The superior or abbot of a monastic community in the Eastern Orthodox Christian church.
From Greek hegeomai meaning 'to lead,' this title has been used since early Christian monasticism to denote the head of a monastery. The term traveled through ecclesiastical Latin into English during the medieval period.
The hegumen held a position of spiritual authority that paralleled medieval abbots in Western Europe, but the Eastern Orthodox monasteries maintained this tradition unbroken for over 1,500 years—making it one of history's most continuous leadership titles.
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