Abbot
![](/Images/godic/202412/21/Psalterium_Feriatum_Cod_Don_309_0422308.jpg")
![St. Dominic of Silos enthroned as abbot (Hispano-Flemish Gothic 15th century)](/Images/godic/202412/21/Santo_Domingo_de_Silos_entronizado_como_obispo,_por_Bartolomé_Bermejo2308.jpg")
![Coptic icon of St. Pachomius, the founder of cenobitic monasticism.](/Images/godic/202412/21/StPakhom2308.jpg")
![Carving of St. Benedict of Nursia, holding an abbot's crozier and his Rule for Monasteries (Münsterschwarzach, Germany).](/Images/godic/202412/21/Bendeikt_von_Nursia_in_Muensterschwazach2308.jpg")
Abbot, meaning father, is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery. The female equivalent is abbess.