The world is still changing, the Empire has dwindled in power and the church has grown even more powerful. In this period of church history we see a few changes in the structure of the church. First, the role of the bishop. The local bishop was a tradition that had been established for awhile now, the difference is now, the bishop is no longer just the leader of the local church but has a much larger role in the universal church. The bishops of Rome, Alexandria, Cartage, Antioch, etc held a massive amount of power within the church. Through the different councils and synods, the bishops influenced Christian doctrine. The second big change was the way bishops were elected. Before they were simply elected by the local church. Now, with the Emperors holding more stake in the church, many bishops were given their positions through the state.
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