Man's Flesh Likes to Add Levels of Bureaucracy
The Eastern Church

The patriarch of Constantinople is the highest ecclesiastical official of the Eastern Orthodox Church. This is like a pope. There are no popes in the Church in the Bible. For example, there is a partriarch of the whole continent of Africa. You just don't find this in the Bible.

The next level down are the patriarchs. There should be no patriarchs (13 of them) in their Church, because there were none in the Bible. There were apostles and elders only. There should not be ecumenical patriarchs nor should there be patriarchs.

Metropolitans are the next level down: one who is a bishop who is head of an ecclesiastical province and ranks next below the patriarch (this is also the wrong meaning of a Bishop since a Bishop is always an Elder of Biblical locality, not a region of church-cities).

There should not be patriarchs. Below them, the Metropolitans are suppose to be considered regional Apostles (they should not be called bishops) if they were directly chosen by God, but they are not. This is proven by testing the Apostles: "hast tried them which say they are apostles" (Rev. 2.2). They are just men in a denomination who rise to power in a pastoral system of struggle like corporations in the world. It was the system devised by Constantine in bed together with state to change the operations of the Church which placed the Church in ruin. This is described as th Pergamum church period which means "high tower" as all denoms try to do.

You might be wondering by now, what is wrong with people that they don't read the Bible properly? The only answer I have is the flesh wars against the Spirit and makes a mess of things. It sure has made a mess of the church and makes the body of Christ look like a laughing stalk to non-believers. Have faith though all these problems will get fixed with Biblocality.

Bishops in the Eastern church are over a district of churches. Yet, there is not suppose to be diocese districts for bishops in the New Testament.

Biblically speaking and by the Holy Spirit, there are just Apostles of region of churches (e.g. Macodenia, Judea, Syria, Asia Minor) and Elders (Bishops) of a Biblical locality (e.g. Jerusalem, Antioch, Corinth, Philippi). God does not need all these extra levels of men operating like in bureacracies in corporations, so why does man? It is because of the corporation-like structure man thinks is needed because of increases in population, but it is not necessary at all. Such ideas are born out of the marriage of state and church in the Pergamum church period.

Parishes/Priests in the Eatern Church: The priest teaches and may or may not be an Elder, so again the Eastern Orthodox system is wrong, because Priests do not head up a locality unless they are also Elders. Elders are the ones who take care of a Biblical locality, not the priests for heavens sakes! Priests operate locally.

Apostles operate regionally. Evangelists operate locally. Prophets are local too. Pastors or priests (Shepherds, teachers) operate locally. This is the proper ordering we see in the Scriptures.

EOC does so much wrong! Wrong teaching (non-OSAS and historicalism)! And wrong structure for the Work for the Church!

By the way, the reason a system teaches non-OSAS is so you give them more money or work for them more. They want to make you feel guilty that you could lose eternal life if you don't work for them enough. Historicalism is a heresy because it teaches now today is a time of a millennial peace despite wars and rumors of wars. This lowers one's standard of conscience. Rev. 20.3 says the nations will no longer be deceived in the millennium so the the 1000 years has not started yet, nor has Christ returned to reign with an iron rod during the 1000 years (Rev. 20.2-7). Christ is not reigning now with an iron rod, but indwells believers by the Holy Spirit. Overcomers in Christ could not be martyred if we were reigning with an iron rod today.