Eastern Orthodox Patriarchate System

Timeline

1. c. 381–451Constantinople · Byzantine EmpireEcumenical councils gradually established the rank and jurisdiction of the five patriarchates of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, forming the prototype of the pentarchy.
2. c. 1011–1020Constantinople · Orthodox worldUnder Basil II the Patriarchate of Constantinople still governed most Orthodox dioceses in Asia Minor and the Balkans; the patriarch and emperor were closely linked, and canon law and imperial law administered church affairs in parallel.
3. 1054Constantinople · Orthodox worldPope Leo IX of Rome and Patriarch Michael I Cerularius of Constantinople mutually excommunicated each other; the Roman patriarchate broke communion, and the Orthodox patriarchate system developed independently in the East.
4. c. 988–1590Eastern European Orthodox world · Orthodox worldAutonomous patriarchates or archdioceses were successively established in Kiev, Serbia, Bulgaria, and elsewhere, extending the patriarchate system from its Byzantine center into a pan-Slavic Orthodox governance network.