pentarchy, in earlyByzantineChristianity, the proposed government of universal Christendom by five patriarchal sees under theauspices of a single universal empire. Formulated in the legislation of the emperorJustinian I (527–565), especially in his Novella 131, the theory received formalecclesiastical sanction at theCouncil in Trullo (692), which ranked the five sees asRome, Constantinople,Alexandria, Antioch, andJerusalem.

Since the end of the 4th century, the five patriarchates had indeed been the most prominent centres of the universal Christian church, enjoying ade facto primacy based on suchempirical factors as the economic and political importance of their cities and countries. Thechurch of Constantinople, the “New Rome,” for example, occupied second rank because it was the capital of the empire.

According to the views ofRoman bishops, however, only apostolic sees, churches actually founded by apostles, were eligible for primacy; this view thus excluded any patriarchal role for Constantinople. In fact, thepopes of Rome always opposed the idea of pentarchy, gradually developing and affirming a universal ecclesiastical structure centred on Rome as the see of Peter.Byzantine imperial and conciliar legislation practically ignored the Roman view, limiting itself to the token recognition of Rome as the first patriarchal see. The tensions created by the opposing theories contributed to the schism between East and West.

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The pentarchy lost its practical significance after the Muslim domination of the Orthodox patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem in the 7th century. Thepatriarch of Constantinople remained the only realprimate of Eastern Christianity, and new influential ecclesiastical centres in Bulgaria,Serbia, andRussia, with new and powerful patriarchates, eventually began to compete with Constantinople and overshadow the ancient patriarchates of the East.