Random musings:
The priest's chair is called the presider's chair. It is usually rather simple, not ostentatious but dignified in design, and high-backed to set it aside from the companion seating on either side of it where the altar boys sit. (I was an altar boy in a previous life, now something of an apostate.)
A bishop's throne is called a cathedra, a latin word for a chair with armrests. From that evolved the word, "cathedral", the church in which the bishop's cathedra was resident. Also yields "ex cathedra", official "from the chair" opinions and interpretations from the bishopry, especially the pope. The look of the cathedra varied with changing church views of the office, sometimes rather humble, sometimes (especially in the medieval era) quite magnificent.
The priest's chair is called the presider's chair. It is usually rather simple, not ostentatious but dignified in design, and high-backed to set it aside from the companion seating on either side of it where the altar boys sit. (I was an altar boy in a previous life, now something of an apostate.)
A bishop's throne is called a cathedra, a latin word for a chair with armrests. From that evolved the word, "cathedral", the church in which the bishop's cathedra was resident. Also yields "ex cathedra", official "from the chair" opinions and interpretations from the bishopry, especially the pope. The look of the cathedra varied with changing church views of the office, sometimes rather humble, sometimes (especially in the medieval era) quite magnificent.
