Catholicos

This article deals with the ecclesiastical episcopal title, for the main church building of Greek Orthodox monasteries see Katholikon .

Katholikos (from ancient Greek καθολικός katholikos , German , wholeness 'generally', 'universal' ; plural καθολικοί catholicoi ; latin Catholicus ) is a title for the head of some oriental-orthodox, Byzantine-orthodox and Catholic Eastern churches and largely corresponds to that of a Patriarch . Since the 4th century the title was borne by the Bishop of Seleukia-Ctesiphon and later adopted by other bishops.

The Catholic is the area of jurisdiction of a Catholic and corresponds to a patriarchy .

history

The heads of the churches outside the Roman Empire initially carried the title of Catholicos and later additionally or instead that of a patriarch.

The Bishop of Seleukia-Ctesiphon, as head of the Church in the Persian Empire, was on an equal footing with the five patriarchs of the ancient Church according to the pseudo-Nicene canons . Since the Sassanid Empire was in a permanent state of tension with Eastern Rome (see Late Antiquity and Roman-Persian Wars ), contact between the Church in Persia and the Roman Empire was hindered. Moreover, it was not possible for the state authorities to have a subject of the Roman emperor representing the Christians. The Catholicos received the right to appoint subordinate bishops in his own right and to be elected by them, but initially remained under the supervision of the Patriarch of Antioch .

After the Persian Church as the East Syrian "Church of the East" declared the teachings of Nestorianism to be binding at the Synod of Beth-Lapat in 483 , the Catholicos of Seleukia-Ctesiphon added the designation "Patriarch" to his title.

The Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch later appointed a Catholicos ( Maphrian ) as deputy in the east, who resided in Takrit in Iraq in the Middle Ages . The Catholics of the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church ("Catholicos of the East" and "Catholicos of India") are derived from this.

For comparable political reasons, the heads of the Armenian Apostolic Church and of Albania in the Caucasus as well as the Georgian Church received the Catholic title in the Middle Ages . The Armenian Church knows both Patriarchs and Katholikoi; Patriarchs are ranked below the Catholikoi here.

Some heads of the Eastern Catholic Churches also use the title Catholicos, for example the Armenian Catholic Patriarch and the Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church .

Catholics

The jurisdiction area of Catholicos is according to the Patriarchate as Catholicosate referred.

The most important Catholics are or were:

• Catholic of Seleukia-Ctesiphon , from which the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Patriarchate of Babylon emerged .
• Catholic of the Armenians , from this emerged the Armenian Apostolic Church with its headquarters in Etchmiadzin and its Catholic of Cilicia and the Armenian Catholic Patriarchate of Cilicia . Until the 19th century there was the " Catholic of Aghtamar " ( Vaspurakan ) in the south of Greater Armenia and the Catholic of Albania in the east , ie the "Holy See of Gandzasar ".
• Catholic of Georgia , from which the Georgian Orthodox Church of the Apostles emerged ; At times there was a separate "Catholic / Patriarchate of Abkhazia" in western Georgia.
• Syriac Orthodox "Catholic of the East" ( Maphrianat ), from which the present-day Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church emerged .

literature

• Wilhelm de Vries: The Christian East in the past and present (= The Eastern Christianity. NF Bd. 12, ZDB -ID 531745-9 ). Augustinus-Verlag, Würzburg 1951.
• Hratch Tchilingirian: The Catholicos and the Hierarchical Sees of the Armenian Church . In: Anthony O'Mahony (ed.): Eastern Christianity. Studies in Modern History, Religion and Politics . Melisende, London 2004, pp. 140-159.