The patriarch of Antioch is one of the Eastern Orthodox patriarchs, the leader of the autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch. The term "Greek" does not refer to ethnic origin; the majority of these patriarchs were not ethnic Greeks, but rather Hellenized Arabs, Arameans, Assyrians, and other Levantines who spoke Greek and adopted a Hellenic identity. It refers to the fact that this church follows the Chalcedonian Orthodoxy associated with the (Greek-speaking) Byzantine Empire. Since 518, there have been two patriarchs of Antioch who call themselves Orthodox: the Chalcedonian ones listed here, and the non-Chalcedonian Syriac Orthodox patriarchs of Antioch.
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Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch in the context of See of Antioch
The Patriarch of Antioch is a traditional title held by the bishop of Antioch (modern-day Antakya, Turkey). As the traditional "overseer" (ἐπίσκοπος, episkopos, from which the word bishop is derived) of the first gentile Christian community, the position has been of prime importance in Pauline Christianity from its earliest period. This diocese is one of the few for which the names of its bishops from the apostolic beginnings have been preserved. Today five churches use the title of patriarch of Antioch: one Eastern Orthodox (the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch); one Oriental Orthodox (the Syriac Orthodox Church); and three Eastern Catholic (the Maronite, Syriac Catholic, and Melkite Greek Catholic Churches).
According to the pre-congregation church tradition, this ancient patriarchate was founded by the Apostle Saint Peter. The patriarchal succession was disputed at the time of the Meletian schism in 362 and again after the Council of Chalcedon in 451, when there were rival Melkite and non-Chalcedonian claimants to the see. Following a 7th-century succession dispute in the Melkite Church, the Maronites also began appointing a Maronite patriarch. After the First Crusade, the Catholic Church began appointing a Latin Church patriarch of Antioch, though this became strictly titular after the Fall of Antioch in 1268, and was abolished completely in 1964. In the 18th century, succession disputes in the Greek Orthodox and Syriac Orthodox Churches of Antioch led to factions of those churches entering into communion with Rome under claimants to the patriarchate: respectively the Melkite Greek Catholic patriarch of Antioch and the Syriac Catholic patriarch of Antioch. Their respective Orthodox progenitors are the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Antioch and the Syriac Orthodox patriarch of Antioch.