CATHEDRAL, the principal church in a diocese; so called from possessing the episcopal chair or throne. The term cathedra (from which cathedral is derived) was originally applied to the seats in which the bishops and presbyters sate in their assemblies, which originally were held in the rooms where the worship of the early Christians was conducted. In after times the choir of the cathedral was made to terminate in a semi-circular or polygonal apsis; and in the centre of this recess was placed the chair or throne of the bishop, as president, while seats of an inferior class for presbyters were ranged on either side. The episcopal authority did not reside in the bishop alone, but in the presbyterium as a body. Till the time of Constantine the Christians were not permitted to erect temples; and hence by churches they meant only to denote their assemblies, and by cathedrals their consistory.—(See Bingham's Origines Ecclesiasticæ, or Antiquities of the Christian Church.)