PATRIARCHS, among Christians, are ecclesiastical dig-
Patriarchs dignitaries, or bishops, so called from their paternal authority in the church. The power of patriarchs was not the same in all, but differed according to the different customs of countries, or the pleasures of kings and councils. Thus the patriarch of Constantinople grew to be a patriarch over the patriarchs of Ephesus and Cæsarea, and was called the ecumenical and universal patriarch; and the patriarch of Alexandria had some prerogatives which no other patriarch but himself enjoyed, such as the right of consecrating and approving every single bishop under his jurisdiction.