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Sede Vacante

Sede vacante

In the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church, sede vacante is the vacancy of the episcopal see of a particular church. It is Latin for "the seat being vacant" (the ablative absolute to sedes vacans "vacant seat"), referring to the cathedra of the particular church. This means that for a diocese the diocesan bishop has either died, resigned, transferred to a different diocese, or lost his office. If there is a coadjutor bishop for the church, then this period does not take place as a coadjutor bishop immediately succeeds to the episcopal see. During this period, all vicars general and episcopal vicars lose their office unless they are themselves bishops. The governance of the particular church is then entrusted to the cathedral chapter, who then elects a vicar capitular. In particular churches without a cathedral chapter, the college of the chief advisors of the diocesan bishop (known as consultors) elect an administrator sede vacante. Both officers serve the same function: they possess ordinary power over the particular church until a newly appointed/elected diocesan bishop takes possession of the diocese. Until the election of the vicar capitular takes place, the senior auxiliary bishop, if there is one, acts as administrator. The choice of the college or chapter is limited to bishops and priests older than 35 years. If the chapter or college fails to elect an administrator within eight days, the metropolitan archbishop (for a suffragan see) or senior suffragan bishop (for a metropolitan see) may appoint the administrator for the particular church. The Pope has been known to, on occasion, preempt the election or appointment of the vicar capitular. The officer he appoints is then known as an Apostolic Administrator sede vacante and has the same powers as the vicar capitular.

Vacancy of the Holy See

Apostolic Administrator More particularly, sede vacante refers to the vacancy of the Holy See, which occurs after the death or resignation of a pope. In this case the particular church is the diocese of Rome and the "vacant seat" is the cathedra of Saint Peter. During this period, the Holy See is administered by a regency of the College of Cardinals. According to Universi Dominici Gregis, the government of the Holy See sede vacante (and therefore of the Roman Catholic Church) falls to the College of Cardinals, but in a very limited capacity. At the same time, all of the heads of the Roman Curia resign their offices. The exceptions are the Cardinal Camerlengo, who is charged with managing the property of the Holy See, and the Major Penitentiary, who continues to exercise his normal role. If either has to do something which normally requires the assent of the Pope, he has to submit it to the College of Cardinals. Papal legates continue to exercise their diplomatic roles overseas, and the Vicar General for Rome continues to exercise his pastoral role over the diocese of Rome during this period. The postal administration of the State of Vatican City prepares and issues special postage stamps for use during this particular period, known as "sede vacante stamps", only valid for the duration of the vacancy. The coat of arms of the Holy See also changes during this period. Instead of the papal tiara over the keys, the tiara is replaced with the umbracullum or ombrellino in Italian. This symbolizes both the lack of a Pope and also the governance of the Camerlengo over the temporalities of the Holy See. As further indication, the Camerlengo ornaments his arms with this symbol during this period, which he subsequently removes once a pope is elected. The arms of the camerlengo appear on commemorative and Euro coins minted during this period, the latter are legal tender in all Eurozone member states. The interregnum is usually highlighted by the funeral mass of the deceased pope, the general congregations of the college of cardinals for determining the particulars of the election, and finally culminated in the conclave to elect a successor. Once a new pope has been elected (and ordained bishop if necessary) the sedes is no longer vacant, so this period then officially ends. Afterwards occurs the Papal Installation or Papal Coronation, depending on the form of inauguration and investiture a new pope chooses, and the formal possession of the cathedra of the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano. Cardinals present in Rome are required to wait at least fifteen days after the start of the vacancy for the rest of the college before they can hold the conclave to elect the new Pope. However, after twenty days have elapsed, they must hold the conclave even if cardinals are missing. Historically, sede vacante periods have often been quite lengthy, lasting many months due to lengthy deadlocked conclaves. For many years through 1922 the period from the death of the Pope to the start of the conclave was shorter, but after William Henry Cardinal O'Connell had arrived just too late for two conclaves in a row, Pope Pius XI extended the time limit. Ironically, with the very next conclave in 1939, cardinals began to travel by air. The most recent period of sede vacante of the Holy See began at 19:37 UTC, April 2, 2005, due to the death of Pope John Paul II, and concluded with the election of Pope Benedict XVI at 16:05 UTC, April 19, 2005.

List of sede vacante periods since the 19th century

- between Pius VI and Pius VII - August 29, 1799 to March 14, 1800, 197 days
- between Pius VII and Leo XII - August 20 to September 28, 1823, 39 days
- between Leo XII and Pius VIII - February 10 to March 31, 1829, 49 days
- between Pius VIII and Gregory XVI - December 1, 1830 to February 2, 1831, 63 days
- between Gregory XVI and Pius IX - June 1 to June 16, 1846, 15 days
- between Pius IX and Leo XIII - February 7 to February 20, 1878, 13 days
- between Leo XIII and Pius X - July 20 to August 4, 1903, 15 days
- between Pius X and Benedict XV - August 20 to September 3, 1914, 14 days
- between Benedict XV and Pius XI - January 22 to February 6, 1922, 15 days
- between Pius XI and Pius XII - February 10 to March 2, 1939, 20 days
- between Pius XII and John XXIII - October 9 to October 28, 1958, 19 days
- between John XXIII and Paul VI - June 3 to June 21, 1963, 18 days
- between Paul VI and John Paul I - August 6 to August 26, 1978, 20 days
- between John Paul I and John Paul II - September 28 to October 16, 1978, 19 days
- between John Paul II and Benedict XVI - April 2 to April 19, 2005, 17 days

