Vladika

plural Vladikas

1. historicalThe head of church and state in Montenegro until 1852; the prince bishop.

   This movement, partly religious and partly political, gave rise to the independent principality of the vladikas.

   2011, Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms, Penguin, published 2012, page 585

   3 more examples

   On the courtesy and hospitality of the Vladika, indeed, I cannot speak too highly; and the friendly feelings he entertains towards strangers, who are interested in his country, contribute greatly to the pleasure of a visit to Montenegro.

   1848, Sir John Gardener Wilkinson, Dalmatia and Montenegro, J Murray, page 402

   From this time, Tchernegora, deserted by its hereditary princes, the Government became vested in its spiritual ruler the Vladika

   1851, Edmund Spencer, Travels in European Turkey, page 390

   Running roughly parallel with the increasing unity of the tribes was the gradual transformation of the office of metropolitan or Vladika, which having at first been an ecclesiastical position, subordinate to and elected by the tribes, had begun by the early seventeenth century to serve as both a focus for and agent of central authority

   2007, Elizabeth Roberts, Realm of the Black Mountain, Hurst & Co, published 2007, page 15