A ''katholikon'' or catholicon ( gr, καθολικόν) or ''sobor'' ( Slavonic: съборъ) refers to one of three things in the Eastern Orthodox Church: * The cathedral of a diocese. * The major church building (temple) of a monastery corresponding to a conventual church in Western Christianity. * A large church in a city at which all the faithful of the city gather to celebrate certain important feasts rather than go to their local parish church. The name derives from the fact that it is (usually) the largest church where all gather together to celebrate the major

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...

s of the

liturgical year The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and whi ...

. In Russia, it is common for a katholikon to have a smaller church in the basement which can be more easily heated in the winter. A ''katholikon'' may have special architectural features in it, such as a '' kathedra'' (episcopal throne), or both an ''esonarthex'' (inner- narthex) and ''exonarthex'' (outer narthex), used for special services such as the Paschal vigil or a

lity Lity may refer to: * Lity (Orthodox Vespers), a procession at Great Vespers in the Eastern Orthodox Church * Lity (Orthodox memorial service), a short service for the dead in the Eastern Orthodox Church See also * Liti (disambiguation) * Leti ...

. The word ''katholikon'' is often translated into English as cathedral rather than assembly and that can cause confusion. In Saint Isaac's Cathedral in Saint Petersburg, Russia, for example, there is a placard in Russian and in English describing the building as having been "кафедральный собор", rendered in English as the "cathedraly cathedral". However an Eastern Orthodox diocese may have several katholikons, only one of which is the bishop's cathedral, other important churches being known as katholicons. The

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of such churches is usually an

archpriest The ecclesiastical title of archpriest or archpresbyter belongs to certain priests with supervisory duties over a number of parishes. The term is most often used in Eastern Orthodoxy and the Eastern Catholic Churches and may be somewhat analogous ...

References

{{Reflist Types of church buildings * Ecclesiology Christian terminology Greek words and phrases