecclesial authority a properly christological and kenotic dimension.