An approach to the problem of the church supremacy from the standpoint of the ecclesiology of comminion

Annotation

The objective of the given article is to present the methodology for determining of the church supremacy based on the ecclesiology of communion, adopted by the Orthodox- Catholic theological dialogue. The article focuses on the ecclesiological aspects, based on which such concepts as: understanding of the Church as a Eucharistic assembly that becomes the Body of Christ, the role of the episcopate and inseparable from the episcopal ministry notion of supremacy that is associated with Anticipation at the Eucharist is being developed. These concepts are compared with the canon norms of the ancient Church. It is concluded that the supremacy in the Church, both on the local and universal levels, implies the equality of bishops, the primacy of one of them and the unity between them.

Keywords

universal ecclesiology, ecclesiology of communion, Eucharistic ecclesiology, Trinitarian ecclesiology, cathedra Petri, episcopate, primacy.

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