What is a patriarchate?

Answer 1

Literally speaking a patriarch is a person who governs a family through paternal rights. This word is mainly used in Christianity for a Priest of high rank. Patriarchism may also be found in Shias where Imam Khumini level Imams have the main control. Imam-i-Kabba may be considered a Patriarch. Yet, among Sunni Muslims Patriarchism is not in vogue. Each Scholar considers himself to be a Patriarch. That is why we have many sets in Muslims.

Answer 2

A patriarchate is the country and land area covered by the spiritual jurisdiction of a Patriarch, or his area of responsibility. For example, the Patriarch of Alexandria is responsible for his patriarchate which covers Egypt and all of Africa.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church there are four ancient patriarchates, which are headed by a patriarch, being Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. A patriarch is a senior archbishop in the church. So a patriarchate is another way of saying an archdiocese which is headed by an archbishop.

The Greek Orthodox Church in the United States comes under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. So the patriarchate or area of responsibility of the Ecumenical Patriarchate is fairly large and covers many areas of the world. The largest patriarchate in the world is the Moscow Patriarchate, headed by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, which covers Russia's 100 million Orthodox Christians.

To use a local example, a patriarchate is like a parish, except much bigger in size. Just as a priest is responsible for the people within his parish, likewise a patriarch is responsible for the people in his patriarchate.