WI: Heptarchy, The Seven Heads of the Church

Patriarchies were originally only those sees founded by Apostles, preferably where one/multiple lived and then died.

Rome had Peter and Paul, Constantinople had Andrew (although... that's a bit iffy), etc.

To get more early Patriarchates, you'd have to get more early accepted legends of Apostolic connexions,

Note that the Patriarchate of Aquileia mentioned above was associated with Mark.

If someone dug up the 'bones' of St. James at (near) Santiago de Compostella several centuries earlier, you could get one there.

The problem with anything in northern Gaul, or worse, Britain, is that no Apostle ever set foot there. This is not an insoluable problem. Glastonbury, say, could be associated with Jesus himself (if the legend is that old, which it probably isn't) as well as Joseph of Arimathea (not technically an Apostle, but..). Add the translation of relics (moving an apostle's bones from their original resting place to the new see), and you can build the case for new Patriarchates. (IIRC, that's what Constantinople did - move Andrew's bones from wherever they'd been.)
 
If someone dug up the 'bones' of St. James at (near) Santiago de Compostella several centuries earlier, you could get one there.

That's an excellent point regarding Santiago de Compostella.

You could also draw from the various pseudo-apostles to get some more Patriarchs - after all, Constantinople was a stretch. There's Epenetus, the supposed first Bishop of Carthage (or Cartagena) who was listed as one of the "seventy apostles" mentioned by Luke. The list of supposed members of these seventy apostles also includes Nicomedia, Damascus, Corinth, Athens, and Dyrrachium, among many others.

You could also take Saint Barnabas, who is named an apostle in Acts, and is buried at Famagusta, and place a Patriarch in Cyprus, although that likely lacks the political pull needed for a Patriarchate.

Saint Thomas died in India, but he also made his way through Persia - a sufficiently powerful Christian Persian ruler could assert a Patriarchate of Ctestiphon. Similarly, a Patriarchate in Ethiopia could be claimed based on the journey of Philip the Evangelist.

The issue with another western Patriarch is that you need a confluence of a political power independent of the Papacy but also powerful enough to assert a specific location. And I'm not sure there are many of those out there.
 
Why not something outside the Empire or on its periphery, like Armenia or Ctesiphon?

Do you mean by keeping the Oriental Orthodox Church(es) together with the Catholic-Orthodox Church, probably by changing/avoiding Chalcedon?
The problem here seems to be that opposition to Chalcedon was as much a political, anti-(E)RE decision as a theological thing, so simply avoiding it is difficult.
 
Do you mean by keeping the Oriental Orthodox Church(es) together with the Catholic-Orthodox Church, probably by changing/avoiding Chalcedon?
The problem here seems to be that opposition to Chalcedon was as much a political, anti-(E)RE decision as a theological thing, so simply avoiding it is difficult.

That, or attempting to establish a rival, Chalcedonian patriarch for the same see. Consider the various rival patriarchs to emerge over the centuries in Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem.
 
Does it have to be in Roman Empire? How about 12?
  1. Rome
  2. Constantinople
  3. Alexandria
  4. Antioch
  5. Jerusalem
  6. Carthage
  7. Ctesiphon
  8. Echmiadzin
  9. Tanais
  10. Arles
  11. Aksum
  12. Malabar
Or within Roman empire:
  1. Rome latin
  2. Constantinople greek
  3. Alexandria coptic
  4. Antioch aramaic
  5. Jerusalem hebrew
  6. Carthage punic and berber
  7. Lugdunum gaulish
Later addition Sirmium Slavic



or what if the Latin Church developped into autocephalous patriarchates as did the orthodox?
I guess a "Gaulish patriarch "would reside in Lyon , who would serve as the Patriarch for the franks.
The Visigoths would have their patriarch in Toledo and Carthage would be a see for the South.
Regarding Britain there would be Canterbury and something in Ireland competing...
Croats and Slovenes would answer to a patriarch in Salonea or Sirmium but the former more likely. Nitra would be a Patriarchate for the West Slavs, with Gniezdno maybe separating.
Germany would have their see in Aachen or Regensburg, Scandinavia in Uppsala...
the butterflies of this would be no protestant reformation in Germany
 
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