Catholicos of the East is an ecclesiastical title used by Eastern Churches. The title Catholicos, or "universal leader", is used in several Eastern Christian churches and implies a degree of sovereignty and autocephaly. The designation "Catholicos of the East" originated in the see of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the capital of Persia, center of the Church of the East since the early days of Christianity in Persia.
In the Church of the East, also known as the Nestorian Church, "Catholicos of the East" was one of the titles borne by the Bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, who was the designated Patriarch of the Church of the East. It is still used in two successor churches, the Assyrian Church of the East and the Ancient Church of the East, the heads of which are known as Catholicos-Patriarchs.
Later, the church now known as the Syriac Orthodox Church (Jacobite Church) began using the title for its Maphrian, who was originally the head of the Jacobite Christian community in Nestorian-dominated Persia. This office ranked second in the church hierarchy after the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, until it was abolished in 1860. In the 20th century the title "Catholicos of the East" was resurrected in the context of the Malankara Syrian Church, an Indian church in communion with the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch. Contention over the Patriarch's authority in relation to that of the local Malankara Metropolitan led to a rift in the community, culminating in 1912 when the deposed Patriarch Ignatius Abdul Masih II consecrated the Metropolitan Evanios as Catholicos of the East. The events divided the church into two factions, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, led by the Catholicos, and the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, who supported the Patriarch. In 1964 the church was reunited, and the Patriarch consecrated the Catholicos of the East as the local head of the church. However, by 1975 the church had split again, and the Patriarch began appoint his own Catholicos of the East, known as the Catholicos of India, to head the Jacobite Syrian Church.
Read more about Catholicos Of The East: Viewpoint of The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, Syriac Orthodox Church's View, Other Churches Employing The Title Catholicos
Famous quotes containing the word east:
“A puff of wind, a puff faint and tepid and laden with strange odours of blossoms, of aromatic wood, comes out the still night—the first sigh of the East on my face. That I can never forget. It was impalpable and enslaving, like a charm, like a whispered promise of mysterious delight.... The mysterious East faced me, perfumed like a flower, silent like death, dark like a grave.”
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924)