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{{Short description|Title used for the head of churches in some Eastern Christian traditions}}
{{Distinguish|Katholikon||Catholic (term){{!}}Catholic}}

A '''catholicos''' (plural: '''catholicoi''') is the head of certain [[Christian Church|church]]es in some [[Eastern Christianity|Eastern Christian]] traditions. The title implies [[autocephaly]] and, in some cases, it is the title of the head of an autonomous church. The word comes from [[ancient Greek]] {{Lang|grc|καθολικός}} ({{abbr|pl.|plural}} {{Lang|grc|καθολικοί}}), derived from {{Lang|grc|καθ' ὅλου}} ({{Transliteration|grc|kath'olou}}, "generally") from {{Lang|grc|κατά}} ({{Transliteration|grc|kata}}, "down") and {{Lang|grc|ὅλος}} ({{Transliteration|grc|holos}}, "whole"), meaning "concerning the whole, universal, general"; it originally designated a financial or civil office in the [[Roman Empire]].<ref name=Wigram91>Wigram, p. 91.</ref>

The [[Church of the East]], some [[Oriental Orthodox]], [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox]], and [[Eastern Catholic Churches|Eastern Catholic]] churches historically use this title;<ref name=Motu>The Motu Proprio ''Cleri Sanctitati'' Canon 335</ref> for example the [[Armenian Apostolic Church]] and the [[Georgian Orthodox Church]]. In the Church of the East, the title was given to the church's head, the [[patriarch of the Church of the East]]; it is still used in two successor churches, the Assyrian Church of the East and the Ancient Church of the East, the heads of which are known as '''catholicos-patriarchs'''. In the Armenian Church there are two catholicoi: the supreme catholicos of Ejmiadzin and the catholicos of Cilicia. The title ''catholicos-patriarchs'' is also used by the primate of the Armenian Catholic Church.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/catholicos|title = Catholicos &#124; Greek religious title}}</ref> In India, an [[autocephalous]] [[Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church|Oriental Orthodox Church]] and the regional head of [[Jacobite Syrian Christian Church]] (an [[autonomous]] Church within [[Syriac Orthodox Church]]) use this title. The first is the [[catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan]], and the latter the [[catholicos of India]], but unequally same according to the constitution of the [[Syriac Orthodox Church]] and the [[Jacobite Syrian Christian Church]].

== Origin of the title ==
The earliest ecclesiastical use of the title ''catholicos'' was by the [[Catholicos of All Armenians|Bishop of Etchmiadzin]], head of the [[Armenian Apostolic Church]], in the 4th century<ref name=Wigram91/> while still under the Patriarchate of Antioch.<ref name=ce>{{Catholic|wstitle=Catholicos}}</ref> Among the Armenians, catholicos was originally a simple title for the principal bishop of the country; he was subordinate to the See of Caesarea in Cappadocia.<ref name=ce/>

Sometime later, it was adopted by the [[Patriarch of Seleucia-Ctesiphon|Grand metropolitans of Seleucia-Ctesiphon]] in [[Persia]], who became the designated heads of the [[Church of the East]]. The first claim that the bishop of [[Selucia-Ctesiphon]] was superior to the other bishoprics and had (using a later term) ''patriarchal'' rights was made by [[List of Patriarchs of the Church of the East|Patriarch]] [[Papa bar Aggai]] (c. 317 – c. 329). In the 5th century this claim was strengthened and Isaac (or ''Ishaq'', 399 – c. 410), who organized the [[Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon]], used the title of ''bishop of Selucia-Ctesiphon, Catholicos and Head over the bishops of all the Orient''.<ref>{{cite book|page=931|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y7IHmyKcPtYC&pg=PA931|access-date=2009-02-22|title=The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian periods|isbn=978-0-521-24693-4|year=1983|first1=Ehsan|last1=Yar-Shater|first2=W. B.|last2=Fisher| publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref> This line of Catholicos founded the [[List of Patriarchs of the Church of the East|Church of the East]] and the development of the [[East Syriac Rite]].

