Xenodochium

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{{Short description|Hostel or hospital for foreigners or pilgrims}}

{{for|the genus of moth|Zenodochium}}

In the early Middle Ages, a xenodochium or {{not a typo|xenodochion}} (from Ancient Greek {{Lang|grc|ξενοδοχεῖον}}, {{Lang|grc-Latn|xenodokheîon}} or xenodocheion; place for strangers, inn, guesthouse) was either a hostel or hospital, usually specifically for foreigners or pilgrims, although the term could refer to charitable institutions in general. The xenodochium was a church institution that first appeared in the Byzantine world.Guenter B. Risse, Mending Bodies, Saving Souls: A History of Hospitals (Oxford University Press, 1999), 82. The xenodochium was a more common institution than any of its more-specific counterparts, such as the gerocomium (from {{Lang|grc|γεροντοκομεῖον}}, {{Lang|grc-Latn|gerontokomeîon}}; place for the old), nosocomium (from {{Lang|grc|νοσοκομεῖον}}, {{Lang|grc-Latn|nosokomeîon}}; place for the sick) or orphanotrophium (for orphans). A hospital for victims of plague was called a {{Lang|la|xenodochium pestiferorum}} (guesthouse of the plague-carriers).