STAUROPEGION. - In Byzantine canon law, it denotes a privilege granted by the patriarch by virtue of which a place or a pious foundation is withdrawn from the ordinary authority of the local Bishop and subjected, directly and exclusively, to the patriarch, or to the head of the Church in a given nation, archbishop or synod (this second form exists only among the dissidents).
The name (from σταυρός = cross and πηγνώναι = to fix or plant) derives from the fact that it is customary to plant a cross in the foundation of a church or other pious place in order to invest it with this privilege. The cross is planted principally where the altar or the sanctuary is to be erected. The use is due to the norm by virtue of which tracing a cross on a person or a thing means, in the Byzantine rite, consecrating it to God, and making it, consequently, depend on the Church. If the thing is already, in itself or by destination, sacred, planting the cross in it means taking possession of it on the part of the ecclesiastical authority. The institution of the s. is due to an immemorial custom (Balsamon, on the 31st apostolic canon); mention of it is found already in the 8th century; but, probably, even before the term existed, there were monasteries dependent on the patriarchs or on the emperors. This custom is based on cann. 6, 7 of the Council of Nicaea and 1, 2 of the First Council of Constantinople, which recognize in the patriarchs true ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the entire patriarchal territory. The granting of immunities to monasteries by the emperors also contributed to the introduction of the s. The reaction of the superiors of the monks against the excessive interference of certain bishops in the affairs, even internal, of the monasteries had its influence in this as well. To justify this interference, the bishops invoked the rather generic provisions of can. 4 of the Council of Chalcedon. The faculty attributed to the founder of a monastery or other place of designating the authority on which it was to depend also had an influence; the founders for the most part designated the patriarchal authority. The s. flourished from the 9th century onward, and reached its greatest development at the end of the 13th century and up to the fall of Constantinople (1453). Balsamon speaks of the reaction of the metropolitans and bishops against the granting of the s. and of their insistence that it be abolished; this reaction moved the patriarchs to define the institution better and to suppress many abuses.
Besides by planting the cross in the foundation of the sacred place, the s. is granted by a decree, that is, a seal of the patriarch. In the decree penalties are established against whoever violates the s. The s. is also instituted by the omission of the synthronon (= a chair with seats, erected in the apse of the church behind the altar), where the bishop sits during the divine offices. The synthronon indicates, in fact, that the bishop has jurisdiction over the Church. The rite of the s. is described in the Euchologion (ed. of Rome 1873, pp. 316-17).
The s. comprises, besides the privileged place, the metochia (μετόχια) dependent on it and the goods belonging to it. The metochia, however, do not necessarily follow the juridical condition of the principal monastery. As for time, the grant is perpetual, and not revocable.
The patriarch has full ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the stauropegic place and over the persons belonging to it. Therefore to him belong by right the being commemorated in the divine offices and the tribute (κανονικὸν ο συνήθεια), the canonical visitation, with the right and obligation of promoting ecclesiastical discipline, suppressing abuses as well, the blessing of the hegumen and the Ordination of priests or deacons. The first two prerogatives are sometimes omitted in favor of the local bishop, especially when the s. is granted to an already constructed building.
The granting of the s. entails autonomy in the regime and in the administration of the stauropegic place; the immunities defined in the typika (foundation charters); the free election of the hegumen of a stauropegic monastery; moreover, ordinarily the hegumen has the faculty of giving dimissory letters for ordinations and certificates for ordinations received; the hegumen may be adorned with some pontifical insignia.
The recent motu proprio of Pius XII Postquam apostolicis Litteris (9 Febr. 1952) gives precise norms concerning stauropegic monasteries.
Bibliography6 works
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