Caesaropapism

Abstract

The term “caesaropapism” is used to signify a specific mode of church–state relations where the secular power presides over the religious one and the state ruler functions as the head of the church. Though historically established in countries that have rejected the jurisdiction of the Roman pope, mainly England under Henry VIII and the German and Scandinavian states after the Reformation, this model is broadly associated with countries dominated by Eastern Orthodox Christianity (Orthodoxy).