Stauropegion


A stauropegion, also spelled stavropegion, is a monastery or a parish which depends directly on the primate or on the Holy Synod of a particular Church, and which is not under the jurisdiction of the local bishop. The name comes from the Byzantine tradition of summoning the Patriarch to place a cross at the foundation of stauropegic monasteries or parochial churches.
Such exempt jurisdictions, both monastic and parochial, are common in Eastern Christianity, mainly in Eastern Orthodox Churches, but also in some Eastern Catholic Churches. Their institutional counterparts in the Latin Rite ecclesiastical order of the Catholic Church are various exempt jurisdictions, such as monasteries directly subjected to the Holy See of Rome.

Stauropegic monasteries

A stauropegic monastery, also rendered "stavropegic", "stauropegial" or "stavropegial", is an Eastern Orthodox or Eastern Catholic Christian monastery, subordinated directly to a primate or Synod, rather than to a local Bishop.
The practice of exempting some monasteries from jurisdictions of local bishops, placing them under a direct jurisdiction of the patriarch, was present at least since the reign of Byzantine Emperor Maurice. Such exemptions became more common after the Council of Constantinople. In time, those practices included not only monasteries but also various parish churches, to the extent authorities had to regulate the issue by imposing stricter criteria for exemption.
Stauropegic monasteries are distinguished from the greatest monasteries, called lavras, and from the patriarchal metochions, where the patriarch serves as a parish priest. The metochions of the Patriarch of Moscow are the Vysokopetrovsky Monastery and Nikolo-Perervinsky Monastery.

Bulgarian Orthodox Church

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church has three stauropegic monasteries:
The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and the Sofia Seminary are also directly subordinate to the Bulgarian Patriarch and Synod.

Greek Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church has one stauropegic monastery:
Several major Serbian Orthodox monasteries had special status in Middle Ages. Today, the Serbian Orthodox Church has two stauropegic monasteries:
The first stauropegic monastery in the Russian Orthodox Church was Simonov Monastery. It was subordinated directly to the Ecumenical Patriarch, because it was founded by Greeks and home to the patriarch during his visits to Moscow.
In 1561, Ivan the Terrible decreed that the following seven monasteries should precede all the rest:
  • Trinity Lavra, Sergiev Posad
  • Chudov Monastery, Moscow
  • Andronikov Monastery, Moscow
  • Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, Kirillov
  • Epiphany Monastery, Moscow
  • Pafnutiev Monastery, Borovsk
  • Joseph-Volokolamsky Monastery near Volokolamsk
After the establishment of the Patriarchate in Moscow, no stauropegic monasteries were subordinated directly to the Patriarch for some time. Nikon then founded the New Jerusalem Monastery, Valday Iversky Monastery, and Kiy Island Monastery, which he governed himself, instead of placing each under an hegumen.
The Greek custom, first introduced by Nikon, was continued by other Patriarchs and the Holy Governing Synod. Stauropegic houses were not always the most important monasteries, the holiest, the richest, or the largest. They might have been dear to the ruling Patriarch for personal reasons. In the 19th century, apart from four lavras, seven monasteries were considered stauropegial:
, the following monasteries were recognized as stauropegial by the Russian Orthodox Church:
Monasteries of Moscow:
Monasteries of Central Russia:
Monasteries of North-Western Russia:
Monasteries outside Russia:
A stauropegial monastery under patriarchal jurisdiction is a monastery subject directly to the patriarch.
Monasteries in Ukraine:
Stauropegic parishes in Eastern Orthodoxy are exempt parishes not under jurisdiction of a local bishop, but directly subjected to a higher hierarch, usually a patriarch. Such parishes are created for various reasons, symbolic or practical.