837
edits
Changes
→Unique features
===Unique features===
The Romanian Orthodox Church is one of only three [[autocephaly|autocephalous]] or [[autonomy|autonomous]] Orthodox churches using a Romance language as a principal liturgical language. The autocephalous [[Church of Russia]] also uses Romanian as a principal liturgical language in its autonomous [[Moldovian Moldovan Orthodox Church]]. The autonomous Metropolis of Bessarabia also uses Romanian as its principal language. Various jurisdictions of the Orthodox Church in France and other European countries also use different romance languages as their principal liturgical language.
Byzantine religious records also mention a unique form of [[bishop|bishopric]] in the region—namely the ''[[chorepiscopos|chorepiscopate]]'' or ''countryside episcopacy''—as contrasted with the better-known religious centers in large cities. This office can be compared to the abbot-bishops of Ireland, who united the functions of countryside [[abbot]] with that of [[diocese|diocesan]] [[bishop]] in another country that did not emphasize an urban episcopate, at least for a time.
