How Religious Communities Choose Their Highest Leaders

Begin with the Eastern Orthodox patriarch, elected by the Holy Synod or a Local Council from among the church's own bishops and holding office for life. No patriarch has jurisdiction over another, which sets the pattern of equal peers that the next stops develop.

The Ecumenical Patriarch is elected by the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople from among its own metropolitans. He is honored as first among equals, with no direct governing authority over other autocephalous churches, though he has a unique role in convening pan-Orthodox councils.

The Moscow patriarchate was established in 1589, raising the Russian primate from metropolitan to patriarch with the blessing of Constantinople. Its holder is elected by a Local Council (Sobor) that includes lay delegates as well as bishops and clergy.

The Catholicos is chosen by a National Ecclesiastical Assembly of clergy and lay delegates drawn from Armenian communities worldwide. Tradition traces the office to Gregory the Illuminator and the conversion of Armenia around 301.

The Coptic Pope is selected by narrowing a shortlist of candidate bishops and monks, historically ending in a blind draw. The see is traditionally founded by Mark the Evangelist in the first century and the tenure is for life.

Here succession turns on recognition rather than election. Senior lamas search for a child guided by omens, visions and the Nechung oracle, and the child is confirmed by tests such as identifying the late Dalai Lama's belongings. The succession of a fifteenth Dalai Lama is contested by China's claim to a role in approval.

The Dalai Lama is the most famous tulku, but the tulku system is wider, with several thousand recognized lineages. It was first institutionalized with the Karmapa lineage in the thirteenth century, and the office is held to pass to the child identified as the same person reborn.

A Shankaracharya heads one of the monastic seats, or mathas, tied to the eighth-century philosopher Adi Shankara. He is appointed by the outgoing Shankaracharya or chosen by the matha's senior monks from within its own lineage, so succession stays inside a monastic line.

Succession here follows apostolic seniority: on the death of the President, the longest-serving member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles becomes President, formally sustained by the membership. The convention was set after Joseph Smith's death in 1844, when Brigham Young led the Church.

The Baha'i Faith vests supreme authority in a body, not a person. Nine members are elected every five years by the members of every National Spiritual Assembly, meeting as delegates in Haifa, and no individual member holds personal authority apart from the whole House.

Close with an office whose holder is often chosen by the state. A grand mufti is the most senior mufti in a country, usually appointed by a government or national religious authority from scholars of advanced standing in Islamic jurisprudence, so appointment and tenure vary by country.