Associations to the word «Patriarch»

Wiktionary

PATRIARCH, noun. (Christianity) The highest form of bishop, in the ancient world having authority over other bishops in the province but now generally as an honorary title; in Roman Catholicism, considered a bishop second only to the Pope in rank. [from 9th c.]
PATRIARCH, noun. In Biblical contexts, a male leader of a family, tribe or ethnic group, especially one of the twelve sons of Jacob (considered to have created the twelve tribes of Israel) or (in plural) Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. [from 13th c.]
PATRIARCH, noun. A founder of a political or religious movement, an organization or an enterprise. [from 16th c.]
PATRIARCH, noun. An old leader of a village or community.
PATRIARCH, noun. The male head of a tribal line or family.

Dictionary definition

PATRIARCH, noun. Title for the heads of the Eastern Orthodox Churches (in Istanbul and Alexandria and Moscow and Jerusalem).
PATRIARCH, noun. The male head of family or tribe.
PATRIARCH, noun. Any of the early biblical characters regarded as fathers of the human race.
PATRIARCH, noun. A man who is older and higher in rank than yourself.

Wise words

The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things you get ashamed of because words diminish your feelings - words shrink things that seem timeless when they are in your head to no more than living size when they are brought out.
Stephen King