Catholicos is a title used by the ruling bishops or primates of
several churches in the Middle East. With the exception of the
Georgian Orthodox Church none of these churches accept the
Christology promulgated by the Council of Chalcedon. The word
itself comes from the Greek καθολικός (plural καθολικοί),
meaning 'concerning the whole,' 'universal,' or 'general.' The
title seems to have originated among the churches on the eastern
edge of the Roman Empire and within the Sassanian Empire around
the third and fourth centuries. The Church of Antioch had
jurisdiction over this region. By the end of the fifth century
almost all the local bishops used the title catholicos. Thus,
the word catholicos at the time was not synonymous with
patriarch. During the Christological disputes many of the
catholicates in the Middle East rejected certain of the later
Ecumenical Councils. The Catholicate of Seleucia-Ctesiphon of
the Church of the East, nominally subject to Antioch, accepted
the first two ecumenical councils, but rej