The traditional leader of the Church was the Patriarch of Moscow.

The bishops were dependent on the Patriarch of Constantinople until the 10th century.

Selucia Ctesiphon remained a location of the Patriarchate of the Church of the East for over 600 years.

Their song accused Kirill, Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, of kowtowing to the government and advised him to believe in God, not Putin.

Alexei II, the first Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia ever to visit in the history of the Orthodox Church in Central Asia, attended the commemoration of that occasion

The former summoned councils in Rome to anathematize and excommunicate the iconoclasts (730, 732) In 740 Leo retaliated by transferring Southern Italy and Illyricum from the papal diocese to that of the Patriarch of Constantinople.

Sophronius (c. 560 March 11, 638 ) was the Patriarch of Jerusalem from 634 until his death, and is venerated as a saint in the Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Churches.

In February, Egypt s Coptic patriarch, Pope Tawadros II, sharply criticized the country s leadership in a televised interview, calling the new constitution discriminatory and dismissing Morsi s national dialogues as an empty gesture.

But, although he was invited to Moscow by Russia s three most recent presidents Vladimir Putin, Boris Yeltsin, and Mikhail Gorbachev opposition to the visit by Orthodox Patriarch Alexi prevented the Pope from making the journey before he died.

Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregorios III recently stated that, since 2011, over 1,000 Christians have been killed and more than 40 churches and other Christian institutions (schools, orphanages, and care homes) have been damaged or destroyed.

Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregorios III recently stated that, since 2011, over 1,000 Christians have been killed and more than 40 churches and other Christian institutions (schools, orphanages, and care homes) have been damaged or destroyed. Some estimate that 300,000 Christians have fled Syria.