eparchy is an anglicized greek word (), authentically latinized as eparchia, which can be loosely translated as the rule or jurisdiction over something, such as a province, prefecture, or territory. it has specific meanings both in politics, history and in the hierarchy of the eastern christian churches. in secular use, the word eparchy denotes an administrative district in the roman empire / byzantine empire, or in modern greece or cyprus. in ecclesiastical use, an eparchy is a territorial diocese governed by a bishop of one of the eastern churches. it is part of a metropolis, which is further divided into parishes. ==secular jurisdictions== === imperial roman administration ===  originally eparchy (á¼ÏÎ±ÏÏÎ¯á¾±, eparchia) was the greek equivalent of the latin term provincia, one of the districts of the roman empire. as such it was used, chiefly in the eastern parts of the empire, to designate the roman provinces. the term eparch (, eparchos) however, designating an eparchy's governor, was most usually used to refer to the praetorian prefects (singular in greek: , "eparch of the praetorium") in charge of the empire's praetorian prefectures, and to the eparch of constantinople, the city's urban prefect. ====byzantine administration==== the dominate-period administrative system was retained in the byzantine period of the empire until the 7th century. as greek became the empire's main administrative language, replacing latin, in the latter 6th century even the provinces of the exarchate of ravenna, in reconquered italy, were termed eparchiae in greek as well as in latin. in the latter half of the 7th century, the old provincial administration was replaced by the thematic system. even after that however, the term eparchos remained in use until the 840s for the senior administrative official of each thema, under the governing strategos. thereafter, eparchs are evident in some cases as city governors, but the most important by far amongst them was the eparch of constantinople, whose office had wide-ranging powers and functioned continuously until the 13th century. ===modern greece and cyprus===  the term eparchia was revived as one of the administrative sub-provincial units of post-ottoman independent greece, the country being divided into nomoi ("prefectures"), of which in turn some were subdivided into eparchies. from 1887, the eparchies were abolished as actual admi
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