447
edits
Changes
no edit summary
The word Catholicos comes from the Greek καθολικός (Katholikos), pl. καθολικοί, meaning: concerning the whole, universal or general. The title seems to have originated among the churches on the eastern edge of the Roman Empire and within the Persian Empire around the third and fourth centuries. The [[Church of Antioch|Patriarch of Antioch]] presided over much of this area. By the end of the fifth century almost all the local bishops used the title ''catholicos''. Thus, the word ''catholicos'' at the time was not synonymous with ''patriarch''.
During the Christological disputes, many of the Catholicates catholicates in the middle east came to reject the position of the Orthodox as expressed by the decisions Middle East rejected certain of the later [[Ecumenical Councils]], joining principally the with most becoming [[Nestorianism|NestorianOriental Orthodox]] or Churches and one becoming known as the [[MonophysitismAssyrian Church of the East|Monophysitic]] [[heresy|heresiesChurch of the East]]. Only the catholicate of the [[Church of Georgia]] remained Orthodox accepted Ephesus, Chalcedon, and the councils which followed them. It retains use of Catholicos catholicos in the ruling its first hierarch’s title: His Holiness and Beatitude, which is 'Catholicos-Patriarch of all Mtskheta, Tbilisi, and All Georgia.'
==See alsoAlso==
*[[Bishop]]
*[[Patriarch]]
