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patriarch definition

pa·tri·arch (pā′trē ärk′)

noun

  1. the father and ruler of a family or tribe, as one of the founders of the ancient Hebrew families: in the Bible, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob's twelve sons were patriarchs
  2. a person regarded as the founder or father of a colony, religion, business, etc.
  3. a man of great age and dignity
  4. the oldest individual of a class or group
    1. a bishop in the early Christian Church, esp. a bishop of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, or Jerusalem
    2. R.C.Ch. the pope (Patriarch of the West), or any of certain bishops ranking immediately after him, as the bishops of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem
    3. Eastern Orthodox Ch. the highest-ranking bishop at Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Moscow, Bucharest, etc.
    4. the jurisdictional head of any of certain other churches, as the Coptic, Nestorian, Armenian, etc.
    5. Mormon Ch. a high-ranking member of the Melchizedek priesthood

Etymology: ME patriarche < OFr < LL(Ec) patriarcha < Gr(Ec) patriarchēs (transl. of Heb roshe-avot) < Gr patria, family < patēr, father + -archēs < archein, to rule

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