Vicar of Christ (Latin: Vicarius Christi) is a term used in different ways and with different theological connotations throughout history. The original notion of a vicar is as an "earthly representative of Christ", but it is also used in the sense of "person acting as parish priest in place of a real parson." The title is now used in Catholicism to refer to the bishops, and more specifically, was historically used to refer to the Bishop of Rome (the pope).
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👉 Vicar of Christ in the context of Papal supremacy
Papal supremacy is the doctrine of the Catholic Church that the pope, by reason of his office as vicar of Christ, the visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful, and as priest of the entire Catholic Church, has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered: that, in brief, "the pope enjoys, by divine institution, supreme, full, immediate, and universal power in the care of souls."
The doctrine had the most significance in the relationship between the church and the temporal state, in matters such as ecclesiastic privileges, the actions of monarchs and even successions.
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Vicar of Christ in the context of Byzantine aristocracy and bureaucracy
Throughout the fifth century, Hellenistic-Eastern political systems, philosophies, and theocratic Christian concepts had gained power in the Greek-speaking Eastern Mediterranean due to the intervention of important religious figures there such as Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 260 – c. 339) and Origen of Alexandria (c. 185 – c. 253) who had been key to developing the constant Christianized worldview of late antiquity.
By the 6th century, such ideas had already influenced the definitive power of the monarch as the representative of God on earth and of his kingdom as an imitation of God's holy realm. The Byzantine Empire was a multi-ethnic monarchic theocracy adopting, following, and applying the Orthodox-Hellenistic political systems and philosophies. The monarch was the incarnation of the law—nomos empsychos—and his power was immeasurable and divine in origin insofar as he channeled God's divine grace, maintaining what is good. He was the ultimate benefactor, caretaker, and saviour of the people: Evergétis, Philanthrōpía, and Sōtēr, anointed with all power, upholding the divine laws since he ought to emulate Christ first (christomimetes) in all of his divine, pious, loving orthodox attributes to all by being his earthly presence.