At the beginning of the fourth century, Albania and Georgia ([[Kingdom of Iberia|Iberia]]) were converted to Christianity, and the principal bishop of each of these countries bore the title of catholicos, although neither of them was autocephalous. They followed the Armenians in rejecting the [[Council of Chalcedon]]. At the end of the sixth or beginning of the seventh century, the Georgian catholicos asserted his independence and accepted Eastern Orthodoxy. Henceforward the Georgian Church underwent the same evolutions as the Greek. In 1783 Georgia was forced to abolish the office of its catholicos, and place itself under the [[Most Holy Synod]] of Russia, to which country it was united politically in 1801. The Albanian catholicos remained loyal to the Armenian Church, with the exception of a brief schism towards the end of the sixth century. Shortly afterwards, Albania was assimilated partly with Armenia and partly with Georgia. There is no mention of any catholicos in Albania after the seventh century. It is asserted by some that the head of the Abyssinian Church, the [[abuna]], also bears the title of catholicos, but, although this name may have been applied to him by analogy, there is, to our{{who|date=October 2023}} knowledge, no authority for asserting that this title is used by the Abyssinian Church itself.<ref name=ce/>

==Catholicos in various churches==

===Autocephalous churches of East ===
The following are [[autocephaly|autocephalous]] churches of [[East Syriac Rite]] that claim succession to the [[Catholicos of the East]] of [[Selucia-Ctesiphon]] of the [[Church of the East]]. Referred to as "Nestorianism" in [[Western world|Western]] texts, the term Nestorian was formally renounced in 1976 by [[Mar Dinkha IV]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}}

====Assyrian Church of the East====
{{main|Assyrian Church of the East}}
{{As of|2021|September|13|df=us}}, [[Awa III]] is the catholicos-patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East. One of the oldest Christian churches, it is a modern successor of the historical [[Church of the East]]. It traces its origins to the See of Seleucia-Ctesiphon in central Mesopotamia, which tradition holds was founded by [[Thomas the Apostle]] as well as [[Mari of Edessa]] and [[Addai of Edessa]] in the year 33 as asserted in the [[Doctrine of Addai]].

It is one of the three churches of the East that hold themselves distinct from [[Oriental Orthodoxy|Oriental]] and [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodoxy]]. It is often called the [[Chaldean Syrian Church]] in India. The church declares that no other church has suffered as many martyrdoms as the Assyrian Church of the East.{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}}

The founders of Assyrian theology were [[Diodorus of Tarsus]] and [[Theodore of Mopsuestia]], who taught at Antioch. The normative Christology of the Assyrian church was written by [[Babai the Great]] (551–628) and is distinct from the accusations directed toward [[Nestorius]]. Babay's main Christological work is called the ''Book of the Union'' and in it, he teaches that the two {{transliteration|syc|qnome}} (essences or [[Hypostasis (philosophy and religion)|hypostases]]) are unmingled but everlastingly united in the {{transliteration|syc|parsopa}} or [[hypostatic union]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}}

====Ancient Church of the East====
{{As of|1972|February|20|df=us}}, [[Mar Addai II|Addai II]] is the catholicos of the [[Ancient Church of the East]], which split from the [[Assyrian Church of the East]] in the 1960s.

===Eastern Orthodox Church===
====Georgian Orthodox Church====
The title of catholicos is also used in the Georgian Church, whose head carries the title [[Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia]].
* Catholicos of [[Georgian Orthodox Church]]
** [[Ilia II]] is the current (as of 22 February 2012) Catholicos of the Georgian Orthodox Church.

