Ecclesiastical capital

This article is about religious capital cities. For investment in religion, see Religious capital.

The religious capital or ecclesiastical capital of a region is a place considered pre-eminent by the adherents of a particular religion within that region. This is most often significant for the region's predominant religion or state religion, if any. The administrative headquarters of an organised religion may be centralised in a particular location; for example, Rome for the Catholic Church, or Salt Lake City for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In an episcopal church, the site of the cathedral of the primate bishop of an area may be considered its ecclesiastical capital; for example, Armagh is the seat of the primate of All Ireland in both the Catholic church and the Anglican church.^[1] Other places may be considered religious capitals by being centres of learning, such as Qom for Shia Islam in Iran;^[2] or places of pilgrimage, such as Jerusalem for the Abrahamic religions and Varanasi for Hinduism.^[3]

See also

• Capital city

References

1. "Armagh, the Ecclesiastical Capital of Ireland". Northern Ireland Tourist Board. Archived from the original on 26 April 2011. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
2. Mohajerani, Ataollah (6 September 2009). "Qom and Tehran: Two Different Attitudes and Directions". Asharq Alawsat. Archived from the original on 11 November 2010. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
3. Majumdar, Debabani (7 March 2006). "The religious capital of Hinduism". BBC Online. Retrieved 7 November 2010.