Hegumen
Hegumen, also called hegumenos or qummus, denotes the highest rank of the priesthood and can also designate the abbot or head of a monastery.[^1]
Also known as: Hegumenos · Qummus
Definition
Hegumen (hegumenos; Arabic equivalent: qummus, “protopriest”) is a title with both clerical and monastic meanings. The hegumenate is the highest rank of the priesthood, to which married or celibate priests serving in cathedrals or large parishes may be raised. Hegumenos can also mean “abbot,” the head of a monastery.1
Origin and historical usage
The term derives from Greek hegoumenos, whose primary meaning was “ruler.” Christian authors sometimes used it for a bishop, while late Greek texts from Egypt and Coptic texts applied it to clerics or monks who exercised leadership.2
In clerical usage, the title distinguished the presbyter who headed an episcopal or parish church. It generally corresponded to archipresbyteros or protopresbyteros, although an eighth-century Coptic document names an archipresbyteros and a hegumenos of the same church, showing that the titles could be distinguished.3
In monastic settings, hegumenos could designate the superior of communities of different types and sizes. Clerical and monastic meanings sometimes overlapped: at Kellia, for example, leading priests also headed churches serving the ascetics.4
Monastic appointment and priestly promotion
A monastic hegumenos is usually chosen by the monks from their own community and approved by the patriarch, metropolitan, or bishop within whose jurisdiction the monastery lies.1
Promotion of a priest to the hegumenate follows a service similar to priestly ordination, with “hegumenate” replacing “priesthood” in the prayers and a particular prayer of invocation of the Holy Spirit recited inaudibly by the bishop.5 This prayer asks for wisdom, good leadership, humility, love, forbearance, and righteousness; the bishop’s instruction emphasizes the hegumenos’ responsibility to teach and guide his people.6 The bishop does not repeat the insufflation, since the candidate already received it at his ordination as a priest.7
References
Sources
- 1.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 529)
Today hegumenos means "abbot," or the head of a monastery. The hegumenos is usually chosen by the monks from their own community and approved by the patriarch, metropolitan, or bishop within whose jurisdiction the monastery lies. The hegumenate is the highest rank of the priesthood to which priests, married or celibate, serving in cathedrals or large parishes, may be raised. The Arabic equivalent term for hegumenos is qummus (protopriest).
- 2.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 528)
The term derives from the Greek hegoumenos, whose primary meaning was "ruler," well known in pagan Greek and also used by Christian authors to denote a bishop. In late Greek texts from Egypt and in Coptic texts, this title referred to clerics and monks and was given to whoever played the leading role in the group.
- 3.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 528)
The clerical usage of hegumenos was the result of the need to find a title that would emphasize the position of that presbyter who headed the episcopal or parish church. Hence, hegumenos actually corresponded to archipresbyteros, a term rarely used in Egypt, or to the even rarer protopresbyteros. A Coptic document from the first half of the eighth century (Crum and Steindorff, 1912, pp. 66-76) mentions an archipresbyteros and a hegumenos of the same church; this indicates that the two titles could be differentiated.
- 4.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 529)
The borderline between the meanings mentioned could be obliterated. It is, for example, difficult to determine the sense of hegumenos in reference to priests of KELLIA who played a leading role in this semi-anachoretic center, since the role of those monastic officials was strictly connected with the fact that they headed a church that served ascetics.
- 5.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 530)
The service of promoting a priest to the hegumenate is similar to that of ordination to the priesthood, except that in the prayers said by the bishop and the archdeacon, the word "priesthood" is replaced by "hegumenate" and the bishop recites the following prayer of Epiclesis, that is, the descent of the Holy Spirit, inaudibly:
- 6.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 530)
Bestow the spirit of good leadership upon him, together with humility, love, forbearance, and righteousness, that he may please Thee through his good works, providing the right example to those under him, and teaching them the commandments of Thy law, looking after them in purity and love
- 7.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 531)
The bishop then continues the celebration of the liturgy, without insufflating the hegumenos, as he already received the breath of the Holy Spirit when he was ordained priest.
- 8.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 528)
In the monastic context, hegumenos can denote the superior and was used in communities of various types and sizes.
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