Canon law

In Western culture, canon law is the law of the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches. The Eastern Orthodox concept of canon law is similar to but not identical to the more legislative and juridical model of the West. In both traditions, a canon is a rule adopted by a council (From Greek kanon / κανών, for rule, standard, or measure); these canons formed the foundation of canon law. In the official Anglican Church of England, the ecclesiastical courts that formerly decided many matters such as disputes relating to marriage, divorce, wills, and defamation, still have jurisdiction of certain church-related matters (e.g., discipline of clergy, alteration of church property, and issues related to churchyards). Their separate status dates back to the 12th century when the Normans split them off from the mixed secular/religious county and local courts used by the Saxons. In contrast to the other courts of England the law used in ecclesiastical matters is at least partially a civil law system, not common law, although heavily governed by parliamentary statutes. Since the Reformation, ecclesiastical courts in England have been royal courts. The teaching of canon law at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge was abrogated by Henry VIII; thereafter practitioners in the ecclesiastical courts were trained in civil law, receiving a Doctor of Civil Law (D.C.L.) degree from Oxford, or an LL.D. from Cambridge. Such lawyers (called "doctors" and "civilians") were centered at "Doctors Commons," a few blocks south of St Paul's Cathedral in London, where they monopolized probate, matrimonial, and admiralty cases until their jurisdiction was removed to the common law courts in the mid-19th century. (Admiralty law was also based on civil law instead of common law, thus was handled by the civilians too.) Other churches in the Anglican Communion around the world (e.g., the Episcopal Church in the United States, and the Anglican Church of Canada) still function under their own private systems of canon law. In the Roman Catholic church, the canons of the councils were supplemented with decretals of the Popes, which were gathered together into collections such as the Liber Extra (1234), the Liber Sextus (1298) and the Clementines (1317). In the 20th century, the Roman Catholic Church began attempting to codify canon law, which two millennia of development had become a complex and difficult system of interpretation and cross-referencing. The first code of canon law was promulgated in 1917 and took force in 1918. A revised code, the Codex Iuris Canonici (Code of Canon Law, CIC) was promulgated in January 1983 and took effect in November 1983. Canon law within the Catholic Church is a fully developed legal system, with all the familiar trappings of courts (including lawyers); the highest degree of education in canon law is the J.C.D. (Juris Canonici Doctor, Doctor of Canon Law). The Eastern Catholic Churches have a separate code of canon law. The first attempt to codify Eastern law under the name Codex Iuris Canonici Orientalis (Code of Eastern Canon Law) was partially completed when Pope Pius XII promulgated portions of the canons in 1948. However, when the project neared completion in 1959, Pope John XXIII suspended work as the expected conciliar reforms would affect the code. The Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium (Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, CCEO) was promulgated in November 1990. The majority of canons correspond closely to the Roman code, but incorporates certain differences in the hierarchy, administration and other areas. The Orthodox Christian tradition is generally much less legalistic, and treats many of the canons more as guidelines than as absolute laws, adjusting them to cultural and other local circumstances. Some Orthodox canon scholars point out that, had the Ecumenical Councils (which deliberated in Greek) meant for the canons to be used as laws, they would have called them nomoi/νομοι (laws) rather than kanones/κανονες (standards). Greek-speaking Orthodox have collected canons and commentary upon them in a work known as the Pedalion/Πεδαλιον (rudder--so called because it is meant to "steer" the Church). However, this is not a codification, but simply a compilation of one tradition of interpretation of the canons.

External links

- [http://www.intratext.com/X/ENG0017.htm "Code of Canon Law"] (Latin Church, Roman Catholic)
- [http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG1199/_INDEX.HTM "Code of Canons of the Oriental Churches"] (Eastern Catholic Churches)
- [http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_INDEX.HTM "Roman Catholic 1983 Code of Canon Law," Hosted by the Vatican]
- [http://canonlaw.anglican.org/ "Resources for Anglican Canon Law"]
- [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09056a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: Canon Law] Category:Canon law ko:교회법

Episcopal see

An episcopal see is the office of the chief bishop of a particular church. See comes from the Latin word sedes, meaning seat, which refers to the episcopal throne (cathedra) located in the bishop's church (cathedral) in which the bishop sits as the principal symbol of his office. See is still used in that way but only in poetic contexts. By extension, episcopal see also refers to the local ordinary jurisdiction of that chief bishop (the diocese or particular church) and also the governmental bodies assisting the bishop (such as the curia). With the four different meanings, things become rather confusing when sedes is used in canon law. An example of all four usages is the term Holy See, which in the Roman Catholic Church could mean the cathedra in the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, the person who sits in that cathedra (the Pope), the governmental bodies which assist him in the exercise of his office (principally the Roman Curia), or the territory over which he is local ordinary (Rome), all depending on the context. This is not a problem when the Pope and the Roman Curia are both in Rome, but what happens when they are in different places? Canon law eventually came up with a solution for this problem, which is discussed in Holy See. Usage of the term is most common in the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican/Episcopal churches, but is also used by some Lutheran churches. It is also found translated into several languages. Category:Episcopacy in Catholicism Category:Anglicanism Category:Lutheranism Category:Canon law

Latin

Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. It gained great importance as the formal language of the Roman Empire. All Romance languages, those being most notably Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian, are descended from Latin, and many words based on Latin are found in other modern languages such as English. The Latin alphabet, derived from the Greek, remains the most widely-used alphabet in the world. It is said that 80 percent of scholarly English words are derived from Latin (in a large number of cases by way of French). Moreover, in the Western world, Latin was a lingua franca, the learned language for scientific and political affairs, for more than a thousand years, being eventually replaced by French in the 18th century and English in the late 19th. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the formal language of the Roman Catholic Church to this day, and thus the official national language of the Vatican. The Church used Latin as its primary liturgical language until the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. Latin is also still used (drawing heavily on Greek roots) to furnish the names used in the scientific classification of living things. The modern study of Latin, along with Greek, is known as Classics.

