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The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certain cases also popes – such as the Pope of Rome or Pope of Alexandria, and catholicoi – such as Catholicos Karekin II, and Baselios Thomas I Catholicos of the East).[1]
The word is derived from Greek πατριάρχης (patriarchēs),[2] meaning "chief or father of a family",[3] a compound of πατριά (patria),[4] meaning "family", and ἄρχειν (archein),[5] meaning "to rule".[3][6][7][8]
Originally, a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family.[9] The system of such rule of families by senior males is termed patriarchy. Historically, a patriarch has often been the logical choice to act as ethnarch of the community identified with his religious confession within a state or empire of a different creed (such as Christians within the Ottoman Empire). The term developed an ecclesiastical meaning within Christianity. The office and the ecclesiastical circumscription of a Christian patriarch is termed a patriarchate.
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are referred to as the three patriarchs of the people of Israel, and the period during which they lived is termed the Patriarchal Age. The word patriarch originally acquired its religious meaning in the Septuagint version of the Bible.[10]
Patriarchs
In the Catholic Church, the bishop who is head of a particular autonomous church, known in canon law as a church sui iuris, is ordinarily a patriarch, though this responsibility can be entrusted to a major archbishop, metropolitan, or other prelate for a number of reasons.[11]
Since the Council of Nicaea, the bishop of Rome has been recognized as the first among patriarchs.[12] That council designated three bishops with this 'supra-Metropolitan' title: Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch. In the Pentarchy formulated by Justinian I (527–565), the emperor assigned as a patriarchate to the Bishop of Rome the whole of Christianized Europe (including almost all of modern Greece), except for the region of Thrace, the areas near Constantinople, and along the coast of the Black Sea. He included in this patriarchate also the western part of North Africa. The jurisdictions of the other patriarchates extended over Roman Asia, and the rest of Africa. Justinian's system was given formal ecclesiastical recognition by the Quinisext Council of 692, which the see of Rome has, however, not recognized.
There were at the time bishops of other apostolic sees that operated with patriarchal authority beyond the borders of the Roman Empire, such as the Catholicos of Selucia-Ctesephon.
Today, the patriarchal heads of Catholic autonomous churches are:[13]
- The Patriarch of Rome (Pope), as head of the Latin Church[14]
- The Coptic Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria (Pope) and head of the Coptic Catholic Church, recognised 1824
- The Maronite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and head of the Maronite Church, recognised 685
- The Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem, head of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church; in his case, Antioch is the actual and sole patriarchate, Alexandria and Jerusalem are just titular (once residential) patriarchates vested in his see.
- The Syriac Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and head of the Syriac Catholic Church
- The Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Baghdad and head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, recognised 1553
- The Armenian Catholic Patriarch of Cilicia and head of the Armenian Catholic Church, recognised 1742
Four more of the Eastern Catholic Churches are headed by a prelate known as a "Major Archbishop,"[15] a title essentially equivalent to that of Patriarch and originally created by Pope Paul VI in 1963 for Josyf Slipyj.[16]
Minor Latin patriarchates
Minor patriarchs do not have jurisdiction over other metropolitan bishops. The title is granted purely as an honour for various historical reasons. They take precedence after the heads of autonomous churches in full communion, whether pope, patriarch, or major archbishop.
- The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, established 1099.
- The Patriarch of the East Indies, a titular patriarchal see, united to Goa and Daman, established 1886.
- The Patriarch of Lisbon, established 1716.
- The Patriarch of Venice, established 1451.
Historical Latin patriarchates
- The Patriarch of Aquileia – with rival line of succession moved to Grado – dissolved in 1752.
- The Patriarch of Grado – in 1451 merged with the Bishopric of Castello and Venice to form the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Venice (later a residential Patriarchate itself).
- The Patriarch of the West Indies – a titular patriarchal see, vacant since 1963.
- The Latin Patriarch of Antioch – title abolished in 1964.
