Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
PA'TRIARCH. Acts 2:29. In the early history of the Jews we find the ancestor or father of a family retaining authority over his children and his children's children so long as he lived, whatever new connections they might form. When the father died the branch families did not break off and form new communities, but usually united under another common head. The eldest son was generally invested with this dignity. His authority was paternal. He was honored as the central point of connection, and as the representative of the whole kindred.
Thus each great family had its patriarch or head, and each tribe its prince selected from the several heads of the families it embraced. " See Elders. The word "patriarch" is also applied to the founder of a family or to any illustrious ancestor. Acts 2:29. In later ages of the Church the same title is found, but is applied to ecclesiastical dignitaries, and denotes the supposed paternal character of their authority. " Acts 7:8.