Stauropegic

Stauropegia or Stauropegie is in the Byzantine Church the term for a monastery or church planting. The Greek word ( stauros - Cross, pegio - confirm ) literally means cross formation, because at the place where the monastery or the new parish church was to be built, a cross was first erected, and thus was founded as a monastery or church.

The term is now used for stauropegial monasteries and communities that are directly subordinate to the Patriarch or Synod by a particular historical situation, and not the local Bishop. Especially in earlier times, before the development of modern communication technology, which often meant a greater degree of local autonomy for the affected communities due to the further removal of the Patriarch.

• Monasticism