autocephalous

From Ancient Greek αὐτοκέφαλος (autoképhalos), from αὐτο- (auto-, “self-”) + κεφαλή (kephalḗ, “head”). By surface analysis, auto- +‎ -cephalous.

• IPA^(key): /ɔːtə(ʊ)ˈsɛfələs/

autocephalous (not generally comparable, comparative more autocephalous, superlative most autocephalous)

2. (Christianity, of a church) Fully independent of the authority of any other church.

   Coordinate term: autonomous

   • 1845, Francis Patrick Kenrick, The Primacy of the Apostolic See Vindicated‎, Philadelphia, page 178:

     The defenders of Anglican independence maintain that there were anciently Churches autocephalous, dependent on no patriarch, and refer to the Churches of Cyprus as thus constituted, and allege that the British Churches enjoyed the same right of self-government and ordained their own prelates.

   • 2020 June 23, John Bolton, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 447:

     Poroshenko's speech was viscerally anti-Russian, and his loudest applause line came when he vowed to establish an autocephalous (independent from Moscow) Ukrainian Orthodox Church patriarchate.

3. (Christianity, of a bishop) Presiding over an autocephalous church.

   Coordinate term: autonomous

4. (comparable) Independent; not governed by others.

   Synonyms: self-determined, self-directed, self-governing

   Antonym: heterocephalous

   Coordinate terms: autonomous, semiautonomous, sovereign

   • 1970, Ronald C. Newton, “On ‘Functional Groups,’ ‘Fragmentation,’ and ‘Pluralism’ in Spanish American Political Society”, in Hispanic American Historical Review, →DOI:

     This is the Weberian continuum which stretches between the poles of “autocephalous” (self-organized and managing) and “heterocephalous” (organized and managed by others) occupations. […] In the more autocephalous occupations—the professions; the arts; independent accountants, draftsmen, and the like; independent small and medium businessmen in merchandising, manufacturing, artisanry, and the service trades—effective organization is less feasible.

Sense 1 is typically only used in reference to an episcopal church.

• “autocephalous, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2021.
• David J. Melling (1999) “autocephalous”, in Ken Parry, David J. Melling, Dimitri Brady, Sidney H. Griffith, and John F. Healey, editors, The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity‎, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, →ISBN, page 73.