Catholicos-Patriarch Catholicos, plural Catholicoi, is a title used for the head of certain churches in some Eastern Christian traditions. The title implies autocephaly and in some cases it is the title of the head of an autonomous church. The word comes from ancient ...

'' has been the title of the heads of the

Georgian Orthodox Church The Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სამოციქულო ავტოკეფალური მართლმადიდებელი ეკლესია, tr), commonly ...

since 1010. The first Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia was Melkisedek I (1010–1033). In the 15th century the Georgian Orthodox Church was divided into the East and the West parts and accordingly they were ruled by the ''Catholicos-Patriarch of East Georgia'' and the ''Catholicos-Patriarch of West Georgia''. In 1801, the

Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti The Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti ( ka, ქართლ-კახეთის სამეფო, tr) (1762–1801 ) was created in 1762 by the unification of two Eastern Georgia (country), eastern Georgian kingdoms of Kingdom of Kartli, Kartli and ...

(Eastern Georgia) was occupied and annexed by the Tsarist

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

. In 1811, the

autocephalous Autocephaly (; from el, αὐτοκεφαλία, meaning "property of being self-headed") is the status of a hierarchical Christian church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop. The term is primarily used in Eastern O ...

status (independence) of the Georgian Church was abolished by Russia and the

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

took over its administration. In 1917, the autocephaly of the Georgian Orthodox Church was restored. The first ''Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia'' since the restoration of autocephaly was Kyrion II Sadzaglishvili (1917–1918). To this date there have been 82 Catholicos-Patriarchs, of this 7 have been formally glorified by the Georgian Orthodox Church. The incumbent Catholicos-Patriarch of the church is Patriarch

Ilia II Ilia may refer to: Science and medicine *''Apatura ilia'' or lesser purple emperor, a butterfly *Ilium (bone) (plural: "ilia"), pelvic bone People * Ilia (name), numerous ** Ilia II, the current Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Places * Ili ...

since 1977.

See also