Patriarch (Latter Day Saints)
In the Latter Day Saint movement office of the priesthood
In the Latter Day Saint movement, patriarch (also called evangelist) is an office of the priesthood. It is considered to be either an office of the patriarchal priesthood or the Melchizedek priesthood.
Latter Day Saint movement
In the early days of the Church of Christ and the Latter Day Saint movement, a single patriarch, known as the Presiding Patriarch or Patriarch to the Church, exercised his office throughout the whole church. The first patriarch was Joseph Smith Sr.; after his death, his oldest living son Hyrum became the patriarch. Some Latter Day Saint denominations continue the practice of a single Presiding Patriarch, who in some cases holds the highest office of the church organization; others have multiple patriarchs who hold more general positions in the organization.
Patriarch in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
While the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) originally continued to have a single church-wide position of "Presiding Patriarch", this practice was discontinued on October 4, 1979. Within the LDS Church today, patriarch is an office in the Melchizedek priesthood.
A patriarch is ordained and called to serve the members of a particular stake organization. He is recommended by the stake presidency, with each recommendation approved by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The selected man must be married, hold the Melchizedek priesthood, have received a patriarchal blessing, and normally be at least 55 years old.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Patriarch (Latter Day Saints)” as in the Latter Day Saint movement office of the priesthood. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as in the Latter Day Saint movement office of the priesthood. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 15, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q7145251. The Library of Congress control number is sh85098723. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1979.
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This entry incorporates text from “Patriarch (Latter Day Saints)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.