- The titular Latin Patriarch of Alexandria – title abolished in 1964.
- The Latin Patriarch of Constantinople – title abolished in 1964.
- The Latin Patriarchate of Ethiopia – 1555 to 1663, never effective, only held by Iberian Jesuits
Patriarch as title ad personam
The pope can confer the rank of patriarch without any see, upon an individual archbishop, as happened on 24 February 1676 to Alessandro Crescenzi, of the Somascans, former Latin Titular Patriarch of Alexandria (19 January 1671 – retired 27 May 1675), who nevertheless resigned the title on 9 January 1682.
"Patriarch of the West"
In theological and other scholarly literature of the Early Modern period, the title "Patriarch of the West" (Latin: Patriarcha Occidentis; Greek: Πατριάρχης τῆς Δύσεως) was mainly used as designation for the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome over the Latin Church in the West.
The title was not included in the 2006 Annuario Pontificio. On 22 March 2006, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity offered an explanation for the decision to remove the title. It stated that the title "Patriarch of the West" had become "obsolete and practically unusable" when the term the West comprises Australia, New Zealand and North America in addition to Western Europe, and that it was "pointless to insist on maintaining it" given that, since the Second Vatican Council, the Latin Church, for which "the West" is an equivalent, has been organized as a number of episcopal conferences and their international groupings.[17] The title was reintroduced in the 2024 edition of Annuario Pontificio. No explanation was provided for its reintroduction.[18]
As the "Patriarch of the West", the pope issues the Code of Canon Law for the Latin Church. During the Synod of Bishops on the Middle East in 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appeared, as patriarch of the Latin Church, with the other patriarchs, but without the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, though he was present at the same synod.[19]
Current and historical Catholic patriarchates
| Type | Church | Patriarchate | Patriarch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patriarchs of autonomous particular churches |
Latin | Rome | Pope Francis |
| Coptic | Alexandria | Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak | |
| Syrian | Antioch | Ignatius Joseph III Younan | |
| Maronite | Antioch | Bechara Boutros al-Rahi | |
| Greek-Melkite | Antioch | Youssef Absi | |
| Armenian | Cilicia | Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian | |
| Chaldean | Baghdad | Louis Raphaël I Sako | |
| Titular Latin Church patriarchs |
Latin | Aquileia | suppressed in 1751 |
| Latin | Grado | suppressed in 1451 | |
| Latin | Jerusalem | Pierbattista Pizzaballa | |
| Latin | Lisbon | Rui Valério | |
| Latin | Venice | Francesco Moraglia | |
| Latin | Alexandria | suppressed in 1964 | |
| Latin | Antioch | suppressed in 1964 | |
| Latin | Constantinople | suppressed in 1964 | |
| Latin | East Indies | Filipe Neri Ferrão | |
| Latin | West Indies | vacant since 1963 | |
Eastern Orthodox
- The five ancient Patriarchates, the Pentarchy, listed in order of preeminence ranked by the Quinisext Council in 692:
| Title | Church | Recognition / Additional notes |
|---|---|---|
| Patriarch of Rome | the Pope of Rome | Originally "primus inter pares" according to Eastern Orthodoxy, recognized in 325 by First Council of Nicaea. Currently not an Episcopal or Patriarchal authority in the Eastern Orthodox Church, following the Great Schism in 1054. |
| Patriarch of Constantinople | the chief of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople | The "primus inter pares" of post-Schism Eastern Orthodoxy, recognized in 451 by Council of Chalcedon.[20] |
| Patriarch of Alexandria | the Pope of All Africa and the chief of the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria | Recognized in 325 by First Council of Nicaea. |
| Patriarch of Antioch | the head of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch and All the East in the Near East | Recognized in 325 by First Council of Nicaea. |
| Patriarch of Jerusalem | the chief of the Eastern Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem in Israel, Palestine, Jordan and All Arabia | Recognized in 451 by Council of Chalcedon. |
- The five junior Patriarchates created after the consolidation of the Pentarchy, in chronological order of their recognition as Patriarchates by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople:
| Title | Church | Recognition / Additional notes |
|---|---|---|
| Patriarch of All Bulgaria | the chief of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in Bulgaria | Recognized as a Patriarchate in 918-919/927[21] |
| Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia | the chief of the Georgian Orthodox Church in Georgia | Recognized as a Catholicate (Patriarchate) in 1008[22] |
| Serbian Patriarch | the chief of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Serbia (and the former Yugoslavia) | Recognized as a Patriarchate in 1375[23] |
| Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia | the chief of the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia | Recognized as a Patriarchate in 1593[24][25] |
| Patriarch of All Romania | the chief of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Romania | Recognized as a Patriarchate in 1925[26] |
Patriarchs outside the Eastern Orthodox Communion
| Title | Church |
|---|---|
| Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia | The chief of the Russian Old-Orthodox Church. |
| The Patriarch of Kyiv and All Rus-Ukraine | The chief of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church Canonical. |
| Patriarch of the Autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate |
Oriental Orthodox Churches
| Church | Title | Authority | Additional notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coptic Orthodox Church | Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of All Africa | The chief of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria in Egypt and All Africa | |
| Ethiopian Orthodox Church | Archbishop of Axum and Patriarch Catholicos of All Ethiopia | Chief of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Ethiopia | |
| Eritrean Orthodox Church | Archbishop of Asmara and Patriarch of All Eritrea | Chief of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Eritrea | |
| Syriac Orthodox Church | Patriarch of Antioch | Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch | Supreme Leader of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church. |
| Catholicos of India | Maphrian, the second highest ecclesiastical authority in the Syriac Orthodox Church | The local head of the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church | |
| Indian Orthodox Church | Catholicos of the East. | Holds the additional title of Malankara Metropolitan | The supreme leader of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church |
| Armenian Orthodox Church | Catholicos of Etchmiadzin, Armenia and of All Armenians | Supreme leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church | Supreme Patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church |
| Catholicos of Cilicia | Chief of the Armenian Apostolic Church of the Great House of Cilicia | Chief of Diasporan Armenians of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Headquartered in Antelias, Lebanon | |
| ---Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople | Chief of the Armenians in Turkey. | ||
| ---Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem and of Holy Zion | Chief of Armenians in Jerusalem, Israel, Palestine, Jordan and the Persian Gulf |
Church of the East
Catholicose of the East is the title that held by the ecclesiastical heads of the Church of the East, which is now divided into:
The title of "Patriarch" is assumed also by for leaders and church officers of certain Christian denominations, including some of the following:
- Hussite
- The Patriarch of the Czechoslovak Hussite Church mainly in the Czech Republic and also some parts of Slovakia.[1]
- Independent Catholic
- The Patriarch of the Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch.[27]
- The Patriarch of the Apostolic Catholic Church in the Philippines.
- The Patriarch of the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church in Brazil (Not officially used, but described in a similarly holy level).
- The Patriarch of the Venezuelan Catholic Apostolic Church in Venezuela.
- Independent Eastern Catholic
- The Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine.
- Independent Eastern Orthodox
- The Patriarch of the American Orthodox Catholic Church.
- Independent Oriental Orthodox
- The Patriarch of the British Orthodox Church.
- Protestant
- The Patriarch of the International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church.
- Latter Day Saint movement
In the Latter Day Saint movement, a patriarch is one who has been ordained to the office of patriarch in the Melchizedek priesthood. The term is considered synonymous with the term evangelist, a term favored by the Community of Christ. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, one of the patriarch's primary responsibilities is to give patriarchal blessings, as Jacob did to his twelve sons according to the Old Testament. Patriarchs are typically assigned in each stake and possess the title for life.
The term patriarch has also been used for the leader of the extinct Manichaean religion, initially based at Ctesiphon (near modern-day Baghdad) and later at Samarkand.
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