Church Hierarchy
The supreme head of the Syrian Orthodox Church is the Patriarch of Antioch and the entire East. He also presides over the Holy Synod, the assembly of all bishops.
The local head of the church in Malankara (India) is the Catholicos of India His Beatitude Baselius Thomas I.He is under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Antioch and is accountable to the Holy Synod and the local Malankara Synod. He is ordained by the Patriarch. He presides over the local Holy Synod.
The local head of every archdiocese is an archbishop. He is under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch and is accountable to the Holy Synod. The archbishop is ordained by the Patriarch and at least two bishops.
Each parish is assigned a vicar. He is under the direct jurisdiction of his archbishop and is directly accountable to him. The parish is run by a board of trustees (or a committee) which is elected by the parishioners and approved by the archbishop.
Deacons assist the priest in the administration of the liturgy. Each archdiocese may have one archdeacon who is called "the right hand of the bishop." Only qualified and learned deacons are elevated to this office.
There are three ranks of priesthood in the Syrian Orthodox Church:
- Episcopate
- Within it there are the ranks of Patriarch, Catholicos, archbishop, and bishop.
- Vicarate
- Within it there are the ranks of chor-episcopos and pastor.
- Deaconate
- Within it there are the ranks of archdeacon, evangelical-deacon, subdeacon, lector or qoruyo and singer or mzamrono.
Text taken from: http://sor.cua.edu/Intro/index.html