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Originally, a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is termed patriarchy.
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]
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.[8]
Today, the word has acquired specific ecclesiastical meanings. In particular, the highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), and the Church of the East are termed patriarchs (and in certain cases also popes). The office and the ecclesiastical circumscription of such a patriarch is termed a patriarchate. 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).
Index of religious honorifics and titles
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 a small area near Constantinople and along the coast of the Black Sea. He included in this patriarchate also the western part of North Africa. Justinian's system was given formal ecclesiastical recognition by the Quinisext Council of 692, which the see of Rome has, however, not recognized.
Popes have in the past occasionally used the title Patriarch of the West, without defining it. Beginning 1863, this title appeared in the annual reference publication, episcopal conferences and their international groupings.[9]
Six of the particular Eastern Catholic Churches are headed by a patriarch with a claim to one (or more) of the ancient patriarchal sees:
Four more of the Eastern Catholic Churches are headed by a prelate known as a "Major Archbishop," a title created in 1963 and essentially equivalent to that of Patriarch:[10]
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: The election of major archbishops has to be confirmed by the pope before they are allowed to take office.[11] No papal confirmation is needed for newly elected patriarchs before they take office. They are just required to petition the pope as soon as possible for the concession of what is called ecclesiastical communion.[12][13]
Patriarchs of the Church of the East, sometimes also referred to as Nestorian, the Church of Persia, the Sassanid Church, or, in modern times, the Assyrian Church of the East, trace their lineage of patriarchs back to the 1st century.
The title of "Patriarch" is assumed also by the leaders of certain relatively recent groups, in particular those that are called independent Catholic Churches, who are in communion with none of the historic Christian 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.
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