No. The Orthodox Church doesn’t have a Pope or any single leader who governs the whole Church.
This surprises a lot of folks in Southeast Texas, where “church” usually means either a congregation with a pastor or the Catholic Church down the street with its connection to Rome. But Orthodox Christianity works differently. We don’t have a headquarters. We don’t have one person who can speak for all Orthodox Christians everywhere or make binding decisions on his own.
How the Church Actually Works
The Orthodox Church is governed by bishops. Each bishop leads his own diocese and answers to no higher earthly authority. Bishops are equal to one another. The bishop of a tiny rural diocese in Syria has the same episcopal authority as the Patriarch of Constantinople. They share the same apostolic office.
When the Church needs to make important decisions, bishops gather in councils. We call this conciliarity or synodality. The idea is simple: the Holy Spirit guides the Church through bishops meeting together, not through one man sitting alone in an office. The seven Ecumenical Councils worked this way. Bishops from across the Christian world gathered, debated, prayed, and reached consensus on matters of faith.
This isn’t democracy exactly. It’s something older. The Apostles did this in Acts 15 when they met in Jerusalem to settle the question about Gentile converts. They discussed it together. James spoke. Peter spoke. Paul and Barnabas reported what they’d seen. Then they decided as a body, saying “it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.”
What About the Patriarch?
You might’ve heard of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. He’s often called “first among equals.” That’s an honor, not a power. He can convene meetings. He presides at pan-Orthodox gatherings when they happen. He represents Orthodoxy in certain international contexts. But he can’t tell the Patriarch of Antioch what to do. He can’t overrule a decision made by the Russian Church or the Greek Church or any other Orthodox Church.
Think of him like the senior member of a family. He gets respect. People listen when he speaks. But he doesn’t run everyone else’s household.
The Pope is different. Catholic teaching says the Pope has universal jurisdiction, he can intervene directly in any Catholic diocese anywhere. He can define doctrine on his own authority. When he speaks ex cathedra on faith and morals, Catholics believe he’s infallible. That’s a fundamentally different understanding of how Christ governs His Church.
What About the Early Church?
We honor the Bishop of Rome. Before the schism in 1054, Rome held a special place. The church in Rome was founded by the Apostles Peter and Paul. It was the church of the imperial capital. When controversies arose, people often appealed to Rome because of its apostolic prestige and its track record of guarding the faith.
But even then, Rome didn’t govern the whole Church unilaterally. The great councils met in the East, Nicaea, Constantinople, Chalcedon, Ephesus. Popes sent representatives, but they didn’t run the show. When Pope Honorius taught heresy in the seventh century, an Ecumenical Council condemned him by name. That wouldn’t make sense if popes were considered infallible.
The problem isn’t that Rome had honor. The problem is that over centuries, Rome’s bishops claimed more and more authority until they were claiming something the ancient Church never gave them: universal jurisdiction over all Christians and the ability to define dogma independently of councils.
Why This Matters
You might think this is just church politics. But it’s really about how we understand the Church itself. Is the Church a monarchy with Christ’s vicar ruling from Rome? Or is the Church a communion of local churches, each led by a bishop, all holding the same faith, celebrating the same Mysteries, guided by the same Spirit?
We believe the second. Christ is the Head. The Holy Spirit guides. Bishops together guard the faith. No man stands in Christ’s place as universal ruler.
When you visit St. Michael Church, you’re part of the Antiochian Archdiocese, which answers to the Patriarch of Antioch. That Patriarchate goes back to the church founded in Antioch where believers were first called Christians. Our Metropolitan Philip, who reposed in 2014, used to say we’re not a branch of some other church. We’re the Church, continuing what the Apostles started. And we do it the way they did: bishops in communion, councils when needed, the faith once delivered to the saints.
If you want to read more about Orthodox ecclesiology, pick up Metropolitan Kallistos Ware’s The Orthodox Church. He explains this better than anyone, and he does it with the kind of clarity that makes you wonder why it ever seemed complicated.
