The Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople was founded in 1461 by sultan Mehmed II. Since Holy Etchmiadzin - the center of the Armenian spiritual life - was under the authority of Persia, Mehmed II al-Faqih planned, with the help of the Patriarch, to control all Armenians living in the territory of the Turkish sultanate.
Bishop Hovakim became the first Patriarch. As ethnarch, he had secular as well as spiritual power. That’s why till World War I the management of the Catholicosates in Kilikiya and Akhtamarsk was delegated to the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
Till World War I there were 52 eparchies under the jurisdiction of the newly-formed Patriarchate, including the eparchies of Cyprus, Egypt, Bagdad, Romania, Greece and Bulgaria. Nowadays the Armenian churches of Crete (Greece) and Turkey has also joined the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
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