What is the meaning of the word “Catholicos,” and “Katholikon,
Between the Magazine and the Readers (from the questions answered in the Friday meeting at the Cathedral and which are sent to the magazine).
Question
What is the meaning of the word “Catholicos,” and “Katholikon,” and is “Catholicism” also one of its derivatives?
Answer
The word Catholicos is a Greek word meaning the universal or general thing. It has been used in the Church with several meanings. Among them is the (universal) apostolic Church, and we use for it the word Catholic, which is the feminine form of Catholicos, and it applies to the whole Church from one end of the inhabited world to the other. The Catholics took this description for themselves, just as we took for ourselves the description “Orthodox,” meaning “sound in opinion.”
From this derivation also comes the word Katholikon, which is one of the conjugations of Catholicos, and we apply it in Church readings to the universal epistles such as the epistles of the Apostle John, the Apostle Peter, the Apostle James, and the Apostle Jude.
The word Catholicos was also used in ecclesiastical ranks for the one who has the universal and general authority—that is, the head of the Church. It is also transformed in Arabic to the word Jathliq. Among its examples is the Catholicos of the Armenians, whether in Armenia or in Lebanon. Likewise, the Jathliq of India, meaning the chief of the priests there as deputy of His Holiness the Patriarch of Antioch. And for years Ethiopia had a Jathliq who was deputy of the Pope in Alexandria.
-
A question to His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – Al-Keraza Magazine, Year Five – Issue Ten, 7–12–1974
For better translation support, please contact the center.