=== Oriental Orthodox Churches ===
{{Oriental Orthodox sidebar|expanded=other}}

==== Armenian Apostolic Church ====
In the [[Armenian Church]] there are two catholicoi: the supreme catholicos of Etchmiadzin and the catholicos of Cilicia. The Catholicos of [[Etchmiadzin]] presides over the Supreme Spiritual Council of the Armenian Apostolic Church and is the head of the world's 7 million Armenian Apostolic Christians. The primacy of honour of the Catholicosate of Etchmiadzin has always been recognized by the Catholicosate of Cilicia.
* Catholicos of Etchmiadzin (Catholicos of All Armenians)<ref>[http://66.208.37.78/index.jsp?sid=1&id=2342&pid=5 Official Website of the Armenian Church] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110705194048/http://66.208.37.78/index.jsp?sid=1&id=2342&pid=5 |date=July 5, 2011 }}</ref> of the Armenian Apostolic Church
** [[Karekin II]] is the current catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
* [[Catholicossate of the Great House of Cilicia|Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia]], residing in [[Antelias]], [[Lebanon]] (historically based in [[Sis (ancient city)|Sis]] in [[Cilicia]])
**[[Aram I]] is the present catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia.
Until the 19th century, there were also two other high-ranking Armenian clergymen who held the title of catholicos: the Catholicos of Albania (also known as the Catholicos of [[Gandzasar monastery|Gandzasar]]) and the [[Catholicosate of Aghtamar|Catholicos of Aghtamar]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Aslanian |first=Sebouh |authorlink=Sebouh Aslanian|date=2004 |title=Dispersion History and the Polycentric Nation։ The Role of Simeon Yerevantsi's Girk or Koči partavčar in the 18th Century Nation Revival |url=https://www.academia.edu/8480465 |journal=[[Bazmavēp]] |volume=39 |pages=44 |oclc=79389306}}</ref>

====Syriac Orthodox Church====
In the seventh century, the [[Syriac Orthodox Church|Syriac Orthodox Christians]] who lived in Persia began using the title for its [[maphrian|catholicos / maphrian]], who was originally the head of the Syriac Orthodox Christian community in Persia. This office ranked second in the Syriac Orthodox church hierarchy after the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, until it was abolished in 1860 and reinstated in the [[India]] of the East on 1964.

Today, the title is known as [[Maphrian|Catholicos / Maphrian]] of India or [[Catholicos of India]] of the [[Jacobite Syrian Christian Church]] headquartered at Puthencruz near Kochi in Kerala is an integral branch of Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch headed by [[Ignatius Aphrem II]] Patriarch of Antioch. The current catholicos of the church is [[Baselios Joseph|Baselios Joseph I]].

====Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church====
According to the [http://mosc.in/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/MOSC-Constitution.pdf constitution] of the [[Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church]] (Indian Orthodox Church) the head or primate bears the title [[Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan|Catholicos of the East]] and [[Malankara Metropolitan]]. The church is based at Devalokam near Kottayam in Kerala. As of 2021, the current head is [[Baselios Marthoma Mathews III]]. He is currently the 9th catholicos of the East since it was relocated to India and 92nd Primate on the Apostolic throne of Saint Thomas.<ref>{{Cite web|title=H.H. Baselios Marthoma Mathews III, The Ninth Catholicos of the East in Malankara|url=https://mosc.in/holysynod/his-holiness-baselios-marthoma-mathews-iii|access-date=2022-03-03|website=mosc.in}}</ref>

====Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church====
In 1959, the [[Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria]] granted autocephaly to the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]]. [[Abuna Basilios]] was consecrated the first patriarch-catholicos of the Ethiopian Church by the Coptic [[Pope Cyril VI]] at St. Mark's Cathedral in Cairo on 28 June 1959. The title is "Patriarch and Catholicos of Ethiopia, Ichege of the See of St. Tekle Haymanot, Archbishop of Axum".

===Catholic Church===
Some [[Eastern Catholic Churches]] use the title "Catholicos".

==== Armenian Catholic Church ====
The leader of the [[Armenian Catholic Church]] (of [[Armenian Rite]]), in [[full communion]] with the [[Pope]], uses the title "Catholicos".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.armeniancatholic.org/archives/inside678a.html?lang=en&page_id=21|title=His Beatitude Nerses Bedros XIX Catholicos Patriarch of Cilicia of Armenian Catholics|website=www.armeniancatholic.org}}</ref>

As of March 14, 2022, [[Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian]] is the catholicos-patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church. His full title is officially "''[[List of Armenian Catholic Patriarchs of Cilicia|Catholicos-Patriarch of the House of Cilicia]]''".<ref name="Bari">{{Cite web|url=https://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=37646|title=List of patriarchs, other Christian leaders who gathered with Pope Francis in Bari &#124; News Headlines|website=www.catholicculture.org}}</ref>

====Chaldean Catholic Church====
The [[Chaldean Catholic Church]] (of [[East Syriac Rite]]) is in full communion with the Pope. Although derived from the historical [[Church of the East]], whose leader was initially styled Major Metropolitan and Catholicos and later Patriarch (see [[Church of the East#Organisation and structure]]), it seems to use only the title of "Patriarch".<ref name="Bari"/>

