Archimandrite

In history, some women were able to obtain that title, notably when cross-dressing as male monks, such as Susanna the Deaconess.

The Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches commonly select their bishops from the ranks of the archimandrites.

Churches under the spiritual jurisdiction of the four ancient Eastern Orthodox Patriarchates generally require that such a monastic priest possess a university degree in theology before he is elevated to the rank of archimandrite.

Sometimes, the requirement is waived if the priest can show outstanding achievement in other academic fields, such as the humanities or science.

The word occurs in the Regula Columbani (c. 7), and du Cange gives a few other cases of its use in Latin documents, but it never came into vogue in the West; yet, owing to intercourse with Greek and Slavonic Christianity, the title sometimes appears in southern Italy and Sicily, and in Croatia, Hungary and Poland.