ABSTRACT
In the dying years of Rome, the Christian hierar-chy modeled their organization on the Imperial administration, where groups of city governments formed provinces and groups of provinces formed vicariates. In the church, the basic unit became the diocese ruled by a bishop. Dioceses were grouped together to form church provinces presided over by archbishops, and provinces were grouped under the direction of metropolitan archbishops, or primates. Ruling the metropolitans were the patriarchs of Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem.