Main features

Latin is a synthetic inflectional language: affixes (which usually encode more than one grammatical category) are attached to fixed stems to express gender, number, and case in adjectives, nouns, and pronouns, which is called declension; and person, number, tense, voice, mood, and aspect in verbs, which is called conjugation. There are five declensions (declinationes) of nouns and four conjugations of verbs. There are six noun cases: #nominative (used as the subject of the verb or the predicate nominative), #genitive (used to indicate relation or possession, often represented by the English of or the addition of s to a noun), #dative (used of the indirect object of the verb, often represented by the English to or for), #accusative (used of the direct object of the verb, or object of the preposition in some cases), #ablative (separation, source, cause, or instrument, often represented by the English by, with, from), #vocative (used of the person or thing being addressed). In addition, some nouns have a locative case used to express location (otherwise expressed by the ablative with a preposition such as in), but this survival from Proto-Indo-European is found only in the names of lakes, cities, towns, small islands, and a few other words related to locations, such as "house", "ground", and "countryside". Latin itself, being a very old language, is far closer to Proto-Indo-European than are most modern Western European languages; it has, in fact, about the same relationship with PIE as modern Italian or French has to Latin. There are six general tenses in Latin (technically they are tense/aspect/mood complexes). The indicative mood can be used with all of them. The subjunctive mood, however, has only present, imperfect, perfect, and pluperfect tenses. These tenses in the subjunctive mood do not completely correlate in meaning to the tenses in the indicative. The following examples are of the first conjugation verb "laudare" ("to praise") in the indicative mood and the active voice:
Primary sequence tenses
# present (laudo, "I praise") # imperfect (laudabam, "I was praising") # future (laudabo, "I shall praise," "I will praise")
Secondary sequence tenses
# perfect (laudavi, "I praised", "I have praised") # pluperfect (laudaveram, "I had praised") # future perfect (laudavero, "I shall have praised," "I will have praised") The future perfect tense can also imply a normal future idea (like in "When I will have run...") and so may also sometimes be included in the primary sequence.
Latin and Romance
After the collapse of the Roman Empire, Latin evolved into the various Romance languages. These were for many centuries only spoken languages, Latin still being used for writing. For example, Latin was the official language of Portugal until 1296 when it was replaced by Portuguese. The Romance languages evolved from Vulgar Latin, the spoken language of common usage, which in turn evolved from an older speech which also produced the formal classical standard. Latin and Romance differ (for example) in that Romance had distinctive stress, whereas Latin had distinctive length of vowels. In Italian and Sardo logudorese, there is distinctive length of consonants and stress, in Spanish only distinctive stress, and in French even stress is no longer distinctive. Another major distinction between Romance and Latin is that all Romance languages, excluding Romanian, have lost their case endings in most words except for some pronouns. Romanian retains a direct case (nominative/accusative), an indirect case (dative/genitive), and vocative. In Italy, Latin is still compulsory in secondary schools as Liceo Classico and Liceo Scientifico which are usually attended by people who aim to the highest level of education. In Liceo Classico Ancient Greek is a compulsory subject.
Latin and English
See Latin influence in English for a more complete exposition. English grammar is independent of Latin grammar, though prescriptive grammarians in English have been heavily influenced by Latin. Attempts to make English grammar follow Latin rules — such as the prohibition against the split infinitive — have not worked successfully in regular usage. However, as many as half the words in English were derived from Latin, including many words of Greek origin first adopted by the Romans, not to mention the thousands of French, hundreds of Spanish, Portuguese and Italian words of Latin origin that have also enriched English. During the 16th and on through the 18th century English writers created huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek roots. These words were dubbed "inkhorn" or "inkpot" words (as if they had spilled from a pot of ink). Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, but some remain. Imbibe, extrapolate, dormant and inebriation are all inkhorn terms carved from Latin words. In fact, the word etymology is derived from the Greek word etymologia, meaning "true sense of the word." Latin was once taught in many of the schools in Britain with academic leanings - perhaps 25% of the total [http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/T/teachem2/thennow/]. However, the requirement for it was gradually abandoned in the professions such as the law and medicine, and then, from around the late 1960s, for admission to university. After the introduction of the Modern Language GCSE in the 1980s, it was gradually replaced by other languages, although it is now being taught by more schools along with other classical languages.
Latin education
The linguistic element of Latin courses offered in high schools or secondary schools, and in universities, is primarily geared toward an ability to translate Latin texts into modern languages, rather than using it in oral communication. As such, the skill of reading is heavily emphasized, whereas speaking and listening skills are barely touched upon. However, there is a growing movement, sometimes known as the Living Latin movement, whose supporters believe that Latin can, or should, be taught in the same way that modern "living" languages are taught, that is, as a means of both spoken and written communication. One of the most interesting aspects of such an approach is that it assists speculative insight into how many of the ancient authors spoke and incorporated sounds of the language stylistically; without understanding how the language is meant to be heard it is very difficult to identify patterns in Latin poetry. Institutions offering Living Latin instruction include the Vatican and the University of Kentucky. In Britain the Classical Association encourages this approach, and there has been something of a vogue for books describing the adventures of a mouse called Minimus. In the United States there is a thriving competitive organization for high school Latin students, the National Junior Classical League (the second-largest youth organization in the world after the Boy Scouts), backed up by the Senior Classical League for college students. Many would-be international auxiliary languages have been heavily influenced by Latin, and the moderately successful Interlingua considers itself to be the modernized and simplified version of the language (le latino moderne international e simplificate). Latin translations of modern literature such as Paddington Bear, Winnie the Pooh, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Le Petit Prince, Max und Moritz, and The Cat in the Hat have also helped boost interest in the language.
See also

