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The local churches of the Ecumenical Patriarchate consist of five archdioceses, three churches, thirteen metropolises, and one diocese, each of which reports directly to the Patriarch of Constantinople with no intervening authority. In addition, three of the five archdioceses have internal metropolises (16 in all), which are part of their respective archdioceses rather than distinct administrative entities, unlike the other metropolises.

== Structure of the Patriarchate ==

==Peculiar prerogatives of the patriarchate==

:''Main article: [[Prerogatives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate]]''

In history and in [[canons (law)|canonical literature]] (i.e. the Church's canons and traditional commentaries on them), the Ecumenical Patriarchate has been granted certain prerogatives (''[[presbeia]]'') which other autocephalous Orthodox churches do not have. Not all of these prerogatives are today universally acknowledged, though all do have precedents in history and canonical references. The nature of these prerogatives or even their very existence is hotly contested on [[Prerogatives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate#Canonical claims|canonical grounds]] by certain other Orthodox churches, particularly the [[Church of Russia]].

The following is a (non-exhaustive) list of these prerogatives and their reference points: