page_title: Abbot
section_title: Monastic history
hierarchical_section_title: Abbot / Monastic history
context_page_description: Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The female equivalent is abbess.
context_section_description: An abbot (from Old English: abbod, abbad, from Latin: abbas ("father"), from Ancient Greek: ἀββᾶς (abbas), from Aramaic: אבא‎/ܐܒܐ ('abbā, "father"); compare German: Abt; French: abbé) is the head and chief governor of a community of monks, called also in the East hegumen or archimandrite. The English version for a female monastic head is abbess.
caption: Coptic icon of Saint Pachomius, the founder of cenobitic monasticism
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