 When Diocletian resigned , chaos ensued , but after the chaos had subsided , most of his reforms remained in effect . While the Emperor Constantine the Great did enact some revisions to this constitution , the most significant change over the centuries was in the abolition of the Caesares . Ultimately this constitution survived , in one form or another , until the Western Roman Empire fell in 476 . Diocletian 's division of the Empire into west and east set the stage for ages to come , and was a significant factor behind the ultimate division of the Christian church into western Roman Catholic and eastern Greek Orthodox , while his division of the Empire into prefectures and dioceses is used by the Catholic Church to this day . 
