Page "Bishop" Paragraph 41

; Patriarch: Patriarchs are the bishops who head certain ancient autocephalous or sui iuris churches, which are a collection of metropolitan sees or provinces.

After the First Ecumenical Council at Nicea, the church structure was patterned after the administrative divisions of the Roman Empire wherein a metropolitan or bishop of a metropolis came to be the ecclesiastical head of a civil capital of a province or a metropolis.

Whereas, the bishop of the larger administrative district, diocese, came to be called an exarch.

In a few cases, a bishop came to preside over a number of dioceses, i. e., Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria.

At the Fourth Ecumenical Council at Chalcedon in 451, Constantinople was given jurisdiction over three dioceses for the reason that the city was " the residence of the emperor and senate ".

Additionally, Jerusalem was recognized at the Council of Chalcedon as one of the major sees.

In 692, the Quinisext Council formally recognized and ranked the sees of the Pentarchy in order of preeminence, at that time Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem.

In the Catholic Church, Patriarchs sometimes call their leaders Catholicos ; the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Egypt, is called Pope, meaning ' Father '.

While most patriarchs in the Eastern Catholic Churches have jurisdiction over a " ritual church " ( a group or diocese of a particular Eastern tradition ), all Latin Rite patriarchs, except for the Pope, have only honorary titles.

In 2006, Pope Benedict XVI gave up the title of Patriarch of the West.

The first recorded use of the title by a Roman Pope was by Theodore I in 620.

However, early church documents, such as those of the First Council of Nicaea ( 325 ) had always listed the Pope of Rome first among the Ancient Patriarchs ( first four, and later five: Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem — collectively referred to as the Pentarchy ).

Later, the heads of various national churches became Patriarchs, but they are ranked below the Pentarchy.