(πατριάρχης, a father, and ἀρχή, I govern) is a title applied to the heads of families in early history, and especially to the ancestors of the Israelites from Adam to Jacob, and to his twelve sons in particular. The name was kept up among the Jews after the dispersion; and Hillel the Babylonian is said to have been the first of the Jewish patriarchs. The principal business of this class seems to have been the instruction of the people.

The title of Patriarch was also assumed in the Christian church about the fourth century by the bishops of the principal cities of the Roman empire, such as Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, and Antioch. The patriarchate of Constantinople swallowed up those of Antioch and Alexandria; and the Bishop of Constantinople assumed the title of "Universal Patriarch." The Bishop of Rome in turn bore the name of "Prince of the Patriarchs;" and the struggle which ensued between the two rival ecclesiastics led to the separation of the Eastern and Western Churches.