Definition of "abbas" []

• Plural form of abba. (noun)

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• "Monachism the application of the title abbas was definitely fixed, and its use made general in the West."
• "St. Benedict, in his Rule, written about 529, assigned a subordinate position in the community to the praepositus, and restricted the use of the title abbas to the superior of the monastery."
• "Already in early Medieval Latin we come across the ecclesiastical terms abbas generalis and magister generalis, whence the titles master-general, vicar-general, and superior-general evolved and still linger, at least in the modern Catholic church."