About the Latin language

- Latin grammar
- Latin spelling and pronunciation
- Latin declension
- Latin conjugation
- Latin alphabet
- List of Latin words with English derivatives
- Latin verbs with English derivatives
- Latin nouns with English derivatives
- ablative absolute
- Word order in Latin
About the Latin literary heritage

- Latin literature
- Romance languages
- Loeb Classical Library
- List of Latin phrases
- List of Latin proverbs
- Brocard
- List of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names
- List of Latin place names in Europe
- Carmen Possum
Other related topics

- Roman Empire
- Internationalism
References

- Bennett, Charles E. Latin Grammar (Allyn and Bacon, Chicago, 1908)
- N. Vincent: "Latin", in The Romance Languages, M. Harris and N. Vincent, eds., (Oxford Univ. Press. 1990), ISBN 0195208293
- Waquet, Françoise, Latin, or the Empire of a Sign: From the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Centuries (Verso, 2003) ISBN 1859844022; translated from the French by John Howe.
- Wheelock, Frederic. Latin: An Introduction (Collins, 6th ed., 2005) ISBN 0060784237
External links

- [http://www.jambell.com/latin.html Latin Phrases for after dinner conversation (Thanks to Elaine Poole)]
- [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=lat Ethnologue report for Latin]
- [http://forumromanum.org/literature/index.html Corpus Scriptorum Latinorum] is a comprehensive webography of Latin texts and their translations.
- [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/ The Perseus Project] has many useful pages for the study of classical languages and literatures, including [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/resolveform?lang=Latin an interactive Latin dictionary].
- [http://lysy2.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/words.exe words by William whitaker] is a dictionary program online capable of looking up various word forms.
- [http://retiarius.org/ Retiarius.Org] includes a Latin text search engine.
- [http://www.nd.edu/~archives/latgramm.htm Latin-English dictionary and Latin grammar from U of Notre Dame]
- [http://latin-language.co.uk/ Latin language] History of Latin language, Latin texts with English translation and a collection of dictionaries.
- [http://augustinus.eresmas.net/scl/ Societas Circulorum Latinorum] gathers together Latin Circles all over the world.
- [http://www.learnlatin.tk LearnLatin.tk] - Free online course in Latin
- [http://www.latintests.net/ LatinTests.net] - Lets Latin learners test their grammar and vocabulary with self-checking quizzes.
- [http://thelatinlibrary.com/ The Latin Library] contains many Latin etexts
- [http://www.textkit.com/ Textkit] has Latin textbooks and etexts.
- [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/Latin-english/ Latin–English Dictionary]: from Webster's Rosetta Edition.
- [http://www.language-reference.com/ Language reference] Cross-foreign-language lexicon powered by its own search engine. All cross combinations between Latin and French, German, Italian, Spanish.
- [http://comp.uark.edu/~mreynold/rhetor.html Rhetor by Gabriel Harvey] was originally published in 1577 and never again reprinted.
- [http://freewebs.com/omniamundamundis omniamundamundis] Latin hypertexts from fourteen ancient Roman authors.
- [http://www.saltspring.com/capewest/pron.htm Pronunciation of Biological Latin, Including Taxonomic Names of Plants and Animals]
- [http://www.yleradio1.fi/nuntii Nuntii Latini (News in Latin)], written and spoken (RealAudio) news in latin. Weekly review of world news in Classical Latin, the only international broadcast of its kind in the world, produced by YLE, the Finnish Broadcasting Company.
- [http://www.tranexp.com:2000/InterTran?url=http%3A%2F%2F&type=text&text=Replace%20Me&from=eng&to=ltt InterTran Latin], Translate from Latin to ENGLISH or vice versa.
- [http://www.latinvulgate.com Latin Vulgate] The Latin and English of the Old & New Testaments in parallel, along with the Complete Sayings of Jesus in parallel Latin and English. Category:Classical languages Category:Ancient languages Category:Fusional languages Category:Languages of Italy Category:Languages of Vatican City als:Latein zh-min-nan:Latin-gí ko:라틴어 ja:ラテン語 simple:Latin language th:ภาษาละติน

