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Constantinople's claim to be a patriarchate was a journey in itself.  In culminated in the passage of canon 28 at the Council of Chalcedon (which almost entirely consisted of eastern bishops), which placed Constantinople over all the other patriarchates except Rome.  Canon 28 is the linchpin to their claims of being all that and a bag of chips, and came about because of the growing ambition of Constantinople.  It was the center of the empire, and they figured they had a right to consolidate and appropriate power.  What they will never tell you, however, is that the papal representatives at the council objected to Canon 28, it was passed in the middle of the night when the papal representatives weren't present, and Pope Leo the Great nullified that canon "by the authority of blessed Peter". 

Read the acts of the council of Chalcedon itself, as well as the letters of Leo the Great to Emperor Marcian, Empress Pulcharia, Patriarch Anatolius, and John of Cos.  It paints a vivid picture of what really happened.

Letter 132, which is a letter of Anatolius (Patriarch of Constantinople) to Leo, is pure gold.  In it, Anatolius acknowledges Pope Leo's right to approve or disapprove any part of the council, he protests that his great desire is to "obey" Leo in all things, and he accedes to Leo's commands to correct two unjust administrative changes involving two individuals at the local level in Constantinople (the restoration of a Catholic who unjustly lost his job, and the dismissal of a heretic who had been protected by Anatolius). 

The end result is that Canon 28 pretty much disappeared for the next several centuries, being resurrected by Photius and, to a greater extent, by Michael Cerularius in the 11th century.  Michael was worse than Photius, in that it was his actions that were responsible for the more permanent separation of Rome and Constantinople. 

It's important to note that, while Constantinople dropped Canon 28 after Leo nullified it, they continued to behave as if it was in force. 

The Greeks returned to the Faith and submission to Rome twice after Cerularius.  Once at the second council of Lyons (1274), and the other at the Council of Florence (1439). Florence was the biggest, and it had amazing results. The last two emperors of the Byzantine empire (John VIII Palaiologos and Constantine XI Palaiologos) died as Catholics in submission to the Pope, and the entire reason they went into schism again after the Council of Florence is because of the Turks.  Mehmet the II took Constantinople on Pentecost in 1453, and installed a new patriarch (while the Catholic Patriarch was in Rome) named Gennadius Scholarius, who was the most anti-Catholic bishop he could find.  Scholarius was a protege of Mark of Ephesus, who was the only bishop in the east who refused to sign the docuмents of the Council of Florence.  Mark went back to Constantinople after the council and caused all sorts of trouble, stirring the people up against the reunion.

Gennadius Scholarius, on being chosen as the new Patriarch, processed through the streets of Constantinople and received the symbols of his new office directly from the hands of Mehmet II, an Ottoman Turk.  This scene is immortalized in a number of Greek icons.

Why anyone would look at the claims of Orthodoxy seriously is beyond me.

And there are some Orthodox who want to take it one step further, and proclaim Moscow to be the "Third Rome", in that Constantinople doesn't really exist anymore as a center of Orthodoxy (the Ottoman Turks took care of that).

Constantinople is almost what we Latins would call a "titular see".

Here is a list of books I have purchased and read over the last year that are related to this topic:  Most of them are available on Archive.org for free.


The History of Heresies and Their Refutation Paperback - St. Alphonsus
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0976911809/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0976911809&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20 />
The Primacy of the Apostolic See Vindicated - 1848
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1313537446/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1313537446&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20 />
The Papacy and the First Councils of the Church - 1910
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1331097614/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1331097614&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20 />
The Primitive Church and the See of Peter - 1894
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1530097878/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1530097878&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20 />
The Pope: The Vicar of Christ, the Head of the Church - 1885
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/on.com/gp//ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=on.com/gp/&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20 />
The Faith of Catholics Volume 2 - 1910
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/on.com/gp//ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=on.com/gp/&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20 />
The Tradition Of The Syriac Church Of Antioch: Concerning The Primacy And The Prerogatives Of St. Peter And Of His Successors The Roman Pontiffs - 1871
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/on.com/gp//ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=on.com/gp/&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20 />
Vindicating the Filioque: The Church Fathers at the Council of Florence - 2023
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/on.com/gp//ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=on.com/gp/&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20 />
On the Apostolical and Infallible Authority of the Pope: When Teaching the Faithful and His Relation to a General Council - 1869
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/on.com/gp//ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=on.com/gp/&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20 />

