The debate over the meaning of the Event raged for generations in part because political influence was at stake. After Christianity emerged as the official religion of the empire under Theodosius, the structure of the church centered upon a few powerful figures. The bishops in the chief towns of the imperial provinces came to be called archbishops. The term for the official center of a bishop’s jurisdiction and authority is see. Those bishops in the premier cities of the empire—Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, and Antioch—were considered highest of all and were called patriarchs. Throughout
...more
