It’s not that hard to understand. Look at the geopolitical situation when the non-Chalcedonians broke from the Church and compare that to when Rome finally broke away (if you can give that an exact date). By the time of the Fourth Crusade the Byzantine Empire was in steady decline and the Latin sack of the city only accelerated it. The Greeks were in no position to set up an Orthodox bishop of Rome if they had wanted to.
As to modern times in a recent court case in Great Britain a bishop of the Ecumenical Patriarchate stated that the Ecumenical Patriarch is the
locum tenens for the Bishop of Rome.
Here is the
link. (paragraphs 37 and 38)
Yours in Christ
Joe
