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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Empirate" data-source="post: 5783785" data-attributes="member: 78958">Broadly speaking, you're correct, and whatever furthers your game is more important than historical truth anyway!Constantinople had a patriarch just like some other cities (Antioch and Aquileia, for example). In other places, there was no patriarch, but there were bishops and archbishops. All of these were held to be more-or-less independent heads of church within their respective dioceses, although there were massive differences in dignity and actual power. The patriarch of Constantinople was one of the most esteemed clergymen, since his diocese was so rich and politically important, and it contained so many people. But even the bishop of, say, Ferrara, Amiens or Lincoln wouldn't normally let anybody but an ecumenical council (a gathering of all the important prelates of christendom) dictate his ways.That said, the bishop of Rome (none other than the pope) was held to have the highest dignity in all of christendom, and could often translate that dignity into political clout. The papacy had a long way to go before becoming the de facto ruler of the church, though (this took until the 11th/12th century, roughly).Tensions between papacy and patriarchy are quite likely, though, and make good fodder for adventure. Furthermore, you could think about adding some heathen peoples into the equation, godless devils who just wait to be brought into the fold - and who will control the missionaries to do so, pope or patriarch? Who will the newly christian ex-heathens owe allegiance to?The Huns or the Avars might be good candidates in your timeframe, although the former are slightly too early for 500 A.D., and the latter came a little bit later to the party.</blockquote>

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