Major archbishop

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In the Catholic Church, major archbishop is a title for an Eastern Rite hierarch to whose archiepiscopal see is granted the same jurisdiction in his autonomous (sui juris) particular Church that an Eastern-rite patriarch has in his. 1990 Code of Canons for the Oriental Churches, [Canon 151]

The title is used for archbishops of episcopal sees that were founded more recently than the patriarchal sees and are therefore less prestigious. Consequently, there are differences between the two offices. Major archbishops rank below patriarchs but immediately precede primates in the order of precedence of the Catholic Church. Ibid., [Canon 154] If made members of the College of Cardinals, major archbishops join the order of Cardinal Priests, whereas patriarchs of the east join the highest order, Cardinal Bishops. Like patriarchs, major archbishops are elected by the synod of the sui iuris Church, but their election requires confirmation by the Pope, not mere notification and granting of communion required of patriarchs. Ibid., [Canon 153]

The title was first granted to the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in 1963. The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church became major archepiscopal in 1992, followed by the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church and the Romanian Greek Catholic Church in 2005, resulting in four major archbishops each leading a major archiepiscopal autonomous (sui iuris) Church: [Major Archbishops], Giga-Catholic Information, URL accessed April 19, 2006

Major Archiepiscopal See	Archbishop	Election
Kyiv-Halych of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church	Lubomyr Cardinal Husar	2001
Ernakulam-Angamaly of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church	Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil	1999
Trivandrum of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church	Cyril Mar Baselious	2005
Făgăraş-Alba Iulia of the Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic	Lucian Mureşan	2005

In addition to their role governing their particular Church, all major archbishops are ipso jure members of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches in the Roman Curia. Pope John Paul II (1998), Apostolic constitution Pastor Bonus, [Article 57] They are required to attend the annual general meeting of this congregation, and to attend plenary sessions if they are able.Ibid, [Article 11].

The title major archbishop in the Catholic Church is roughly equivalent to the title catholicos in some Orthodox Churches. Catholicos is used internally by the Syro-Malankara Church for their major archbishop.["Syro Malankara Church says it can use Catholicos title"], Indian Catholic News Service, July 21, 2005

This article is part of the series on Eastern Christianity — Also see the

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