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A '''stavropegial''' (also spelled '''stavropigial''' or '''stavropighial''') institution, usually a monastery, is one which falls directly under the [[omophorion]] of the [[primate]] of a church rather than under the local [[diocese|diocesan]] [[bishop]].
The Greek term σταυροπηγιον literally means "fixture of a cross," and referred to crosses used to mark boundary points. In the liturgical context, a stavropegion was a cross fixed by the bishop on the side of a new [[church]]. The term came to be employed mainly to refer to [[monastery|monasteries]] which owed canonical allegiance to the [[Patriarch of Constantinople]].
