Theocracy or Caesaropapism?
Article summary proposed by the Contacts review with LLM assistance
This article by the canonist and theologian Sergey Troitsky, professor at the University of Belgrade, examines the question of the relationship between ecclesiastical power and political power in the Orthodox tradition. Proceeding through a rigorous study of canonical, scriptural, and patristic sources, the author refutes the thesis that the interference of Byzantine emperors in Church affairs constitutes a norm of divine law. He demonstrates that neither Holy Scripture, nor the canons, nor the Church Fathers provide a foundation for caesaropapism, and that the notion of the imperial "epistemonarque" is of pagan origin. The main contribution of the article is to clearly distinguish between historical fact and canonical norm, thereby establishing that theocracy and caesaropapism belong to two logics incompatible with Orthodox ecclesiology.
This article has not been translated yet — it is available in its French version here.
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