Ablative absolute

In Latin grammar, the ablative absolute (Ablativus absolutus) is a noun phrase cast in the ablative case. It indicates the time, condition, or attending circumstances of an action being described in the main sentence. It takes the place of, and translates, many phrases that would require a subordinate clause in English. The unfamiliarity of this construction makes it sometimes difficult for Latin students to grasp; however, mastery of this construction is needed to write Latin well, and its availability makes Latin prose quite concise. The closest English equivalent is the nominative absolute (see below). The ablative absolute is grammatically independent of the rest of the sentence. It typically combines a noun or pronoun with an adjective, which is often a participle. A common translation strategy for this type of ablative absolute is "with the NOUN having been VERBed." The translation can then be finessed into more common English based upon context: :Urbe capta, Aeneas fugit ::"The city having been captured, Aeneas fled." ::"With the city having been captured, Aeneas fled." ::"When the city was captured, Aeneas fled." Nouns, also, are often found in the ablative absolute construction: :Cn. Pompeio M. Crasso consulibus. . . ::"When Gnaeus Pompey and Marcus Crassus were consuls. . ." :Ovidio exule Musae planguntur. ::"The Muses wept because Ovid was an exile." as are adjectives: :vivo Caesare. . . ::"when Caesar was alive. . ." The ablative absolute, as shown above, indicates the time when things happened, or the circumstances when they occurred. It also indicates the causes of things, as in: :Ira calefacta, sapientia dormit. ::"Wisdom sleeps because anger is kindled." :Domino absente, fenestram penetravit. ::"The homeowner being absent, he came in through the window." ::"Since the homeowner was away, he came in through the window." It can be used to add descriptions: :Passis palmis pacem petiverunt. ::"Hands outstretched, they sued for peace." ::"They sued for peace with hands outstretched." Sometimes an infinitive or clause occurs in the ablative absolute construction, especially in Livy and later authors: :audito eum fugisse... ::"Having heard that he had fled..." ::"when they heard he had fled..." The ablative absolute construction is sometimes imitated in English in a construction called the nominative absolute: "The Americans, their independence secured, formed a government." But the construction is rarer and less natural in English than it is in Latin. It was introduced by early modern authors heavily influenced by Latin, for example, John Milton whose Paradise Lost is an example of the construction. There is a similar construction in Ancient Greek which is called genitive absolute. This is built - as the name says - with the genitive rather than the ablative, since Ancient Greek did not have an ablative case.

Diocese

Stephen Alencastre as fifth Apostolic Vicar of the Hawaiian Islands in a Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace window. In Catholicism, the pope is the bishop of the diocese of Rome. He creates the other dioceses throughout the world and chooses their bishops.]] In some Christian churches, the diocese is an administrative territorial unit governed by a bishop, sometimes also referred to as a bishopric or episcopal see, though more often the term episcopal see means the office held by the bishop. In the Roman Catholic Church, an important diocese is called an archdiocese (usually due to size, historical significance, or both), which is governed by an Archbishop. As of 2003, there are approximately 569 Roman Catholic archdioceses and 2014 dioceses. Some Protestant churches, such as the Church of England, inherited this diocesan structure after the Protestant Reformation formally divided new Christian sects from the Roman Catholic Church. In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated in a larger unit, the diocese. (Latin dioecesis, from the Greek term διοίκησις meaning "administration"). The Catholic Church adopted the Roman diocesan structure of authority during the 5th and 6th centuries, as each bishop fully assumed the role of the former Roman praefectus. This transfer of authority from secular officials to ecclesiastical leaders was facilitated by the Christian practice of establishing areas of ecclesiastical administration that coincided with those of the Roman civil administration. In modern times, many an ancient diocese, though later divided among several dioceses, has preserved the boundaries of a long-vanished Roman administrative division. See also: Bishops and civil government.

In the Roman Empire

The earliest use of 'diocese' as an administrative unit was in the Greek-speaking East. Three districts— Cibyra, Apamea and Synnada— were added to the province of Cilicia in the time of Cicero, who mentions the fact in his familiar letters (EB 1911). The word 'diocese', which at that time was equivalent to a tax-collecting district, came to be applied to the territory itself. The reorganization of the Empire, which began under the rule of Diocletian, divided the Empire's vast lands into twelve dioceses. The largest, Oriens, included sixteen provinces, and the smallest, Britain, was comprised of only four provinces. A list of Roman dioceses as they existed in 395 CE can be found at the entry for Roman provinces. Each diocese of the Empire was governed by a praetor vicarius who in turn served an imperioal praefectus. Between the 4th and 6th centuries, as the older administrative structure began to crumble, the role of the bishops in the western lands of the Empire enabled those lands and their peoples to maintain a semblance of civilisation as the authority of Rome vanished. The senatorial aristocracy, especially in the provinces, continued in many places to serve as sources of local authority to complement the authority assumed by the Church. At that time, ecclesiastical political power was often vested in the spiritual offices of the bishops in each region. It is, therefore, unsurprising that, as the Catholic, and later the Eastern Orthodox, churches began to define their respective administrative structures, they relied on the older Roman terminology and methods to describe administrative units and hierarchy, which caused the division between ecclesiastical and secular authority to often disappear. In the Eastern Empire, this became fundamental doctrine: see Caesaropapism.

Christian hierarchy

Modern Christian usage of 'diocese' tends to refer to the sphere of a bishop's jurisdiction. This became commonplace during the self-conscious "classicizing" structural evolution of the Carolingian empire in the 9th century, but this usage had itself been evolving from the much earlier parochia ("parish"), dating from the increasingly formalised Christian authority structure in the 4th century (see EB 1911). In English-speaking countries, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints uses the term ward, rather than parish, to refer to the jurisdiction of the bishop and his counselors. However, the ward is not equal in size to a Catholic diocese; rather, a stake is.

