PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA FULL

There were ecclesiastical dignitaries with all the rights and prerogatives of patriarchs in the first three centuries but the official title does not occur till later. At first they were used loosely as names of honour without any strict connotation but in all such cases the reality existed before any special name was used. All such titles became technical terms, official titles, only gradually. Bishops of special dignity were called patriarchs just as deacons were called levites, because their place corresponded by analogy to those in the Old Law. The name patriarch is one of the latter class. Names of Christian dignitaries were in early days taken sometimes from civil life ( episkopos, diakonos), sometimes borrowed from the Jews ( presbyteros).

the invocation in the litany, 'All ye holy Patriarchs and Prophets'. The heads of the tribes were the 'Twelve Patriarchs', though the word is used also in a more general sense for the fathers of the Old Law in general, e.g. This last became the special meaning of the word when used of Scriptural characters. 2 Chronicles 23:20 etc.) in the New Testament ( Hebrews 7:4) it is applied to Abraham as a version of his title 'father of many nations' ( Genesis 17:4), to David ( Acts 2:29), and to the twelve sons of Jacob ( Acts 7:8-9).

1 Chronicles 24:31 27:22, patriarchai ton phylon cf. The word occurs in the Septuagint for the chiefs of the tribes (e.g. patriarches Latin patriarcha) means the father or chief of a race ( patria, a clan or family). Names of the highest ecclesiastical dignitaries after the pope, and of the territory they rule. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more all for only $19.99.

PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA FULL

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Patriarch of alexandria