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The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Roman 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).

The word is derived from Greek πατριάρχης (''patriarchēs''), meaning "chief or father of a family", a compound of πατριά (''patria''), meaning "family", and ἄρχειν (''archein''), meaning "to rule".Online Etymological Dictionary: "patriarch"
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Originally, a ''patriarch'' was a man who exercised authority as a pater familias over an extended family. 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.

Catholic Church

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.

Since the Council of Nicaea, the bishop of Rome has been recognized as the first among patriarchs. 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:
* The Patriarch of Rome (Pope), as head of the Latin Church
* 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," a title essentially equivalent to that of Patriarch and originally created by Pope Paul VI in 1963 for Josyf Slipyj.

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

One of the pope's traditional titles in some eras and contexts has been "Patriarch of the West" (Latin: ''Patriarcha Occidentis''; Greek: Πατριάρχης τῆς Δύσεως), highlighting the role of the bishop of Rome as the highest authority of the Latin Church.

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. The title was reintroduced in the 2024 edition of ''Annuario Pontificio''. No explanation was provided for its reintroduction.

Current and historical Catholic patriarchates

Eastern Christianity

Eastern Orthodox

*The five ancient Patriarchates, the Pentarchy, listed in order of preeminence ranked by the Quinisext Council in 692:

*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:

Patriarchs outside the Eastern Orthodox Communion

Oriental Orthodox Churches

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:
* Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East.
* Catholicos-Patriarchs of the Ancient Church of the East (since 1964)

Other Christian denominations

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.

;Independent Catholic
*The Patriarch of the Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch.When a woman was elected head of this church, she was styled Matriarch.
*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.

Manichaeism

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.

See also

* List of current patriarchs
* Lists of Patriarchs
* Catholicos
* Patriarchate
* Patriarchy
* Matriarchy
* Lists of popes, patriarchs, primates, archbishops, and bishops
* Major archbishop
* List of metropolitans and patriarchs of Moscow
* Rishama in Mandaeism

References

Further reading

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External links

Current and former patriarchates of the Catholic Church (GCatholic)


* ttp://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/data/type-patr.htm Current patriarchates of the Catholic Church (GCatholic)

WorldStatesmen - Religious Organisations
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Catholic ecclesiastical titles
Episcopacy in Eastern Orthodoxy
Episcopacy in Oriental Orthodoxy
Christian terminology
Autocracy