External links

- [http://5.1911encyclopedia.org/D/DI/DIOCESE.htm Encyclopedia Britannica 1911]
- [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/ Virtually complete list of current and historical Catholic dioceses worldwide]
- [http://www.katolsk.no/utenriks/index_en.htm Another such list, in English and Norwegian]
- [http://anglican.org/domain/admin/bydiocese.html List of current Anglican/Episcopalian dioceses] Category:Christian group structuring

Coadjutor bishop

, Dubuque, Iowa. In 1994 he was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Dubuque. One year later when Archbishop Kucera retired, Hanus automatically became the next Archbishop of Dubuque.]] A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) is a bishop in the Roman Catholic or Anglican churches who is designated to succeed the current bishop of a diocese.

Roman Catholic Church

In the Roman Catholic Church, a coadjutor bishop or a coadjutor archbishop is a bishop or archbishop that has been appointed by the Pope to assist a diocesan bishop or archbishop with his diocese. Unlike auxiliary bishops, coadjutors are given the automatic right of succession to the episcopal see, meaning that when the ordinary they are assisting dies, retires, resigns, or is reassigned, the coadjutor automatically becomes the next leader of the diocese. In modern church practice, this is usually done in cases where a diocesan bishop feels that he will not be able to continue much longer for health reasons, or because he is nearing retirement age. In these cases the Pope will sometimes assign a coadjutor to the diocese in question in order to give the new Bishop time to become familiar with the diocese that he will eventually take over. An example of this occurred in 1994 when Archbishop Jerome Hanus was named Coadjutor Archbishop of Dubuque as Archbishop Daniel Kucera was planning to retire. In 1995, Archbishop Kucera retired, and Hanus automatically became the next Archbishop of Dubuque. At times, the appointment of a coadjutor is used to discretely remove a diocesan bishop who has become involved in scandal or other problems and replace him with another man. An example of this occurred in the Archdiocese of Dubuque in the 1940's, when then Archbishop Beckman involved the archdiocese in what turned out to be a dubious mining scheme. When the scheme fell apart and the man behind the scam was arrested, the fallout resulted in serious financial problems for Archbishop Beckman and the archdiocese. Because of all Beckman's problems, Bishop Henry Rohlman of Davenport, Iowa, was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Dubuque, Iowa. While Beckman was allowed to retain the office of Archbishop, it was made clear to him by the Holy See that the actual power rested with Rohlman. Beckman soon retired and left Dubuque.

Anglican Communion

In the Anglican Communion, a bishop coadjutor (the form usually used) is a bishop elected or appointed to follow the current diocesan bishop upon the incumbent's death or retirement. In some provinces of the Communion, such as the Church of England, bishops are appointed. In others, such as the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA), they are elected. In the ECUSA, when a diocesan bishop announces his or her retirement, a special convention is held to elect a coadjutor. Usually the coadjutor serves with the incumbent for a short time before the latter's retirement, at which time the coadjutor becomes the diocesan bishop.

Lutheran Church

In the Evangelic-Lutheran Church of Finland, there has existed for a number of years the position of Bishop of Turku who assists the Archbishop of Turku, primate of Finland. As the Church of Finland does not accept two Bishops presiding over the same area, most of the diocese is under jurisdiction of the bishop. Only the parishes nearest Turku belong to the jurisdiction of the archbishop. The same could have been accomplished by founding a new diocese but this was not undertaken due to financial grounds. The office of the Bishop of Turku is a recent creation and it is to be seen whether it gives the possibility to succeed the Archbishop of Finland. No Archbishop has retired during the existance of the office of Bishop. However, the Archbishop of Turku is elected by a complicated procedure in which both layman and clergy of the whole country and of the archdiocese participate in varying decrees. It is possible that the Bishop, who is elected only by the clergy and laity of the archdiocese on somewhat local grounds, would not necessarily have the prestige to become the spiritual head of Finland. Category:Bishops Category:Episcopacy in Catholicism Category:Canon law Category:Anglicanism Category:Ecclesiastical titles

Vicar general

A vicar general is an ecclesiastical office in the Latin rite of the Catholic Church existing in each particular church. A diocesan bishop must appoint at least one vicar general for his diocese. Vicars general share in the bishop's ordinary power over the entire diocese, acting as a sort of second-in-command. Vicars general must be either priests, auxiliary bishops, or coadjutor bishops. The equivalent officer in the Eastern rite churches is called the protosyncellus. The similarly titled vicar episcopal shares in the bishop's ordinary power over a particular section of a diocese. These too must either be priests, auxiliary bishops, or coadjutor bishops. The equivalent officer in the Eastern rite churches is called the syncellus. This office should not be confused with the vicar forane or "dean", as those vicars do not have ordinary power. Both vicars general and vicars episcopal are prelates. Unless they are ordained bishops, their term of office is for a fixed duration. They lose their office sede vacante unless they have been ordained bishops. The appointment of a vicar general is a useful tool for a diocesan bishop who has additional functions attached to his episcopate. The most notable example is what occurs in the diocese of Rome. The Pope is the diocesan bishop of Rome, but since he must spend most of his time governing the Latin rite church and the global Catholic Church, his vicar general functions as the de facto bishop of the diocese. The Vicar General of Rome also serves the same role for the suburbicarian diocese of Ostia, the traditional see of the Dean of the College of Cardinals, since it was merged with the diocese of Rome. The Vicar General of Rome, who is normally a cardinal, is one of the few church officials in Rome to remain in office sede vacante. The current Vicar General of Rome is Camillo Cardinal Ruini. Category:Roman Catholic Church offices Category:Canon law Category:Ecclesiastical titles

