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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). [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]
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]
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]
Within their proper sui iuris churches there is no difference between patriarchs and major archbishops. However, differences exist in the order of precedence (i.e. patriarchs take precedence over major archbishops) and in the mode of accession. Whereas the election of a major archbishop has to be confirmed by the pope before he may take office, [17] no papal confirmation is needed for a newly elected patriarch before he takes office. Rather, a newly installed patriarch is required to petition the pope as soon as possible for the concession of what is called ecclesiastical communion. [18] [19] Furthermore, patriarchs who are created cardinals form part of the order of cardinal bishops, whereas major archbishops are only created cardinal priests.
Minor patriarchs do not have jurisdiction over other metropolitan bishops. The title is granted purely as an honor for various historical reasons. They take precedence after the heads of autonomous churches in full communion, whether pope, patriarch, or major archbishop.
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.
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. From 1863 to 2005, the title "Patriarch of the West" was appended to the list of papal titles in the Annuario Pontificio , which in 1885 became a semi-official publication of the Holy See. This was done without historical precedent or theological justification: There was no ecclesiastical office as such, except occasionally as a truism: the patriarch of Rome, for the Latin Church, was the only patriarch, and the only apostolic see, in the "west".
The title was not included in the 2006 Annuario. 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. [20]
Though the formulation "Patriarch of the West" is no longer used, the pope in that role 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. [21]
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 | Babylon | Louis Raphaël I Sako | |
Major archbishops of autonomous particular churches | Ukrainian | Kyiv-Halych | Sviatoslav Shevchuk |
Syro-Malabar | Ernakulam-Angamaly | George Alencherry | |
Syro-Malankara | Trivandrum | Baselios Cleemis | |
Romanian | Făgăraş and Alba Iulia | Lucian Mureșan | |
Titular Latin Church patriarchs | Latin | Aquileia | suppressed in 1751 |
Latin | Grado | suppressed in 1451 | |
Latin | Jerusalem | Pierbattista Pizzaballa | |
Latin | Lisbon | Manuel (III) Clemente | |
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 | |
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 381 by First Council of Constantinople. |
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. |
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 [22] |
Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia | the chief of the Georgian Orthodox Church in Georgia | Recognized as a Catholicate (Patriarchate) in 1008 [23] |
Serbian Patriarch | the chief of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Serbia (and the former Yugoslavia) | Recognized as a Patriarchate in 1375 [24] |
Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia | the chief of the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia | Recognized as a Patriarchate in 1589 [25] |
Patriarch of All Romania | the chief of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Romania | Recognized as a Patriarchate in 1925 [26] |
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. |
The Patriarch of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Europe [27] | |
Patriarch of the Autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate |
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 | The Spiritual Leader of Oriental Orthodoxy. |
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 Malankara 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 |
Catholicose of the East is the title that has been held by the ecclesiastical heads of the Church of the East, the Grand Metropolitan of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, since AD. 280.
It refers to Patriarchs of the Church of the East, primate (Catholicos-Patriarch) of the Church of the East now divided into:
The title of "Patriarch" is assumed also by the leaders of certain Christian denominations, who are seldom in communion with none of the historic Christian Churches. Many, but not necessarily all such patriarchs are church leaders of the following Churches:
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.
Patriarchate is an ecclesiological term in Christianity, designating the office and jurisdiction of an ecclesiastical patriarch. According to Christian tradition three patriarchates were established by the apostles as apostolic sees in the 1st century: Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria. Constantinople was added in the 4th century and Jerusalem in the 5th century. Eventually, together, these five were recognised as the pentarchy by the Council of Ephesus in 431.
The Patriarch of Alexandria is the archbishop of Alexandria, Egypt. Historically, this office has included the designation "pope".
The Latin Patriarchate of Constantinople was an office established as a result of the Fourth Crusade and its conquest of Constantinople in 1204. It was a Roman Catholic replacement for the Eastern Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, and remained in the city until the reconquest of Constantinople by the Byzantines in 1261, whereupon it became a titular see. The office was abolished in 1964.
