patriarch

noun

• 1the male head of a family or tribe.
• a man who is the oldest or most venerable of a group:Hollywood’s reigning patriarch rose to speak
• a person or thing that is regarded as the founder of something:the patriarch of all spin doctors

• 2any of those biblical figures regarded as fathers of the human race, especially Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, their forefathers, or the sons of Jacob.

• 3the title of a most senior Orthodox or Catholic bishop, in particular.
• a bishop of one of the most ancient Christian sees (Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, Jerusalem, and formerly Rome).
• the head of an autocephalous or independent Orthodox church.
• a Roman Catholic bishop ranking above primates and metropolitans and immediately below the pope, often the head of a Uniate community.