the.com/cathedra
The chair that turned sitting down into the most authoritative act in Christendom.
means A cathedra is the official chair or throne of a bishop, the seat that symbolizes his teaching authority and that gives a cathedral its name as the church where that chair resides.
from Straight from the Greek 'kathedra,' meaning simply 'a seat' — built from 'kata' (down) and 'hedra' (seat or sitting). The Greeks used it for any chair, but also for the seat of a teacher, which is why a professor's 'chair' and the word 'chair' itself (via the same root, through Latin 'cathedra' and Old French 'chaiere') all trace back here. Latin borrowed it wholesale, and the Church gave it gravity: the bishop's seat became the seat of doctrine. It's the same root that lives on in 'ex cathedra' — literally 'from the chair' — the phrase for pronouncements made with full official authority.
- root word
- Greek kathedra simply means seat or bench
- ex cathedra
- Pope speaking from the chair is officially infallible
- cathedral named after it
- A church is a cathedral only by housing one
- professor's chair
- Academic chairs and tenure descend from the same word
chair of saint peter — the papal throne in st. peter's basilica, vatican city, symbolizing papal authority since the 4th century
cathedra of monteregale — medieval throne-like episcopal chair at mondovì cathedral in piedmont, italy, carved from stone around 1500s
archbishop's cathedra cologne — the ceremonial throne of the archbishop of cologne at cologne cathedral, germany, a unesco world heritage site