Chapter (religion)

Chapter (Latin capitulum) designates certain corporate ecclesiastical bodies in the Catholic Church. The word is said to be derived from the chapter of the rule book, which it was the custom to read in the assemblies of monks. By degrees the meeting itself was called the chapter and the place of meeting the chapter house. From these conventual chapters or meetings of monks for the transaction of business connected with their monasteries or orders, the designation passed over to somewhat analogous assemblies of other ecclesiastics. Hence we speak of collegiate chapters and of cathedral chapters. In general a chapter may be defined as an association of clerics of a certain church forming a moral body and instituted by ecclesiastical authority for the purpose of promoting the divine worship by means of choir service. If it be a cathedral chapter, however, its principal object is to assist the bishop in the government of his diocese, and the choir service is only secondary. Members of chapters are called canons. Category:Roman Catholic Church organisation

Ordinary

:For the heraldry meaning see Ordinary. Ordinary, was ordinary of the universal Roman Catholic Church and local ordinary of Rome. At the same time, Bishop Stephen Alencastre, Apostolic Vicar of the Sandwich Islands, was the local ordinary of Hawaii]] In hierarchical Western Christianity, an ordinary (from the Latin ordinarius) is an ecclesiastical officer with both pastoral and governmental jurisdiction over a well-defined group of persons granted by canon law. In the Eastern church, such an officer is called a hierarch, which comes from the Greek word 'ιεραρχης' meaning "high priest." The term ordinary emphasizes that the power of the officer is not delegated from a higher governmental body but is granted directly from the law, whether that law be the codified 'canon' laws of the church or 'divine' laws which the church sees coming directly from God. Other ecclesiastical officers may exercise governmental or pastoral jurisdiction delegated from one of these officers, but since they are not mentioned in the law, they are not ordinaries. The power to govern (termed external jurisdiction) is different from pastoral power (also called internal jurisdiction). Governing jurisdiction means executive, legislative, and/or judicial power, whereas pastoral jurisdiction means the power to teach or supervise. Thus, while a pastor has pastoral power over the members of his parish granted by virtue of the law, he is not an ordinary because he does not have governing power. A vicar general is an ordinary, though, because he possesses both jurisdictions over a diocese.

Roman Catholic usage

Local ordinaries/hierarchs

Local ordinaries are ordinaries over particular churches. The following officers are local ordinaries:
- Diocesan/eparchial bishops and all prelates who head particular churches
- Vicars capitular, Administrators sede vacante, and temporary Apostolic administrators
- Vicars general and protosyncelli
- Episcopal vicars and syncelli

Other ordinaries/hierarchs

Other officers are also ordinaries, but not local ordinaries.
- Patriarchs and major archbishops over sui juris churches
- Abbots and major superiors over their respective religious orders
- Prelates of personal prelatures The pope is the local ordinary of Rome. He is also the ordinary, but not the local ordinary, of the Latin rite church. Roman Catholics also believe that he is also the ordinary of the universal Church.

Metropolitan bishop

In hierarchical Christian churches, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the bishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of an old Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital. In the Western patriarchate of the Roman Catholic Church, metropolitans have supervisory authority over the other bishops in their ecclesiastical province, called suffragan bishops. They also have authority over the dioceses in their province when there is a vacancy caused by the death or resignation of the suffragan bishop. Their insignia is the pallium, which they can wear in their diocese and the other suffragan dioceses in the province. All Latin rite metropolitan bishops are archbishops; however, some archbishops are not metropolitan bishops. See archbishop for the distinction. In the Eastern Rite Catholic churches, the term metropolitan is used in a similar way to the Eastern Orthodox churches. In the Anglican Communion, the metropolitan is generally the head of an ecclesiastical province (or cluster of dioceses) and ranks immediately under the Primate of the national church. In the Eastern Orthodox churches, the title is used variously. In the Hellenic Churches metropolitans are ranked below archbishops in precedence, and primates of local Churches below Patriarchal rank are generally designated archbishops. The reverse is true for the Slavic Churches, where metropolitans rank above archbishops and the title can be used for Primatial sees as well as important cities. In neither case do metropolitans have any special authority over other ruling bishops within their provinces. However, metropolitans (archbishops in the Greek Orthodox Church) are the chairmen of their respective synods of bishops.

Suffragan bishop

A bishop is an ordained member of the Christian clergy who, in certain Christian churches, holds a position of authority.

Meaning of bishop

The etymology of the word bishop comes from the Greek word episkopos (επισκοπος), which can be generally translated as bishop, overseer, superintendent, supervisor, or foreman. From the word episkopos are derived the English words episcopacy, episcopate and episcopal.

