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correction of council
In 476, after the fall of the Roman Empire in the West, the Eastern Roman Empire remained stable through the early years of the Middle Ages and retained the ability for expansion. During this period Emperor [[Justinian]] re-conquered, as part of the Eastern Roman Empire, North Africa, Italy, Dalmatia, and parts of Spain. This expansion put an incredible strain on the limited resources of the Empire, but later emperors would not surrender the re-conquered lands to remedy the strain on resources. This set the stage for establishment of the Exarchates to handle locally the constantly evolving situation in the provinces.
The Exarchates were a response to weakening imperial authority in the provinces, particularly in Italy and North Africa, and were part of the overall process of unification of civil and military offices in these lands. This type of organization initiated in an early form by [[Justinian]] led eventually to the creation of the Theme system by emperor [[Heraclius]]. The first exarchate, with [Ravenna]] at its center, was formed and organized during the reign of Emperor [[Maurice]]. The exarch functioned also as the representative of the [[Patriarch]] of Constantinople. Similarly, separate exarchates were established for Byzantine Sicily and Africa. By the mid eighth century all these exarchates were lost under the advance of the Lombards and Franks. {{Clergy}}
==Ecclesiastical history==
The term exarch first entered the ecclesiastical language as a title for a [[metropolitan]] with jurisdiction not only for the area for which he was a metropolitan, but also over other metropolitans. The [[First Fourth Ecumenical Council]] (held in 451), which gave special authority to the [[see]] of Constantinople as being "the residence of the emperor and the Senate," did not use the term "patriarch", but in its ninth canon still spoke only of "exarchs".
The title patriarch came about when the Imperial government proposed an organization for a universal Christendom that was composed of five patriarchal [[see]]s (Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, known as the [[pentarchy]]). This was done under the auspices of a single universal empire as formulated in the legislation of Emperor Justinian, especially in his Novella 131. Having received formal ecclesiastical sanction at the [[Quinisext Council|Council of Trullo]] (held in 692), the name "patriarch" became the official title for the Bishops of these sees. The title "Exarch" remained the proper style for metropolitans who ruled over the three remaining (political) [[diocese]]s of Diocletian's division of the Eastern Prefecture. These were the Exarchs of Asia (at [[Ephesus]]), of Cappadocia and Pontus (at Caesarea), and of Thrace (at [[Heraclea]] Sintica). Later the advance of the stature of Constantinople put an end to these exarchates, and they fell back to the state of ordinary metropolitan sees (Fortescue, Orthodox Eastern Church, 21-25). But the title of exarch was still occasionally used for any Metropolitan (so at Sardica in 343, can. vi).
==External links==
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exarch Wikipeadia: Exarch]
[[Category: Bishops]]
[[ro:Exarh]]
