Changes

After the [[Ascension]], the [[apostles]] dispersed to preach [[Christianity]] to the world. They each founded different [[patriarchate]]s. Some of the most prominent disciples of [[Jesus]] founded the Patriarchates patriarchates that made up the Pentarchy.

After the 7th seventh-century Arab conquests, and the Byzantine loss of the Rome-Ravenna corridor, only Constantinople's patriarchate remained securely within the capital of the Roman Empire—the [[Pope]] at Rome was independent (see [[Gregory the Great]]), Jerusalem and Alexandria were under Muslim rule, and Antioch was on the front lines of hundreds of years of recurring border warfare between the Byzantine Empire and the Arab Caliphate. These historical-political changesAlso during the Middle Ages, combined with the northward shift of the center of gravity of Christendom during the Middle Ageshad shifted northward, and the fact that the majority of Christians in Muslim-ruled Egypt and Syria were [[Oriental Orthodox|Non-Chalcedonians]] who refused to recognize the authority of either Rome or Constantinople. Together, these historical-political changes meant that the original ideal of five great co-operating centers of administration of the whole Christian church Church grew ever more remote from practical reality.