A ''katholikon'' or catholicon () or ''sobor'' () refers to one of three things in the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

: * The

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

of a

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

. * The major church building (temple) of a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

corresponding to a conventual church in

Western Christianity Western Christianity is one of two subdivisions of Christianity (Eastern Christianity being the other). Western Christianity is composed of the Latin Church and Protestantism, Western Protestantism, together with their offshoots such as the O ...

. * 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 does n ...

s of the

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

. 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 The narthex is an architectural element typical of Early Christian art and architecture, early Christian and Byzantine architecture, Byzantine basilicas and Church architecture, churches consisting of the entrance or Vestibule (architecture), ve ...

) 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) * Let ...

. 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 Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, 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 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 analogo ...

References

{{Reflist Eastern Orthodox church buildings * Ecclesiology Christian terminology Greek words and phrases