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2 Structure / organization
2.1 Bishops, priests, and deacons
Since its founding, the Church spread to different places, and the leaders of the Church in each place came to be known as episkopoi (overseers, plural of episkopos, overseer), which became " bishop" in English. The other ordained roles are presbyter (elder), which became "prester" and then " priest" in English, and diakonos (assistant), which became " deacon" in English (see also subdeacon). There are numerous administrative positions in the clergy that carry additional titles. In the Greek tradition, bishops who occupy an ancient See are called Metropolitan, while the lead bishop in Greece is the Archbishop. Priests can be Archpriests, Archimanrites, or Proto Presbyters. Deacons can be Archdeacons as well. It should also be noted that in the Orthodox Church the position of Deacon can and often is occupied for life, unlike in the Roman Catholic Church where they tend to be only temporary positions on the way to becoming Priests.
The Orthodox Church has always allowed married priests and deacons, provided the marriage takes place before ordination. In general, or ideally, congregational priests should be married, as they will be dealing with married couples; unmarried priests should normally be in monasteries. If widowed, priests and deacons are not allowed to remarry. It is common for such a member of the clergy to retire to a monastery. This also applies to the widowed wives of clergy, they do not remarry and usually become nuns. Bishops are always celibate as they are selected from the ranks of monks (who are celibate). Bishops, priests, and deacons have always been men only because they represent Jesus, who chose to be male. Nevertheless, Orthodox consider men and women equal before God. A priest's wife is therefore called “Presbytera” (literally Priestess) and a deacon's wife “Diakonissa” (literally Deaconess) for the same reason. A married man cannot accept ordination without his wife's approval, and it is common for these dedicated women to be just as busy ministering to the faithful as their husbands. There also existed in the early church the official position of deaconess. The deacon/deaconess also acted as an assistant to a bishop and indeed even today bishops always travel with deacons accompanying them. It is not known why the position of deaconess has mostly fallen out of use; there is no official reason why a woman could not occupy that position. Modern examples do exist: Saint Nectarios, Bishop of Pentapolis established a Convent on the Isle of Aegina in Greece in 1904 and reportedly had a female deacon.
2.2 Church jurisdictions
The first thing to consider when dealing with "jurisdictions" is that they apply to the clergy, not to lay persons. The different Orthodox jurisdictions are united in faith and in liturgy, but not necessarily in polity. There is only one church regardless of nationality or culture. Laypeople do develop loyalties to the particular jurisdiction they grew up with, or were first accepted into, but should the person choose to “switch jurisdictions” there is no penalty. Jurisdictions govern the priesthood and its administrative policies thus, bishops do not interfere in one another’s territories; as their authority does not extend beyond it. There is no single bishop or similar office that corresponds to the Roman Catholic Pope, nor is there a standing synod of bishops or patriarchs. In general, the church is organized along national and regional lines in hierarchical fashion, with the "top" hierarchs or patriarchs recognizing one another's validity. From about the fourth century the churches with the largest administrative base were Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. Today there are approximately 15 separate autocephalous jurisdictions who recognize the validity of each other (though this relationship may be complicated); these are the "canonical" Orthodox Churches. Churches that call themselves Orthodox but are not recognized as valid by this group are termed "non-canonical" Orthodox Churches (though this too can be a complex relationship). A separate article is devoted to the topic of Eastern Orthodox Church organization.
Orthodox Christians believe that they have preserved apostolic succession from the first Apostles. While Rome traces its papacy back to the Apostle Peter, Orthodox Antioch traces its Patriarchate to an even earlier foundation by the selfsame Apostle. Alexandria, for example, traces its papacy back to Mark the Evangelist, who founded the church in Alexandria in AD 40. (In Alexandria, two primates call themselves "Pope" and claim to be the successor of the apostle Mark: the Eastern Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria, also called the "Pope of Africa", and the Coptic Pope. Those two lines of succession separated from each other in a schism in AD 451. Roman Catholics also have a high-ranking bishop called the "Patriarch of Alexandria" in that city, but he does not claim the title of "Pope".)
