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Glite Dictionary
Catholicos

Catholicos

9.9
A chief bishop in some Eastern Christian churches, for example the Armenian Church
  • noun
  • /ˈkæθəˌlɪkəs/
translation icon : católico
  • During the ceremony, the Catholicos blessed the congregation and shared a message of hope and unity.
  • Catholicos of All Armenians

Examples

  • As the chief bishop, the Catholicos oversees the spiritual and administrative affairs of the church.

  • For example, in November 1989, Vazken I, Catholicos of all Armenians, addressing leaders of the Armenian National Movement, restated the time-worn ideology of the church's primary role in nation-building:

    Academic text (1991)

  • In 1878, Archbishop Megerdich Khrimian, later Catholicos of All Armenians, attended the Congress of Berlin with a petition asking the major powers to address the oppression of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire

    Academic text (1991)

  • The Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church plays a vital role in guiding the faith of millions.

Synonyms

patriarch
vsCatholicos
  • Formal
9 7.7

A senior church leader in some Eastern Orthodox churches

is the chief bishop title used in other Eastern churches like Armenian and Nestorian
primate
vsCatholicos
  • Formal
6 9.8

A senior bishop who is in charge of other bishops in a country or region

is the same senior role but specific to certain Eastern church traditions

Surface Forms

Catholicos singular
Catholicoses plural

Etymology

Catholicos comes from an old Greek word katholikos, which means 'universal' and is the same root as the English word catholic. So a Catholicos is the chief bishop meant to lead for the whole church.