What you will find on the Orthodox side is a complete inability to explain how for the first thousand years, they submitted to Rome, obeyed Rome, and acknowledged Rome's supremacy over the whole Christian world.  This is so clearly and profoundly docuмented, it takes a truly dishonest man to deny it.  But dishonesty is the essence of the Orthodox apologist.

The reason I've had to do so much reading on this is because my brother did exactly what you are considering, he abandoned the wave-tossed Barque of Peter in favor of the loose confederation of waring tribes that is Orthodoxy.  He lost his faith eight or nine years ago, and hid it very well.  Two years ago, he surprised all of us by becoming a catechumen at the local Antiochian Orthodox Church. 

He ceased to believe the words and promises of Christ, and in the midst of the storm, he chose to jump ship rather than patiently endure the passion of the Mystical Body of Christ.  The temptation to gaze upon the crucified Church, held up to the whole world as an object of ridicule, and to doubt that this truly is the Church Christ founded is a tremendous trap.  My brother can't fathom how this could happen to the True Church, in the same way that so many of the apostles and jews couldn't fathom how God Himself could be crucified.  Is the servant above his Master?  Do we deserve anything less?

His church was not founded on the Rock of Peter.  His church does not have the keys.  His church does not have the promise of Christ, that the gates of hell will never prevail against it.

You seek safety and security, peace and tranquility.  You will not find it in Orthodoxy.  Not only because it is a false religion, but because they have nothing but stagnation and disunity to offer.  They are the tattered remnants of a long-dead empire, a decaying corpse that should have been buried centuries ago.

And you will have to be prepared to deny the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady.  You will have to reject the true nature of original sin, taking on a Pelagian view of it instead.  You must be prepared to deny the distinction between mortal and venial sin, the concepts of purgatory, indulgences, and reparation.  Hell to the orthodox mind is undefined.  Prepare yourself to embrace Palamism, and an unending string of other errors.  And because of a lack of scholasticism and truth, you must be prepared to accept "it's a mystery" as an answer to any question they don't have an answer for, which are considerable. 

No, you will not find what you're looking for there.
 

Some of the links above weren't working.  I'll try again.  If these don't work, just search for the titles on Amazon or Archive.org

The History of Heresies and Their Refutation Paperback - St. Alphonsus
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0976911809/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0976911809&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20 />

The Primacy of the Apostolic See Vindicated - 1848
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1313537446/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1313537446&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20 />

The Papacy and the First Councils of the Church - 1910
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1331097614/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1331097614&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20 />

The Primitive Church and the See of Peter - 1894
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1530097878/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1530097878&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20 />

The Pope: The Vicar of Christ, the Head of the Church - 1885
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/on.com/gp//ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=on.com/gp/&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20 />

The Faith of Catholics Volume 2 - 1910
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/on.com/gp//ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=on.com/gp/&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20 />

The Tradition Of The Syriac Church Of Antioch: Concerning The Primacy And The Prerogatives Of St. Peter And Of His Successors The Roman Pontiffs - 1871
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/on.com/gp//ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=on.com/gp/&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20 />

Vindicating the Filioque: The Church Fathers at the Council of Florence - 2023
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/on.com/gp//ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=on.com/gp/&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20 />

On the Apostolical and Infallible Authority of the Pope: When Teaching the Faithful and His Relation to a General Council - 1869
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/on.com/gp//ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=on.com/gp/&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20 />

OP here.  Wow thank you very much for your thorough posts and recommendations!  As there are quite a few books listed here, are there 2 or 3 which you found most useful or preferable to the others?  I have to start somewhere after all, and would like to have the most forceful arguments and evidence presented.  Thank you again. God bless you.