Шығыс Христиандық дәстүрлердегі шіркеу басшысы атағы

Title used for the head of churches in some Eastern Christian traditions

A catholicos (plural: catholicoi) is the head of certain churches in some Eastern Christian traditions. The title implies autocephaly and, in some cases, it is the title of the head of an autonomous church. The word comes from ancient Greek καθολικός (pl. (plural) καθολικοί), derived from καθ' ὅλου (kath'olou, "generally") from κατά (kata, "down") and ὅλος (holos, "whole"), meaning "concerning the whole, universal, general"; it originally designated a financial or civil office in the Roman Empire. The Church of the East, some Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic churches historically use this title; for example the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Georgian Orthodox Church. In the Church of the East, the title was given to the church's head, the 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. In the Armenian Church there are two catholicoi: the supreme catholicos of Ejmiadzin and the catholicos of Cilicia. The title catholicos patriarchs is also used by the primate of the Armenian Catholic Church. In India, an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox Church and the regional head of Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church (an autonomous Church within Syriac Orthodox Church) use this title. The first is the catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan, and the latter the catholicos of India, but unequally same according to the constitution of the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church.

In the seventh century, the Syriac Orthodox Christians who lived in Persia began using the title for its catholicos / maphrian, who was originally the head of the Syriac Orthodox Christian community in Persia. This office ranked second in the Syriac Orthodox church hierarchy after the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, until it was abolished in 1860 and reinstated in the India of the East on 1964. Today, the title is known as Catholicos / Maphrian of India or Catholicos of India of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church headquartered at Puthencruz near Kochi in Kerala is an integral branch of Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch headed by Ignatius Aphrem II Patriarch of Antioch. The current catholicos of the church is Baselios Thomas I.

According to the constitution of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (Indian Orthodox Church) the head or primate bears the title Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan. The church is based at Devalokam near Kottayam in Kerala. As of 2021, the current head is Baselios Marthoma Mathews III. He is currently the 9th catholicos of the East since it was relocated to India and 92nd Primate on the Apostolic throne of Saint Thomas.

In 1959, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria granted autocephaly to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Abuna Basilios was consecrated the first patriarch catholicos of the Ethiopian Church by the Coptic Pope Cyril VI at St. Mark's Cathedral in Cairo on 28 June 1959. The title is "Patriarch and Catholicos of Ethiopia, Ichege of the See of St. Tekle Haymanot, Archbishop of Axum".

Some Eastern Catholic Churches use the title "Catholicos".

The leader of the Armenian Catholic Church (of Armenian Rite), in full communion with the Pope, uses the title "Catholicos". As of March 14, 2022, Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian is the catholicos patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church. His full title is officially "Catholicos Patriarch of the House of Cilicia".

The Chaldean Catholic Church (of East Syriac Rite) is in full communion with the Pope. Although derived from the historical Church of the East, whose leader was initially styled Major Metropolitan and Catholicos and later Patriarch (see Church of the East#Organisation and structure), it seems to use only the title of "Patriarch".

The Syro Malankara Catholic Church of West Syriac Rite in full communion with the Pope is a major archiepiscopal church, a rank granted to the Eastern Catholic Church by Pope John Paul II on 10 February 2005. Accordingly it is headed by Major Archbishop Moran Mor Cardinal Baselios Cleemis Catholica Bava since 2007. He is referred to as catholicos of the Syro Malankara Catholic Church. In this context, the use of the title "Catholicos" indicates parity between him and his peers in the autocephalous Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and in the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, which remains part of the Syriac Orthodox Church.