The Bishop Who Acts by Delegation

In the Eastern churches an exarch is a bishop or other cleric exercising authority delegated by a patriarch, historically a rank between patriarch and metropolitan.

Authority held for another

The exarch exercises an authority that is delegated rather than his own, acting on behalf of a patriarch over a territory or a body of faithful, so the office is defined by its representative character: the exarch stands in for the higher authority from whom his powers derive, which distinguishes it from the ordinary bishop who governs his diocese in his own right. Historically the title marked a rank between the patriarch and the metropolitans, an office of considerable standing within the hierarchy.

Varied modern uses

In modern usage the title is applied in several ways: to a bishop governing a body of faithful that has not yet been raised to a full diocese, to the head of an exarchate that functions as a church in formation, and to the representative of a patriarch in a particular place, so the exarch may be the leader of a community on the way to fuller status or the delegate of a higher authority. The office is found in the Eastern Orthodox and the Eastern Catholic churches. Entry is by appointment by the authority whose power is delegated. The exarch thus represents the cleric who governs or represents by delegation in the Eastern churches, an office defined by the derived and representative nature of its authority, whether as a historic rank of the hierarchy or as the modern head of a community not yet fully constituted.