Alexandria vs Antioch

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Why did Alexandria takes precedence over Antioch? Does anyone know? Prior to the development of the pentarchy, Rome favored the more ancient concept of the three Petrine sees -in order of precedence - Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch. Within the pentarchy, Constantoinople was promoted above Alexandria (which Rome long objected to), but Alexandria remained ahead of Antioch. Antioch was directly establised by St Peter while Alexandria is Petrine only indirectly via St Mark. What gives?
 
Because Alexandria was a more important city. St. Peter isn’t a factor. 😉
 
What I’d like to know is why we need three Catholic patriarchs of Antioch.
 
Having three Patriarchs of Antioch is like having several Popes of Rome for each of the rites of the Church.
 
JohnRoss said:
Having three Patriarchs of Antioch is like having several Popes of Rome for each of the rites of the Church.
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I see your point, but it has historical roots:

-Maronite:never seperated from Rome.
-Syriac: Broke from Rome after council of Chalcedon, chose own patriarch. Rejoined, allowed to keep patriarch.
Melkite:seperated from Rome in about 1054, rejoined in the 1700’s, I think.

Hence, 3 patriarchs. Is it nedded? No.

And technically, the Catholics have 3 popes (Rome, Alexandria (Melkite) and Antioch (also Melkite(same person), whose patriarch is pope of two places) along with the Coptic Catholic pope). The Eastern Orthodox have 2 (Greek patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch, two seperate people), and the Oriental Orthodox have at least 1 (Coptic), maybe another in the Syriac Church.
 
Nine_Two said:
Because Alexandria was a more important city. St. Peter isn’t a factor. 😉
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I agree with this and I’m Catholic. Rome, Alexandria and Antioch were three major imperial cities. Alexandria and Antioch were old long before they came under Roman rule and the Roman Christians like all Romans respected antiquity. Secondly there were a considerable amount of diasporic Jews living in these cities, particularly Alexandria - the first audiences of the Apostolic missionaries. Besides the Holy City of Jerusalem, which was not at all a major imperial city, and besides the gentile house churches established by St. Paul in Acts, the Church really exploded outward from these major cities.
 
John_of_Patmos said:
And technically, the Catholics have 3 popes (Rome, Alexandria (Melkite) and Antioch (also Melkite(same person), whose patriarch is pope of two places) along with the Coptic Catholic pope). The Eastern Orthodox have 2 (Greek patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch, two seperate people), and the Oriental Orthodox have at least 1 (Coptic), maybe another in the Syriac Church.
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None of the Patriarchs under Rome hold the title of Pope, not even Alexandria.
Antioch does not hold, use, or claim the title of Pope. We Orthodox only have one Patriarch who uses that title, the Pope of Alexandria, just like the Copts.
 
Nine_Two said:
Because Alexandria was a more important city. St. Peter isn’t a factor. 😉
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Pope St Gregory, venerated in both the East and West, taught that Rome, Alexandria and Antioch held primacy by virtue of St Peter. Surely a spiritual explanation was offered for Alexandria’s precedence.
 
twf said:
Pope St Gregory, venerated in both the East and West, taught that Rome, Alexandria and Antioch held primacy by virtue of St Peter. Surely a spiritual explanation was offered for Alexandria’s precedence.
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Really, there is no good answer for this embarrassing discrepancy. That is why I think the three Perrine Sees theory, as good as it looks on paper, is not too well thought out.
 
twf said:
Pope St Gregory, venerated in both the East and West, taught that Rome, Alexandria and Antioch held primacy by virtue of St Peter. Surely a spiritual explanation was offered for Alexandria’s precedence.
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I doubt that particular teaching figures into why he is a saint. 😉
 
JohnRoss said:
What I’d like to know is why we need three Catholic patriarchs of Antioch.
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It’s because the question of jurisdiction is still an unresolved matter, so in the meantime we have this temporary arrangement until such a time when we can resolve the schisms between us and then collectively sort out the competing claims between the Catholics, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox.

Do not mistake this for a permanent solution. It is not. 😛
 
marlo said:
Really? Rome and Antioch was mentioned in the bible, how about Alexandria?
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I wasn’t aware being mentioned in the bible is how we determine the importance of cities. Many unimportant places are mentioned in the bible (Not that Antioch was unimportant, being the Empire’s Third City at the time the NT was written (take a guess at number two)).
 
JohnRoss said:
What I’d like to know is why we need three Catholic patriarchs of Antioch.
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The Patriarchal See of Antioch is an Ecclesiastical Province.

The proper eparchy of the Melkite Patriarch is Damascus.
The proper eparchy of the Syrian Patriarch is Beirut.
The proper eparchy of the Maronite Patriarch is Jebbeh–Sarba–Jounieh.
 
What are the special powers a patriarch has? Or is patriarch just a title?
 
GrandChurch said:
Are there Latin patriarchs of these cities?
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There is a Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, most Latin Patriarchates have been suppressed.😦

ALso, a patriarch is the leading bishop of a particular church. The pope is the patriarch of the latin church.
 
John_of_Patmos said:
There is a Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, most Latin Patriarchates have been suppressed.😦

ALso, a patriarch is the leading bishop of a particular church. The pope is the patriarch of the latin church.
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There are also Patriarchs in Western Europe who are just glorified Bishops. The Patriarch of Venice and one in Portugal the name of whose see I can’t remember. In the past there was also a Patriarch of Aquileia, which is about a stones throw from Venice.
 
Nine_Two said:
There are also Patriarchs in Western Europe who are just glorified Bishops. The Patriarch of Venice and one in Portugal the name of whose see I can’t remember. In the past there was also a Patriarch of Aquileia, which is about a stones throw from Venice.
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Lisbon. They, for some reason, use the Papal keys in thier diocese’s coat of Arms.
Current Patriarch is His Holiness Abp. Policarpo.
 
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