Abstract

The geographical lay-out of Egypt and the centralization of government in the hands of the prefect of Alexandria explain why until Demetrius (182- 232) there was only one bishop in the country. The dioceses increased in number during the third century and there are many of them in the time of Athanasius but the bishop of Alexandria wields an authority which is unparalleled in the other churches. That is still true today in the case of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarch. That kind of "governance" did not need any regular synodal activity and the Holy Synod, for which an important role was reserved, is a relatively recent institution.