echage

plural echages

1. ChristianityThe chief official in the monastic system of Ethiopia.

   Security in Gondar depended largely on the sanctity of the echage’s quarter as a place of asylum.

   1972, Donald Crummey, Priests and Politicians

   2 more examples

   The emperor sent an evasive reply and, upon crossing the border, made sure that the echage (the head of Ethiopia's monastic system) marched on his right.

   2002, Haggai Erlich, The Cross and the River, page 117

   Täklä Haymanot was the first in a series of monks to become a key figure at Court, as the Echage (ečägé).

   2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 281