Despite his or her position as the president of the Swiss government's highest executive body, the president of the confederation is not the head of state; instead the Federal Council holds that title collectively. The clerical hierarchies of many religious organizations have a position whose holder is considered primus inter pares. In the Eastern Orthodox church, which is composed of a number of autocephalous, or self-headed, Orthodox churches in full communion with each other, the patriarch of Constantinople is considered the foremost official of the Orthodox faith and bears the title of ecumenical, or universal, patriarch.
However, he has direct authority only over the Orthodox church of Constantinople. The other autocephalous Orthodox churches govern themselves, and their bishops or patriarchs are not appointed by the ecumenical patriarch or under his authority.
In the Catholic church, the dean of the College of Cardinals presides over the college and summons it to the papal conclave to elect a new pope when the previous pope dies or abdicates, but has no authority over the other cardinals. They are an indispensable part of our leadership team. Where some can be financially supported there is often a functional difference between staff elders and elders who are supported by their own employment. The former can give a lot of time to care for the flock.
Being more active, it may feel to the congregation as if they are therefore more important. But they are not, and it's still a functional not a formal difference. All the elders are still subject to one another, all having received a call from the Lord and recognition by the church. In Galatians Paul mentions James first in his list of leaders but we must not read too much into that - Gal ! This kind of leadership of other leaders seems tacit, informal, and dependent on mutual recognition rather than imposed or a formal structure.
It points to the fact that wisdom and not authoritative hierarchy shapes how leadership's function. Many have found it wise to have a leader of leaders, without that being a superior office. As an eldership and church grows, and staff are appointed, one leader cannot support all the others. He will have to plan to support some, who in turn support others. I now have three staff elders whom I particularly care for, and who report to me about how their work is going. My job, in this aspect of it, is to make sure they succeed.
They in turn support other staff, team leaders and volunteer members. I also meet with other leaders who hold me accountable.
Someone needs to act as a chairman who finalises an agenda, leads meetings, helpfully summarises a discussion, and concludes with apportioned action points. It is a very important job to be done by a competent leader. Usually the leader of leaders will do it, and it will be he who really drives an agenda forward.
He will also need to be skilled at encouraging all voices to be heard. My experience is that rotating the chairing of these meetings to stress the parity amongst elders just doesn't lead to good decision-making or the implementation of change.
There are better ways of underscoring the parity of elders than doing that. However it doesn't mean that all meetings have to be chaired by the same person. Historically, the bishop of Rome was considered the first among equals of the pentarchy. The rising amount of power claimed by the pope, along with other factors, was the ecclesiological reason for the Great Schism.
After the Schism, however, the role of first among equals fell to the patriarch of Constantinople. On Mount Athos , the head of civil administration, styled protos first , is elected for a limited time to govern the civil aspects of the Holy Mountain. The term was also used by Roman Emperors as a means of reducing the appearance of dictatorship, particularly important during the early Roman Empire to appease those who may have longed for a return to the old Roman Republic.
This also applies to religious figures outside of the Orthodox Church. In the Anglican Communion , the Archbishop of Canterbury is often considered to be "first among equals". The Moderator of the General Assembly in a Presbyterian church is similarly designated.
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