*[[Church of Jerusalem|Jerusalem]] - [[Apostle James the Just|James]]

*[[Church of Antioch|Antioch]] - [[Apostle Peter|Peter]]

*[[Church of Alexandria|Alexandria]] - [[Apostle Mark|Mark]]

*[[Church of Constantinople|Constantinople]] - [[Apostle Andrew|Andrew]]

After the 7th century Arab conquests, and the Byzantine loss of the Rome-Ravenna corridor, only Constantinople's patriarchate remained securely within the capital of the Roman Empire—the [[Pope]] at Rome was independent (see [[Gregory the Great]]), Jerusalem and Alexandria were under Muslim rule, and Antioch was on the front lines of hundreds of years of recurring border warfare between the Byzantine Empire and the Arab Caliphate. These historical-political changes, combined with the northward shift of the center of gravity of Christendom during the Middle Ages, and the fact that the majority of Christians in Muslim-ruled Egypt and Syria were [[Oriental Orthodox|Non-Chalcedonians]] who refused to recognize the authority of either Rome or Constantinople, meant that the original ideal of five great co-operating centers of administration of the whole Christian church grew ever more remote from practical reality.

[[Category:Church History]]

[[Category:Jurisdictions]]