{{As of|2013|February|1|df=us}}, [[Louis Raphaël I Sako]] is the [[Patriarch of Babylon]] of the Chaldeans.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/documentation/cardinali_biografie/cardinali_bio_sako_l.html|title=SAKO Card. Louis Raphaël|website=press.vatican.va}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nasrani.net/2011/06/08/major-arch-bishop-alencheril-mar-giwargis-ii-bava-the-patriarch-of-syro-malabar-church/ | title=Major Arch Bishop Alencheril Mar Giwargis II Bava-The Patriarch of Syro Malabar Church and the Gate of All India- A Discussion on the Historical Hierarchical Status of the Church of Saint Thomas Christians | date=8 June 2011 }}</ref>

==== Syro-Malankara Catholic Church ====
The [[Syro-Malankara Catholic Church]] of [[West Syriac Rite]] in full communion with the Pope is a [[major archiepiscopal church]], a rank granted to the [[Eastern Catholic Churches|Eastern Catholic Church]] by [[Pope John Paul II]] on 10 February 2005.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/40547152|title=THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN INDIA (fourth edition)|first=Prof Paul|last=Pallath|date=January 1, 2019|journal=HIRS Publications, Changanacherry|via=www.academia.edu}}</ref> Accordingly it is headed by [[major archbishop|Major Archbishop]] [[Mar (title)|Moran Mor]] [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|Cardinal]] [[Baselios Cleemis]] Catholica Bava since 2007.<ref name="Press">{{Cite web|url=https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/documentation/cardinali_biografie/cardinali_bio_thottunkal_bc.html|title=THOTTUNKAL Card. Baselios Cleemis|website=press.vatican.va}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://kcbcsite.com/vwmalankara.php|title=Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council: Syro-Malankara Church}}</ref>

He is referred to as catholicos of the Syro Malankara Catholic Church.<ref name="EC">{{cite book|author1=George Thomas Kurian|author2=Mark A. Lamport|title=Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=73xfDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA2245|date=10 November 2016|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=978-1-4422-4432-0|page=2245}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Winfried Aymans|title=Eleven Cardinals Speak: Essays from a Pastoral Viewpoint|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rA3kCwAAQBAJ&pg=PR5|year=2015|publisher=Ignatius Press|isbn=978-1-62164-087-5|page=v}}</ref> In this context, the use of the title "Catholicos" indicates parity between him and his peers in the autocephalous [[Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church]] and in the [[Jacobite Syrian Christian Church]], which remains part of the [[Syriac Orthodox Church]].<ref name= "EC"/>

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Sources==
* {{Cite book |last1=Baum|first1=Wilhelm|author-link1=Wilhelm Baum (historian)|last2=Winkler|first2=Dietmar W.|title=The Church of the East: A Concise History|year=2003|location=London-New York|publisher=Routledge-Curzon |isbn=9781134430192|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=CnSCAgAAQBAJ }}
* {{Cite book|last=Chabot|first=Jean-Baptiste|author-link=Jean-Baptiste Chabot|title=Synodicon orientale ou recueil de synodes nestoriens|year=1902|location=Paris|publisher=Imprimerie Nationale|url=https://archive.org/download/ChabotSynodiconOrientale/chabot%20synodicon%20orientale.pdf}}
* {{Cite book|last=Meyendorff|first=John|author-link=John Meyendorff|year=1989|title=Imperial unity and Christian divisions: The Church 450-680 A.D.|series=The Church in history|volume=2|location=Crestwood, NY|publisher=St. Vladimir's Seminary Press|isbn=9780881410563|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6J_YAAAAMAAJ}}
* {{Cite book|last=Wigram|first=William Ainger|author-link=William Ainger Wigram|title=An Introduction to the History of the Assyrian Church or The Church of the Sassanid Persian Empire 100-640 A.D.|year=1910|location=London|publisher=Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge|isbn=9780837080789|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zUYKAQAAMAAJ}}

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[[Category:Ecclesiastical titles]]
[[Category:Eastern Christian ecclesiastical offices]]
[[Category:Bishops by type]]
[[Category:Syro-Malankara Catholic Church]]
[[Category:Christian terminology]]