A
cathedra (
Latin, "chair", from
Greek, καθέδρα
kathédra, "seat") or
bishop's throne is the
seat of a
bishop. It is a symbol of the bishop's
teaching authority in the
Catholic Church, the
Orthodox Church, and in the
Anglican Communion churches.
Cathedra is the
Latin word for a
chair with armrests, and it appears in early Christian literature in the phrase "cathedrae apostolorum" indicating authority derived directly from the apostles; its
Roman connotations of authority reserved for the Emperor were later adopted by bishops after the 4th century. A
church into which a bishop's official
cathedra is installed is called a
cathedral.