* Taken from the late Latin and Greek abbas and the Aramaic abba, for “father,”

*the term abbot refers to the superior of a community of monks (an abbey).

*Early abbots may have been appointed by the Church or by their predecessors, but as time went on, abbots were elected from among their fellow monks in a secret ballot.

*By the High Middle Ages, a monk had to be at least thirty and have been a monk for ten years to be eligible to lead the abbey.

*Abbots and their female counterparts, abbesses, serve for life.

* At the top locally, the abbots and bishops had great power.

*In a local monastery, the monks did the work, and the abbots and bishops were the power.

*Abbots reported to bishops.

Abbots