Patriarch

This article is about the title in Christianity. For other uses, see Patriarch (disambiguation).

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).

Patriarchs in different Christian confessions, including Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and Catholicism respectively from left to right:
Eastern Orthodox: Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II, Patriarch of All Romania Daniel and Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus' Kirill I
Oriental Orthodox: Patriarch of Armenia Garegin II, Coptic Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria Tawadros II, Patriarch-Catholicos of All Ethiopia Mathias I and Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch Ignatius Aphrem II
Catholic: Syriac Catholic Patriarch of Antioch Ignatius Joseph III Yonan, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Coptic Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak and Maronite Patriarch of Antioch Bechara Boutros al-Rahi

The word is derived from Greek πατριάρχης (patriarchēs),^[1] meaning "chief or father of a family",^[2] a compound of πατριά (patria),^[3] meaning "family", and ἄρχειν (archein),^[4] meaning "to rule".^[2][5][6][7]

Originally, a patriarch was a man who exercised authority as a pater familias over an extended family.^[8] 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.^[9]

Catholic Church

Catholic Patriarchal (non cardinal) coat of arms

Patriarchs

Map of Justinian's Pentarchy

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.^[10]

Since the Council of Nicaea, the bishop of Rome has been recognized as the first among patriarchs.^[11] 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:^[12]

• The Patriarch of Rome (Pope), as head of the Latin Church^[13]
• 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,"^[14] a title essentially equivalent to that of Patriarch and originally created by Pope Paul VI in 1963 for Josyf Slipyj.^[15]

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

Main article: 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.^[16] The title was reintroduced in the 2024 edition of Annuario Pontificio. No explanation was provided for its reintroduction.^[17]

Current and historical Catholic patriarchates

Current and historical Catholic patriarchates

Type	Church	Patriarchate	Patriarch
Patriarchs of autonomous particular churches	Latin	Rome	Pope Leo XIV
	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 Christianity

Eastern Orthodox

Main article: Eastern Orthodox

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

The five ancient Patriarchates, the Pentarchy

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.[18]
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:

The five junior Patriarchates created after the consolidation of the Pentarchy

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[19]
Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia	the chief of the Georgian Orthodox Church in Georgia	Recognized as a Catholicate (Patriarchate) in 1008[20]
Serbian Patriarch	the chief of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Serbia (and the former Yugoslavia)	Recognized as a Patriarchate in 1375[21]
Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia	the chief of the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia	Recognized as a Patriarchate in 1593[22][23]
Patriarch of All Romania	the chief of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Romania	Recognized as a Patriarchate in 1925[24]

Patriarchs outside the Eastern Orthodox Communion

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

Main article: Oriental Orthodoxy

Oriental Orthodox leaders

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 and All the East	Supreme Head of Universal Syriac Orthodox Church	Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and all the east
	Catholicos of India Maphrian of the East	The second highest ecclesiastical authority in the Syriac Orthodox Church. He is also the Malankara Metropolitan of Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church	The Regional 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

Main articles: Nestorianism, List of patriarchs of the Church of the East, and Catholicos of the East (disambiguation)

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.^[25]

Independent Catholic

• The Patriarch of the Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch.^[26]
• 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

Main article: Patriarch (Latter Day Saints)

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

• Christianity portal

• 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