The Syriac Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Christian jurisdiction originating in the Levant that uses the West Syriac Rite liturgy and has many practices and rites in common with the Syriac Orthodox Church. Being one of the twenty-three Eastern Catholic Churches, the Syriac Catholic Church is a self-governed sui iuris particular church, while it is in full communion with the Holy See and with the entirety of the Catholic Church.
An exarch was the holder of any of various historical offices, some of them being political or military and others being ecclesiastical.
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem is the Latin Catholic ecclesiastical patriarchate in Jerusalem, officially seated in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It was originally established in 1099, with the Kingdom of Jerusalem encompassing the territories in the Holy Land newly conquered by the First Crusade. From 1374 to 1847 it was a titular see, with the patriarchs of Jerusalem being based at the Basilica di San Lorenzo fuori le Mura in Rome. A resident Latin patriarch was re-established in 1847 by Pius IX.
Patriarch of Antioch is a traditional title held by the bishop of Antioch. As the traditional "overseer" of the first gentile Christian community, the position has been of prime importance in Pauline Christianity from its earliest period. This diocese is one of the few for which the names of its bishops from the apostolic beginnings have been preserved. Today five churches use the title of patriarch of Antioch: one Oriental Orthodox ; three Eastern Catholic ; and one Eastern Orthodox.
The Latin patriarch of Antioch was a prelate of the Latin Church created in 1098 by Bohemond I of Taranto, founder of the Principality of Antioch, one of the crusader states.
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 Greek καθολικός, pl. καθολικοί, derived from καθ' ὅλου from κατά and ὅλος, meaning "concerning the whole, universal, general"; it originally designated a financial or civil office in the Roman Empire.
The Melkite Greek Catholic Church, or Melkite Byzantine Catholic Church, is an Eastern Catholic church in full communion with the Holy See as part of the worldwide Catholic Church. Its chief pastor is Patriarch Youssef Absi, headquartered at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Dormition, Damascus, Syria. The Melkites, who are Byzantine Rite Catholics, trace their history to the early Christians of Antioch, formerly part of Syria and now in Turkey, of the 1st century AD, where Christianity was introduced by Saint Peter.
The hierarchy of the Catholic Church consists of its bishops, priests, and deacons. In the ecclesiological sense of the term, "hierarchy" strictly means the "holy ordering" of the Church, the Body of Christ, so to respect the diversity of gifts and ministries necessary for genuine unity.
The title of patriarchs of the East is used by primates of several Christian denominations within Eastern Christianity. Historically, the title originated as ecclesiastical designation for primates of the Church of the East. It was, and still is, officially used by different branches of the historical Church of the East.
Pentarchy is a model of Church organization formulated in the laws of Emperor Justinian I (527–565) of the Roman Empire. In this model, the Christian church is governed by the heads (patriarchs) of the five major episcopal sees of the Roman Empire: Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem.
The Latin Patriarchate of Alexandria was a nominal Patriarchate of the Latin church on the see of Alexandria in Egypt.
The Melkite Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch is the only actual residential Patriarchate of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. It was formed in 1724 when a portion of the Orthodox Church of Antioch went into communion with Rome, becoming an Eastern Catholic Church, while the rest of the ancient Patriarchate continues in full communion with the rest of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
The Coptic Catholic Patriarchate of Alexandria is the Patriarchal and only Metropolitan see of the head of the Eastern sui iuris Coptic Catholic Church, a particular Church in the Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See, which follows the Alexandrian Rite in its own Coptic language. He is thus the superior of all Coptic dioceses, mostly in and around Egypt, the word Copt(ic) being a corruption of the Greek word for Egypt(ian).
Precedence signifies the right to enjoy a prerogative of honor before other persons; for example, to have the most distinguished place in a procession, a ceremony, or an assembly, to have the right to express an opinion, cast a vote, or append a signature before others, to perform the most honorable offices.
The Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antiochܦܛܪܝܪܟܐ ܕܐܢܛܝܘܟܝܐ is the bishop of Antioch, and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church. He is the Head of the Holy Synod of the Syriac Orthodox Church, the highest authority of the Syriac Orthodox Church.