they had received the faith and holy orders, who was the connecting link between them and the Apostles, as their natural chief. They appealed to him in disputes, they followed his liturgical use, and they found it natural that, if there was a scandal among them, he should come to put it right. These central bishops were what we call Metropolitans or Archbishops.[1] Thus, Carthage was the head of the African Church, Alexandria of Egypt, Antioch of Syria, Ephesus of Asia, Heraclea of Thrace, &c. These metropolitans visited the sees around, ordained the bishops and, when synods began to be called, they summoned them and presided over them. But the organization went further. Just as several bishops were joined under one metropolitan, so the chief metropolitan of a country stood as the head of his fellows. These chief metropolitans were in some cases afterwards called Exarchs; three of them long before the Council of Nicæa stand out from all others as the three first bishops of Christendom. These three are the Bishops of Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch. The name Patriarch, like nearly all ecclesiastical titles, was at first used more vaguely; even as late as the 4th century, it is still applied to any specially venerable bishop.[2] Several reasons combined to give these three Patriarchs (we may already call them by what eventually became their special title) the first three places. Rome was of course always the first see, and both the others also claimed a descent from the Prince of the Apostles, St. Peter; Antioch was where he had first sat, Alexandria was considered as having been founded by him through his disciple, St. Mark. Moreover these three bishops stood at the head of three sharply divided lands; Rome stood for Italy and for all
- ↑ The name Metropolitan is first used as their specific title in the 4th century (Metropolis is the chief town of a Roman province). About the same time appear the synonyms Exarch and Archbishop. Since the 9th century Archbishop has become the regular name in the West, while in the East they are still called Metropolitans. The name Exarch has since changed its meaning: Cf. Aichner: Comp. iuris Can. (Brixen, 1900), pp. 385, seq.
- ↑ St. Gregory Naz. († c. 390) says: "The older bishops or, to speak more suitably, the patriarchs" (Orat. 42, 23). The name is here only an application from the Old Testament, just as deacons were called Levites. In the West as late as the 6th century, we find Celidonius, Bishop of Besançon, called "the venerable Patriarch" (Acta SS. Febr. III, 742—Vita Romani, 2).
