KATHOLIKOS. - In Eastern ecclesiastical law, k. means the delegate for the universality of causes. The title was probably given from the 4th century to the supreme bishops of certain Churches that originated from the patriarchate of Antioch, namely those of Seleucia-Ctesiphon (Persia), of Armenia and of Georgia. Very soon every juridical bond with the mother Church disappeared.

At present in the Catholic Church there are two k., the Armenian and the Chaldean, who furthermore received the title of patriarch. Among the dissidents, the Armenians have the supreme k. of Etchmiadzin (v.) and another autonomous one at Sis in Cilicia; a third, that of Aghtamar in Turkey, was not re-established after the Turkish persecution of 1915-18. There are furthermore the k. patriarch of Georgia, already suppressed by the holy Russian Synod in 1818 and re-established in 1917, and finally the k. of the Nestorians in Persia, practically independent. To these must be added the Syrian "mafriano" (v.), who is a true k., but not independent.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: A. Leclercq, s. v. in DACL, VIII, coll. 686-80; IX, coll. 1577-80.

Antonio Wuyts

@incollection{ec7_katholikos, author = {Wuyts, Antonio}, title = {Katholikos}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VII}, pages = {660}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/katholikos} }

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