patriarch

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". 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 ...