/keuh thol"i keuhs, -kos'/ , n. , pl. catholicoses, catholicoi /-koy'/ .
1. ( often cap. ) Eastern Ch.
a. any of the heads of certain autocephalous churches.
b. (in some autocephalous churches) a primate subject to a patriarch and having authority over metropolitans.
2. (in the early Christian church) the head of monasteries in the same city.
Also, catholicus, katholikos .
[ 1615-25; katholikós, n. use of Gk adj.; see CATHOLIC ]