Popes and Patriarchs presents the Orthodox position on the role of the papacy in an intelligent, easy-to-understand style that will appeal to laypeople, priests, seminarians, and discussion groups. For any dialogue between the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches to be fruitful, we must first understand our differences. Popes and Patriarchs covers some of the distinctives in theology and worldview that separate the churches of the East from those of the West, focusing primarily on the claims of papal supremacy.

Author Michael Whelton, a convert from Catholicism to Orthodoxy, discusses some of the theological and historical issues that led him to explore the teachings of the Orthodox Church, including the doctrine of original sin, the influence of medieval scholastic thought on the Western Church, and the modern trend toward evolutionary Christianity. Part II examines in depth the true attitude of the early Eastern saints of the Church toward the papacy, an attitude radically different from that frequently attributed to them by Roman Catholic apologists. A final chapter is devoted to typical questions Roman Catholics raise about the Orthodox Church, including a comprehensive discussion of divorce and remarriage.