Acatholicos (plural:catholicoi) is the head of certainchurches in someEastern Christian traditions. The title impliesautocephaly and, in some cases, it is the title of the head of an autonomous church. The word comes fromancient Greekκαθολικός (pl.καθολικοί), derived fromκαθ' ὅλου (kath'olou, "generally") fromκατά (kata, "down") andὅλος (holos, "whole"), meaning "concerning the whole, universal, general"; it originally designated a financial or civil office in theRoman Empire.[1]
TheChurch of the East, someOriental Orthodox,Eastern Orthodox, andEastern Catholic churches historically use this title;[2] for example theArmenian Apostolic Church and theGeorgian Orthodox Church. In the Church of the East, the title was given to the church's head, thepatriarch 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 ascatholicos-patriarchs. In the Armenian Church there are two catholicoi: the supreme catholicos of Ejmiadzin and the catholicos of Cilicia. The titlecatholicos-patriarchs is also used by the primate of the Armenian Catholic Church.[3] In India, anautocephalousOriental Orthodox Church and the regional head ofJacobite Syrian Christian Church (anautonomous Church withinSyriac Orthodox Church) use this title. The first is thecatholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan, and the latter thecatholicos of India, butunequally same[clarify] according to the constitution of theSyriac Orthodox Church and theJacobite Syrian Christian Church.
The earliest ecclesiastical use of the titlecatholicos was by theBishop of Etchmiadzin, head of theArmenian Apostolic Church, in the 4th century[1] while still under the Patriarchate of Antioch.[4] 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.[4]
Sometime later, it was adopted by theGrand metropolitans of Seleucia-Ctesiphon inPersia, who became the designated heads of theChurch of the East. The first claim that the bishop ofSelucia-Ctesiphon was superior to the other bishoprics and had (using a later term)patriarchal rights was made byPatriarchPapa bar Aggai (c. 317 – c. 329). In the 5th century this claim was strengthened and Isaac (orIshaq, 399 – c. 410), who organized theCouncil of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, used the title ofbishop of Selucia-Ctesiphon, Catholicos and Head over the bishops of all the Orient.[5] This line of Catholicos founded theChurch of the East and the development of theEast Syriac Rite.
At the beginning of the fourth century, Albania and Georgia (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 theCouncil 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 theMost 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, theabuna, also bears the title of catholicos, but, although this name may have been applied to him by analogy, there is, to our[who?] knowledge, no authority for asserting that this title is used by the Abyssinian Church itself.[4]
The following areautocephalous churches ofEast Syriac Rite that claim succession to theCatholicos of the East ofSelucia-Ctesiphon of theChurch of the East. Referred to as "Nestorianism" inWestern texts, the term Nestorian was formally renounced in 1976 byMar Dinkha IV.[citation needed]
As of September 13, 2021[update],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 historicalChurch of the East. It traces its origins to the See of Seleucia-Ctesiphon in central Mesopotamia, which tradition holds was founded byThomas the Apostle as well asMari of Edessa andAddai of Edessa in the year 33 as asserted in theDoctrine of Addai.
It is one of the three churches of the East that hold themselves distinct fromOriental andEastern Orthodoxy. It is often called theChaldean 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]
The founders of Assyrian theology wereDiodorus of Tarsus andTheodore of Mopsuestia, who taught at Antioch. The normative Christology of the Assyrian church was written byBabai the Great (551–628) and is distinct from the accusations directed towardNestorius. Babay's main Christological work is called theBook of the Union and in it, he teaches that the twoqnome (essences orhypostases) are unmingled but everlastingly united in theparsopa orhypostatic union.[citation needed]
As of February 20, 1972[update],Addai II is the catholicos of theAncient Church of the East, which split from theAssyrian Church of the East in the 1960s.
The title of catholicos is also used in the Georgian Church, whose head carries the titleCatholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia.
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In theArmenian Church there are two catholicoi: the supreme catholicos of Etchmiadzin and the catholicos of Cilicia. The Catholicos ofEtchmiadzin 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.
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 ofGandzasar) and theCatholicos of Aghtamar.[7]
In the seventh century, theSyriac Orthodox Christians who lived in Persia began using the title for itscatholicos / 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 theIndia of the East on 1964.
Today, the title is known asCatholicos / Maphrian of India orCatholicos of India of theJacobite Syrian Christian Church headquartered at Puthencruz near Kochi in Kerala is an integral branch of Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch headed byIgnatius Aphrem II Patriarch of Antioch. The current catholicos of the church isBaselios Joseph I.
According to theconstitution of theMalankara Orthodox Syrian Church (Indian Orthodox Church) the head or primate bears the titleCatholicos of the East andMalankara Metropolitan. The church is based at Devalokam near Kottayam in Kerala. As of 2021, the current head isBaselios 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.[8]
In 1959, theCoptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria granted autocephaly to theEthiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.Abuna Basilios was consecrated the first patriarch-catholicos of the Ethiopian Church by the CopticPope 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".
SomeEastern Catholic Churches use the title "Catholicos".
The leader of theArmenian Catholic Church (ofArmenian Rite), infull communion with thePope, uses the title "Catholicos".[9]
As of March 14, 2022,Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian is the catholicos-patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church. His full title is officially "Catholicos-Patriarch of the House of Cilicia".[10]
TheChaldean Catholic Church (ofEast Syriac Rite) is in full communion with the Pope. Although derived from the historicalChurch of the East, whose leader was initially styled Major Metropolitan and Catholicos and later Patriarch (seeChurch of the East#Organisation and structure), it seems to use only the title of "Patriarch".[10]
As of February 1, 2013[update],Louis Raphaël I Sako is thePatriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans.[11][12]
TheSyro-Malankara Catholic Church ofWest Syriac Rite in full communion with the Pope is amajor archiepiscopal church, a rank granted to theEastern Catholic Church byPope John Paul II on 10 February 2005.[13] Accordingly it is headed byMajor ArchbishopMoran MorCardinalBaselios Cleemis Catholica Bava since 2007.[14][15]
He is referred to as catholicos of the Syro Malankara Catholic Church.[16][17] In this context, the use of the title "Catholicos" indicates parity between him and his peers in the autocephalousMalankara Orthodox Syrian Church and in theJacobite Syrian Christian Church, which remains part of theSyriac Orthodox Church.[16]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Catholicos".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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