article

For the use of the word "primate" in biology, see primate. Primate (from the Latin Primus, "first") is a title or rank bestowed on some bishops in certain Christian churches. Depending on the particular tradition, it can denote either jurisdictional authority (title of authority) or ceremonial precedence (title of honor).

Orthodox Christianity

In the Orthodox churches, Primate is often used in the general sense of the head of an autocephalous or autonomy church, but not as a specific title. Thus, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, the Archbishop of Mtskheta and Tbilisi, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, the Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa, the Archbishop of Athens, the Archbishop of Washington and New York, Metropolitan of All America and Canada, and the Archbishop of Karelia and All Finland are all primates of their respective churches, regardless of their individual titles.

Anglican Communion

An Anglican Primate serves as the senior metropolitan of his or her national Church. There are thirty-eight primates of the provinces of the Anglican Communion *. Some of these provinces are stand-alone ecclesiastical provinces (such as The Church of the Province of West Africa), while others are national churches within which exist more than one ecclesiastical province (such as the Church of England). In true ecclesiastical provinces which are also Anglican Communion provinces, the Primate is a metropolitan archbishop. In most national churches composed of several provinces, the Primate will be an archbishop as well, but in those which do not have a tradition of archepiscopacy, a bishop will be styled as Primus (e.g., of the Scottish Episcopal Church) or Presiding Bishop (e.g., of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America). Metropolitans are always styled "Archbishop x of the Diocese of y, and Primate of z," while Primates without a diocese are referred to as "Archbishop x, Primate of z."

Anglican Primates may be attached to a fixed See (e.g., the Archbishop of Canterbury is always the "Primate of All England"), he or she may be chosen from among sitting metropolitans or diocesan bishops and retain their See (as with, for example, the Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia), or he or she may have no See (as in the Anglican Church of Canada). In Ireland, both the Anglican Church of Ireland and the Roman Catholic Church style their respective Archbishops of Armagh and Archbishops of Dublin Primate of All Ireland and Primate of Ireland respectively.

Primates in the Anglican Communion are generally chosen by election (either by a Synod consisting of laity, clergy, and bishops, or by a House of Bishops). In some instances, the primacy is awarded on the basis of seniority among the episcopal college. In the Church of England, the Primate is appointed by the sovereign, in his or her capacity as Supreme Governor of the established church, on the advice of the Crown Appointments Commission.

Since 1978, the Primates have met annually for an Anglican Communion Primates' Meeting. While the gathering has no legal jurisdiction, it acts as one of the informal instruments of unity among the autonomous provinces of the Communion.

Roman Catholic Church

In the Western Church, a Primate is an archbishop (or rarely a suffragan or exempt bishop) of a see (called a primas) which confers precedence over the other bishops of his own province, or over a number of provinces (possibly part of a province), such as a 'national' church in (historical) political/cultural terms. This precedence gives no additional authority over these other (arch)bishops, such as that exercised by a Metropolitan bishop (which they generally are, within the smaller or conterminous juisdiction of a single ecclesiastical province).

The term is generally found in the older Catholic countries, and is now purely honorific, enjoying no single real right under canon law. The title may be vested in one of the oldest Archdioceses in a country, if it exists. As incumbents, especially nation's leading archbishops, are often elevated cardinal, a higher rank, and the national leadership is rather vested in the chairmanship of the national conference of bishops (often vested in his see; old-fashioned synods have become rare) the title is rather void for them. The see city may no longer have the prominence it had when the diocese was created, or its circumscription may no longer exist as a state/nation. Primates rank below Major Archbishop and Patriarch, as the Exarch originally did, and like these under the now far more frequent cardinalate (and within that college of true princes of the church they enjoy no precedence, unlike the higher ranks not even the right to join a high order of the sacred college).

At the First Vatican Council (Coll. Lacens., VII, pp. 34, 488, 726) the only (arch)bishops figuring as primates, in virtue of then recent concessions, were these (by country) :

A selection of primatial pretences in other countries (here grouped by modern states, but often the claimed 'primas' had a smaller or overlapping territory) and their Roman Catholic primates (some historical claims are dormant or have been void for centuries; new titles can only be awarded by the Holy See):

In the United States, where never an official primacy was awarded, the Archbishop of Baltimore is sometimes called "honorary primate" -- since Baltimore was the first diocese in the nation, its bishop is granted ceremonial precedence before all the bishops (except when nominally created cardinals) of all other sees in the United States.

When England and Wales was plit into three eclesiastical provinces in 1911, the pre-existent Archbishop of Westminster was given certain privileges of pre-eminence constituting him chief metropolitan, bit without the title of primate. Similarly the Archbishop of Seoul is often considered to be the primate of Korea, but such title has never been granted by the Vatican. Such 'analogous' use of the title is confusing and technically incorrect.

Regular equivalent

  • In the modern confederation of the Benedictine Order, all the Black Monks of St. Benedict were united under the presidency of an Abbot Primate (Leo XIII, Summum semper, 12 July, 1893); but the unification, fraternal in its nature, brought no modification to the abbatial dignity, and the various congregations preserved their autonomy intact. The powers of the Abbot Primate are specified, and his position defined, in a Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars dated 16 September, 1893. The primacy is attached to the Abbey and International Benedictine College of St. Anselm, Rome, and the Primate, who takes precedence of all other Abbots, is empowered to pronounce on all doubtful matters of discipline, to settle difficulties arising between monasteries to hold a canonical visitation, if necessary, in any congregation of the order, and to exercise a general supervision for the regular observance of monastic discipline. However, certain branches of the Benedictine Order seem to have lost their original autonomy to some extent

Sources and references

Christian leaders | Ecclesiastical titles | Anglican ecclesiastical offices | Episcopacy in Anglicanism | Episcopacy in Catholicism | Honorary titles

Primas | Primado | Primaso | Primatie | Primate (ecclesiastico) | Primaat (persoon) | Prymas | Primat | Примас

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Primate (religion)".

Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world