noun. A man who rules a family, clan, or tribe.

noun. undefined

noun. One of the antediluvian progenitors of the human race, from Adam to Noah.

noun. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, or any of Jacob's 12 sons, the eponymous progenitors of the 12 tribes of Israel.

noun. Used formerly as a title for the bishops of Rome, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria.

noun. A bishop who holds the highest episcopal rank after the pope.

noun. Any one of the bishops of the sees of Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, Moscow, and Jerusalem who has authority over other bishops.

noun. The head of the Sanhedrin in Syrian Palestine from about 180 BC to AD 429.

noun. A high dignitary of the priesthood empowered to invoke blessings.

noun. One who is regarded as the founder or original head of an enterprise, organization, or tradition.

noun. A very old, venerable man; an elder.

noun. The oldest member of a group.

noun. The father and ruler of a family; one who governs by paternal right; specifically, one of the progenitors of the Israelites—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the sons of Jacob; also, one of those Biblical personages who were heads of families before the deluge: the latter are termed antediluvian patriarchs.

noun. Hence In subsequent Jewish history, one of the heads of the Sanhedrim after the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion, the patriarch of the Western Jews residing in Palestine, that of the Eastern in Babylon.

noun. In the early church, and in the Orthodox Greek and other Oriental churches, a bishop of the highest rank; in the Roman Catholic Church, a bishop of the highest rank next after the Pope.

noun. One of the highest dignitaries in the Mormon Church, who pronounces the blessing of the church. Also called evangelist.

noun. A venerable old man; hence, figuratively, any object of patriarchal or venerable aspect.

noun. The father and ruler of a family; one who governs his family or descendants by paternal right; -- usually applied to heads of families in ancient history, especially in Biblical and Jewish history to those who lived before the time of Moses.

noun. A dignitary superior to the order of archbishops.

noun. A venerable old man; an elder. Also used figuratively.

noun. An old leader of a village or community.

noun. The male head of a tribal line or family.

noun. the male head of family or tribe

noun. a man who is older and higher in rank than yourself

noun. any of the early biblical characters regarded as fathers of the human race

noun. title for the heads of the Eastern Orthodox Churches (in Istanbul and Alexandria and Moscow and Jerusalem)

"The first of these Jacobite bishops (they did not take the title patriarch) of"

ecumenical patriarch  limbo of the patriarchs  matriarch  

Methuselah  adult male  graybeard  greybeard  head of household  

matriarch  

abbot  ancestor  apostle  archbishop  baronet  

Aaronic priesthood  Father Time  Grand Penitentiary  Holy Father  Melchizedek priesthood