In the
history of Christianity, "
Pentarchy" (from the
Greek ,
Pentarchia from πέντε
pente, "five", and ἄρχω
archo, "to rule") refers to both a proposed and historical organisational structure where
Christendom is administrated by the heads (or
Patriarchs) of the five major
episcopal sees of the
Roman Empire:
Rome,
Constantinople,
Alexandria,
Antioch, and
Jerusalem. The idea came about because of the political and ecclesiastical prominence of these five sees, but the concept of their universal and exclusive authority was firmly tied to the administrative structure of the
Roman Empire. The pentarchy was first tangibly expressed in the laws of Emperor
Justinian I (527–565), particularly in
Novella 131. The
Quinisext Council of 692 gave it formal recognition and ranked the sees in order of preeminence. Especially following Quinisext, the pentarchy was at least philosophically accepted in
Eastern Christianity, but generally not in the
West, which rejected the Council, and the concept of the Pentarchy. Eventually, the west would come to adopt the doctrine of
Papal supremacy as an alternative concept, but this idea would not fully emerge until the eleventh century.