The Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria is the highest Orthodox authority in the Coptic Orthodox Church. It formulates the rules and regulations regarding matters of the Church's organisation and faith. The synod is chaired by the patriarch of Alexandria and the members are the Church's metropolitan archbishops, metropolitan bishops, diocesan bishops, patriarchal exarchs, missionary bishops, auxiliary bishops, suffragan bishops, assistant bishops, chorbishops and the patriarchal vicars of the Church of Alexandria. Seniority According to Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria traditions, the pope, being the bishop of Alexandria and being the senior and elder bishop and the metropolitan archbishop of the province and primate of all Egypt, is the head of the Holy Synod as a first among equals. The most senior position after the pope was that of the metropolitan archbishop of Pentapolis, but since it ceased to be a major archiepiscopal metropolis in the days of Pope John VI it has been held as a titular see attached to another metropolis. There is a special status of seniority of honor and precedence for the metropolitan archbishop of the Holy and Great City of Our Lord, Jerusalem, Holy Zion, archbishop of the Holy Archdiocese of Jerusalem, All Palestine, Philadelphia of Jordan and All the Near East. This great archdiocesan metropolis is technically outside the Egyptian Province and is not considered to be within the jurisdiction of the pope of Alexandria, but is one of the possessions of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. It was created by Pope Cyril III (1235–1243) in the thirteenth century, which, at that time, had caused a dispute between the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch. This was a very rare incident between the two sister churches as in general their relationship is one of the strongest between any two sister churches. According to the Alexandrine tradition, the rank of metropolitan bishop is granted by the pope to the diocesan bishops under his jurisdiction on a personal status (In Personam) and not due to the size or importance of the bishop's eparchy; however, the rank of metropolitan archbishop is granted to those whose archdioceses have historical importance and had or have more than one suffragan diocese within their territorial jurisdictions. The Coptic Orthodox Metropolitan Archbishop of Jerusalem is the only Coptic Orthodox hierarch who is consecrated as a metropolitan archbishop without being consecrated first as