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 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.
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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 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 to the bishop of Rome a patriarchate covering the whole of Christianized Europe (including almost all of modern Greece), except Thrace, the areas around Constantinople, and the Black Sea coast. He also included the western part of North Africa in this patriarchate. 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 in 1824
The Maronite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and head of the Maronite Church, recognised in 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.
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 in 1099.
The Patriarch of the East Indies, a titular patriarchal see, united to Goa and Daman, established in 1886.
The Patriarch of Lisbon, established in 1716.
The Patriarch of Venice, established in 1451.
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 – from 1555 to 1663, never effective, only held by Iberian Jesuits
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.
Motu proprio Mutua Concordia
Under the provision of Mutua Concordia, an Apostolic Letter published on August 29, 2026, Pope Leo XIV introduced for Eastern Synods the faculty to remove Patriarchs from office with a "secret ballot of at least two-thirds of the members of the Synod entitled to vote". Belongs to the Pope the power of confirming Synod's decision.
Eastern Christianity
Eastern Orthodox
The five ancient Patriarchates, the Pentarchy, listed in order of preeminence ranked by the Quinisext Council of 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:
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.
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.
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.