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Word: patriarch (lookup usage) (lookup stats)


Meaning:

Noun:

  • Abraham, his son Isaac or his grandson Jacob. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriarchs_(Bible) ''see Wikipedia'']
  • A founder of a political or religious movement, an organization or an enterprise.
  • A male leader of a family, a tribe or an ethnic or religious group.
  • (Bible Dictionary) Patriarch is an ordained office in the Melchizedek Priesthood. The fathers from Adam to Jacob were all patriarchs of this kind. The word as used in the Bible seems to denote also a title of honor to early leaders of the Israelites, such as David (Acts 2:29) and the 12 sons of Jacob (Acts 7:8-9). The word is of Greek derivation and means father-ruler; the Hebrew translation simply means ''father''.
  • Christianity The highest form of bishop, generally in charge of an ethnic community, but in terms of the pope and the ecumenical patriarch, the former is the Patriarch of the West and the latter is the Patriarch of the East, a division dating to the Emperor Constantine the Great. The cities of Antioch, Alexandria, and almost as an afterthought, Jerusalem are accorded equal historical if not ecclesial dignity. Any and all other patriarchs, particularly that of the Russian church, are inferior.

Source: Wiktionary | Src Info »