The highest ecclesiastical divisions, the Patriarchates, though they did not exactly answer to the Prefectures, were clearly suggested by them. And whenever the boundaries of the Patriarchates departed from the boundaries of the Prefectures, they came nearer to the great divisions of race and language. For our purpose, it is enough to take the Patriarchates, as they grew up, after the establishment of Christianity, in the course of the fourth and fifth centuries. The four older ones were seated at the _Old_ and the _New Rome_, and at the two great Eastern cities of _Antioch_ and _Alexandria_. Out of the patriarchate of Antioch the small patriarchate of _Jerusalem_ was afterwards taken. This last seems a piece of sentimental geography; the other divisions were eminently practical. ♦Rome.♦ Whether we look on the original jurisdiction of the Bishop of the Old _Rome_ as taking in the whole _prefecture_ of Italy or only the _diocese_ of Italy, it is certain that it was gradually extended over the two prefectures of Italy and Gaul. ♦Extended beyond the Empire.♦ That is, it took in the Latin part of the Empire, and it spread thence over the Teutonic converts in the West, as well as over Hungary and the Western Slaves. ♦Constantinople.♦ The Patriarchate of _Constantinople_ or New Rome took in the Prefecture of Illyricum, and three dioceses in the Prefecture of the East, those of Thrace, Asia, and Pontus. This territory pretty well answers to the extent of the Greek language and influence. The two Illyrian dioceses, possibly through some confusion arising out of the two meanings of the word _Illyricum_, were claimed by the Popes of Old Rome; but, when the Empires and Churches parted asunder, Macedonia and Greece were not likely to cleave to the Western division. ♦Its relation to the Eastern Empire and to the Slaves.♦ In course of time the Byzantine patriarchate became nearly coextensive with the Byzantine Empire, and it became the centre of conversion to the Slaves of the East, just as the patriarchate of Old Rome was to the Teutons of the West. ♦Antioch. | Jerusalem.♦ The patriarchate of _Antioch_, before its dismemberment in favour of the tiny patriarchate of _Jerusalem_, took in the whole diocese of the East, and the churches beyond the limits of the Empire in that direction. ♦Alexandria.♦ The patriarchate of _Alexandria_ answered to the diocese of Egypt, with the churches beyond the Empire on that side, specially the _Abyssinian_ church, which has kept its nationality to our own time. That these Eastern patriarchates have been for ages disputed by claimants belonging to different sects of Christianity is a fact which concerns both theology and history, but does not concern geography. Whether the see was in Orthodox or heretical—that is commonly in national—hands, the see and its diocese, the geographical extent on the map, remained the same. ♦Later nominal patriarchates.♦