Ecclesiastical Address - Addresses of Eastern Orthodox Clergy

Addresses of Eastern Orthodox Clergy

Usage varies somewhat throughout the Orthodox communion, and not every church uses every clerical rank. Surnames are typically not used for archpastors (rank of bishop or above) or monastics.

  • Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople: Ecumenical Patriarch John II, His All-Holiness, Your All-Holiness
  • Patriarch: Patriarch John II of Terirem, Patriarch John, His Beatitude, Your Beatitude
    • Note: Some Patriarchs use the honorific "His/Your Holiness"
  • Archbishop
    • of an independent Church: The Most Reverend (Rev.) Archbishop John of Terirem, Archbishop John, His Beatitude, Your Beatitude
    • of a sub-national Church: The Most Reverend (Rev.) Archbishop John of Terirem, Archbishop John, His Eminence, Your Eminence
  • Metropolitan: The Most Reverend (Rev.) Metropolitan John of Terirem, Metropolitan John, His Eminence, Your Eminence
    • Titular Metropolitan: The Most Reverend (Rev.) Metropolitan John of Terirem, His Excellency, Your Excellency
    • Note: Some Metropolitans use the style "The Very Most Reverend" (V. Most Rev.)
    • Note: A Metropolitan who is the head of an independent Church is addressed as "Beatitude" rather than "Excellency"
  • Bishop: The Right Reverend (Rt. Rev.) Bishop John of Terirem, Bishop John, His Grace, Your Grace
    • Titular/Auxiliary Bishop: same as for Bishops, above
    • Other Languages: Sayedna (Arabic), Despota (Greek), Vladika (Russian, Serbian)
  • Priest (Presbyter): The Reverend Father (Rev. Fr.) John Smith, Father John
    • Protopriest: The Very Reverend (V. Rev.) Protopriest John Smith, Father (Fr.) John
    • Archpriest: The Very Reverend (V. Rev.) Archpriest John Smith, Father (Fr.) John
    • Archimandrite: The Very Reverend (V. Rev.) Archimandrite John, or The Right Reverend (Rt. Rev.) Archimandrite John, Father John
    • Hieromonk (Priest-monk): The Reverend (Rev.) Hieromonk John, Father (Fr.) John
    • Other Languages: Abouna (Arabic), Pappas (Greek), Batushka (Russian)
    • Priest's Wife: Presbytera Mary (Greek), Khouria Mary (Arabic), Matushka Mary (Russian), Papadiya Mary (Serbian), Panimatushka (Ukrainian)
  • Deacon: The Reverend Father (Rev. Fr.) John Smith, Deacon (Dn.) John Smith, Father John, Deacon Father (Dn. Fr.) John, Deacon (Dn.) John
    • Protodeacon: The Reverend (Rev.) Protodeacon John Smith, Father (Fr.) John, Deacon Father (Dn. Fr.) John, Deacon (Dn.) John
    • Archdeacon: The Reverend (Rev.) Archdeacon John Smith, Father (Fr.) John, Deacon Father (Dn. Fr.) John, Deacon (Dn.) John
    • Hierodeacon (Deacon-monk): The Reverend (Rev.) Hierodeacon John, Father (Fr.) John
    • Deacon's Wife: Diakonissa Mary (Greek), or the same titles as a priest's wife
  • Abbot: The Right Reverend (Rt. Rev.) Abbot John, Abbot John, Father (Fr.) John
  • Abbess: The Reverend (Rev.) Mother Superior Mary, The Very Reverend (V. Rev.) Abbess Mary, Reverend Mother Mary, Mother Mary
  • Monk: Monk John, Father (Fr.) John
    • Rassophore Monk: Rassophore Monk John, Father (Fr.) John
    • Stavrophore Monk: Stavrophore Monk John, Father (Fr.) John
    • Schemamonk: Schemamonk John, Father (Fr.) John
    • Novice: Novice John, John; or Brother (Br.) John
      • Note: the title "Brother" is a result of Latin influence; the title is only given to some novices with a special blessing.
  • Nun: Nun Mary, Mother Mary
    • Rassophore Nun: Rassophore Nun Mary, Sister Mary
    • Novice: Sister Mary

Read more about this topic:  Ecclesiastical Address

Famous quotes containing the words addresses, eastern, orthodox and/or clergy:

    “If poetry should address itself to the same needs and aspirations, the same hopes and fears, to which the Bible addresses itself, it might rival it in distribution.”
    —Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)

    “But we are spirits of another sort.
    I with the morning’s love have oft made sport,
    And like a forester the groves may tread
    Even till the eastern gate, all fiery-red,
    Opening on Neptune with fair blessèd beams,
    Turns unto yellow gold his salt green streams.”
    —William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    “The gloomy theology of the orthodox—the Calvinists—I do not, I cannot believe. Many of the notions—nay, most of the notions—which orthodox people have of the divinity of the Bible, I disbelieve. I am so nearly infidel in all my views, that too, in spite of my wishes, that none but the most liberal doctrines can command my assent.”
    —Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)

    “I see and hear daily that you of the Clergy preach one against another, teach one contrary to another, inveigh one against another without charity or discretion. Some be too stiff in their old mumpsimus, others be too busy and curious in their new sumpsimus. Thus all men almost be in variety and discord.”
    —Henry VIII (1491–1547)