The abbot is the head of a monastery, and the manner of his selection, election by the monks he will govern, is as significant as the authority he holds.
Elected to fatherhood
The word means father, and the abbot governs the monastic community as a father governs a household, holding real authority over its life and discipline, but he is elected by the professed monks of the house, usually for life or for a fixed term according to the constitution of the order, so his authority rises from the community rather than being imposed from above. In the Benedictine tradition the monk vows obedience to the abbot, and the abbot in turn is bound by the rule and is to consult the community, so the office joins paternal authority to a real accountability.
Autonomy of the house
Because a Benedictine monastery is autonomous and the monk is bound to it by the vow of stability, the abbot is the head of a self-governing community rather than a link in a chain of command, and there is no general above him ruling the whole order in the manner of the centralised orders. This makes the abbot office the natural focus of the independence of the monastery. The office is ancient and has at times carried great temporal power, the abbots of the greatest medieval houses ranking as lords, but its essential character remains that of the elected father of a community that has chosen him.