Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A bishop in the Eastern Orthodox Church ranking immediately below a patriarch.
  • noun The ruler of a province in the Byzantine Empire.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The ruler of a province in the Byzantine empire. The most important was the exarch of Ravenna. See exarchate.
  • noun In the early church, a prelate presiding over a diocese: as, the exarch of Ephesus. The title is often used as synonymous with patriarch; but strictly the exarch was inferior in rank and power to the patriarch, and superior to the metropolitan.
  • noun In the Gr. Ch., a legate of a patriarch, whose duty it is to sustain the authority of the patriarch, and to obtain accurate information concerning the lives of the clergy, ecclesiastical observances, monastic discipline, etc., in the provinces assigned to him. The power of the exarchs is very great. They can absolve, depose, or excommunicate in the name of the patriarch.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A viceroy; in Ravenna, the title of the viceroys of the Byzantine emperors; in the Eastern Church, the superior over several monasteries; in the modern Greek Church, a deputy of the patriarch , who visits the clergy, investigates ecclesiastical cases, etc.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun historical In the Byzantine Empire, a governor of a distant province.
  • noun In the Eastern Christian Churches, the deputy of a patriarch, or a bishop who holds authority over other bishops without being a patriarch.
  • noun In these same churches, a bishop appointed over a group of the faithful not yet large enough or organized enough to constitute an eparchy or diocese.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a bishop in one of several Eastern Orthodox Churches in North America
  • noun a bishop in eastern Christendom who holds a place below a patriarch but above a metropolitan
  • noun a viceroy who governed a large province in the Roman Empire

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Late Latin exarchus, an overseer, from Greek exarkhos, from exarkhein, to lead : ex-, ex- + arkhein, to rule.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Borrowed from Church Latin exarchus.

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Examples

  • "The title exarch is here applied to the primate of a group of provincial churches, as it had been used by Ibas, bishop of Edema, at his trial in

    NPNF2-08. Basil: Letters and Select Works 1895

  • The two chief districts were the country about Ravenna, the exarchate, where the exarch was the centre of the opposition, and the Duchy of Rome, which embraced the lands of Roman Tuscany north of the Tiber and to the south the

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 14: Simony-Tournon 1840-1916 1913

  • In the ninth century every diocese (presumably the cenobites of every diocese) or district formed a sort of federation under the presidency of a hegumenos known as the exarch or archimandrite.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 6: Fathers of the Church-Gregory XI 1840-1916 1913

  • Saint Leo II. wrote two special letters, one to Pierre Notaire, the other to the king of the Visigoths, for the purpose of combating and rejecting, in questions touching the dead, the authority of the exarch and the supremacy of the

    Les Miserables 2008

  • The Roman bishop, elected by the people, craved protection for the bishop, of the exarch of Ravenna, who had the power of confirming or of cancelling the election.

    A Philosophical Dictionary 2007

  • Italy having come into the hands of the French, a change of form and order took place, the popes acquiring greater temporal power, and the new authorities adopting the titles of count and marquis, as that of duke had been introduced by Longinus, exarch of Ravenna.

    The History of Florence 2003

  • Desiderius kept faith at first, and proceeded to resign the districts to the pope, according to the agreement made with Pepin, so that an exarch was no longer sent from Constantinople to Ravenna, but it was governed according to the will of the pope.

    The History of Florence 2003

  • Aistulf, king of the Lombards, had taken Ravenna (751), the seat of the exarch, besieged Rome, and exacted tribute.

    g. The Empire of Charlemagne and Its Disintegration 2001

  • The mob thereupon rose, slew Phocas, and proclaimed Heraclius, the son of the exarch, as emperor.

    610 2001

  • Conspiracy against Phocas, led by Priscus and supported by the exarch of Africa.

    610 2001

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