Editing Exarch (section)

=== Eastern Orthodox Churches ===
[[File:Грузинский экзархат - საქართველოს საეგზარქოსო - Exarchate of Georgia.jpg|thumb|right|Georgian Exarchate in the 19th century]]
[[File:Platon (Rozhdestvensky).jpg|thumb|right|Metropolitan [[Platon (Rozhdestvensky)]], last Exarch of Georgia (1915–1917) and first Exarch of Caucasus (1917–1918)]]
[[File:Bulgarian-Exarchate-1870-1913.jpg|right|thumb|Map of the [[Bulgarian Exarchate]] (1870–1913)]]
In modern ecclesiastical practice of the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], the title of exarch was often used to designate the highest hierarchical office under the rank of patriarch. When Russian [[Patriarch Adrian of Moscow]] died in 1700, Emperor [[Peter the Great]] abolished the patriarchal office and appointed Metropolitan [[Stefan Yavorsky]] as exarch and head of the [[Most Holy Synod]] of the [[Russian Orthodox Church]].

After Imperial Russia [[Georgia within the Russian Empire|annexed Georgia]] (the eastern part in 1801, and the western part in 1810), the ancient [[Georgian Orthodox Church]] (autocephalous since 750, whose head was since 1008 styled Catholicos-Patriarchs) was reorganized into the ''Georgian Exarchate,'' and the newly appointed ''Exarch of Georgia'' (since 1817 always an ethnic Russian) sat in the Russian Holy Synod at St. Petersburg.{{sfn|Fortescue|1908|p=295, 304–305, 351}} Since the entire region of the [[Caucasus]] fell under Russian rule, the jurisdiction of the Georgian Exarchate was expanded, encompassing the territories of modern-day [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], [[Armenia]] and [[Azerbaijan]]. On 7 April 1917, the Georgian Patriarchate was restored for the Archbishops of Mtsheta and Tbilisi, with the style Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, and the title ''Exarch of Georgia'' was extinguished, but only for the Georgian part of the Exarchate. The Russian Orthodox Church and its exarch [[Platon (Rozhdestvensky)]] kept their jurisdiction over non-Georgian parts of the Caucasian region, and for those territories the ''Caucasian Exarchate'' of the Russian Orthodox Church was created in the summer of 1917, with metropolitan Platon as Exarch of the Caucasus. In the spring of 1918, he was succeeded by metropolitan Cyril (Smirnov) as new Exarch of the Caucasus, but after his transfer to another post in the spring of 1920 no new exarch was appointed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.romanitas.ru/eng/NEW%20ZION%20IN%20BABYLON%20-%20ch.%202.htm|first=Vladimir |last=Moss |title=The Orthodox Church in the Twentieth Century|website=romanitas.ru}}</ref>

On 28 February 1870 the twenty-year-old struggle between Greeks and Bulgarians for control of the Orthodox Church in Bulgaria culminated when the Ottoman Sultan [[Abdulaziz]] created an independent Bulgarian ecclesiastical organization, known as the [[Bulgarian Exarchate]]. The Orthodox Church in [[Bulgaria]] had now become independent of the Greek-dominated [[Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople]]. The Bulgarian Exarch, who resided in Constantinople, became the most famous bearer of the title of exarch; his adherents throughout region were called ''exarchists'', as opposed to the Greek ''patriarchists''. The ensuing struggle, waged especially in [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]], was not only religious but had a conspicuous political dimension of a contention between competing Greek and Bulgarian national aims. For more information see [[Bulgarian Exarchate]] and [[Bulgarian Orthodox Church]].

In 1921, eparchies of the Russian Orthodox Church in [[Ukraine]] were reorganized as the [[Ukrainian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church]], headed by the patriarchal exarch with his seat in Kiev (Kyiv)<!--See WP:KYIV-->. The Ukrainian Exarchate existed until 1990 when it was granted a higher degree of ecclesiastical autonomy within the Moscow Patriarchate. In 1989, an autonomous [[Belarusian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church]] was formed, with jurisdiction over eparchies in [[Belarus]].

During the 20th century, the pentarchy-number principle, already abandoned in the case of [[Bulgaria]] (10th century), [[Serbia]] (14th century) and [[Russia]] (16th century), gave way to the desire of the now politically independent Orthodox nations to see their sovereignty reflected in ecclesiastical autonomy – autocephaly – and the symbolic title to crown it: a 'national' Patriarch. For example, [[Bulgarian Exarchate]] was raised to the rank of Patriarchate in 1953.

In the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], the office of exarch can be also given to a special deputy of a [[Patriarch]], with jurisdiction over a community outside the home territory of the Patriarchate. Thus, in the United States there are Exarchs representing, among others, the Serbian, Romanian, Bulgarian and Jerusalem Patriarchs. The style of the Exarchs of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem is "Exarch of the Holy Sepulcher".

The Mexican Orthodox parishes in five deaneries (Mexico City, D.F., State of Mexico, State of Jalisco, State of Veracruz and State of Chiapas) of the [[Orthodox Church in America]] are governed as the "Exarchate of Mexico", currently under the leadership of Bishop Alejo of Mexico City.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oca.org/CAdioceseMX.asp?SID=8|title=Dioceses - Diocese of Mexico|website=www.oca.org}}</ref>

The third officer of the court of the [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople]], who examines marriage cases (analogous to the Catholic [[defensor matrimonii]]), is called the Exarch.