ABSTRACT
Nevertheless, the patriarchs form a unity, a whole, to which apostolic succession belongs in a very special way. This ‘whole’ or ‘college’ has decisive importance for the ‘communion’ of all bishops among themselves and with their head, the successor of Peter, and a certain supreme collegial authority is attributed to it in ecumenical councils and other special functions. We can therefore rightly speak of ‘college of patriarchs’ although not in a strict juridical sense. This college will, of course, look different according to whether we approach it from the point of view of Rome or from that of the East.