Bishops in the New Testament

The New Testament uses the word episkopos five times.
- Acts of the Apostles 20:28
- Epistle to the Philippians 1:1
- First Epistle to Timothy 3:2
- Epistle to Titus 1:7
- First Epistle of Peter 2:25 Words related to episkopos are used in two other verses. Some English Bibles translate this word as bishop (KJV, RSV, NRSV, etc.), while others, attempting to distance themselves from certain types of church hierarchy, use a more neutral alternative, such as "overseers" (NIV, ESV, etc.). The ministry of these New Testament episkopoi was not directly commissioned by Jesus, but appears to be a natural, practical development of the church during the first and second centuries AD. The portions of the New Testament that mention episkopoi do not appear to be ordering a new type of ministry, but giving instructions for an already existent position within the early church. In places (particularly in the verses from the Epistle to Titus) it appears that the position of episkopos is similar or the same as that of presbyter (πρεσβυτερος), or elder, and, later, priest. The Epistle to Timothy mentions deacons (διακονοι) in a manner that suggests that the office of deacon differs from the office of the bishop, and is subordinate to it, though it carries similar qualifications. In the Acts of the Apostles, episkopoi are mentioned as being shepherds of the flock, imagery that is still in use today. The other passages from the New Testament describe them as stewards or administrators, and teachers. In 1 Timothy episkopoi are required to be 'the husband of but one wife'. It is unclear whether this forbids men who have married a second time in series, or polygamists. However, it is clear that the New Testament has no prohibition against bishops marrying and having children. It is interesting to note that in the second chapter of the 1 Peter, Jesus is described as 'the Shepherd and Episkopos of your souls' (τον ποιμενα και επισκοπον των ψυχων υμων).

Bishops in the Apostolic Fathers

At the turn of the first century AD, the church started to acquire a clear organisation. In the works of the Apostolic Fathers, and Ignatius of Antioch in particular, the role of the episkopos, or bishop, became more important.

"Plainly therefore we ought to regard the bishop as the Lord Himself" — Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians 6:1.
"your godly bishop" — Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians 2:1.
"the bishop presiding after the likeness of God and the presbyters after the likeness of the council of the Apostles, with the deacons also who are most dear to me, having been entrusted with the diaconate of Jesus Christ" — Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians 6:1.
"Therefore as the Lord did nothing without the Father, [being united with Him], either by Himself or by the Apostles, so neither do ye anything without the bishop and the presbyters." — Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians 7:1.
"Be obedient to the bishop and to one another, as Jesus Christ was to the Father [according to the flesh], and as the Apostles were to Christ and to the Father, that there may be union both of flesh and of spirit." — Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians 13:2.
"In like manner let all men respect the deacons as Jesus Christ, even as they should respect the bishop as being a type of the Father and the presbyters as the council of God and as the college of Apostles. Apart from these there is not even the name of a church." — Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallesians 3:1.
"follow your bishop, as Jesus Christ followed the Father, and the presbytery as the Apostles; and to the deacons pay respect, as to God's commandment" — Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnans 8:1.
"He that honoureth the bishop is honoured of God; he that doeth aught without the knowledge of the bishop rendereth service to the devil" — Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnans 9:1.

— Lightfoot translation.

It is clear that, by this period, a single bishop was expected to lead the church in each centre of Christian mission, supported by a council of presbyters (now a distinct and subordinate position) with a pool of deacons. As the church continued to expand, new churches in important cities gained their own bishop, but churches in the regions around an important city were served by presbyters and deacons from the bishop's city church. Thus, in time, the bishop changed from being the leader of a single church to being the leader of the churches of a given geographical area.

Bishops and civil government

The efficient infrastructure of the Roman Empire became the template for the organization of the church in the fourth century, particularly after the Edict of Milan. As the church moved from the shadows of privacy into the public forum it acquired land for churches, burials and clergy. In 391, Theodosius I decreed that any land that had been confiscated from the church by Roman authorities be returned. The most usual term for the geographical area of a bishop's authority and ministry, the diocese, began as part of the structure of the Roman Empire under Diocletian. As Roman authority began to fail in the western portion of the empire, the church took over much of the civil administration. This can be clearly seen in the ministry of two popes: Pope Leo I in the fifth century, and Pope Gregory I in the sixth century. Both of these men were statesmen and public administrators in addition to their role as Christian pastors, teachers and leaders. In the Eastern churches, latifundia entailed to a bishop's see were much less common, the state power did not collapse the way it did in the West, and thus the tendency of bishops acquiring secular power was much weaker than in the West. However, the role of Western bishops as civil authorities, often called prince bishops, continued throughout much of the Middle Ages.

Sovereign bishops

prince bishop The most important of these prince bishops was the Pope, who ruled as monarch of the Papal States by virtue of his title as Bishop of Rome. His claim to this fief rested on the forged Donation of Constantine, but in fact his authority over this kingdom in central Italy grew slowly after the collapse of Roman and Byzantine authority in the area. The Papal States were abolished when King Victor Emmanuel II took possession of Rome in 1870 and completed the reunification of Italy. This became a perennial source of tension between the Papacy and the government of Italy. In 1929, Pope Pius XI made a deal with the Fascist government of Benito Mussolini and became the independent sovereign of the Vatican, while giving up any rights to the rest of the former Papal States. He was recognised as an independent monarch by the Lateran Treaties, an authority the current Pope continues to hold. The only other bishop who is a head of state is the Bishop of Urgell, a Co-Prince of Andorra. Three senior bishops served as Electors in the Holy Roman Empire. By the terms of the Golden Bull of 1356, the Archbishops of Mainz, Trier, and Cologne were made permanent electors, who chose the next Holy Roman Emperor upon the death of his predecessor. The Archbishop of Mainz was President of the Electors and Archchancellor of Germany. Likewise, the Archbishop of Cologne was Archchancellor of Italy, and the Archbishop of Trier was Archchancellor of Burgundy. A number of other bishops within the Holy Roman Empire, although not being Electors, were sovereign prince-bishops in their own lands.

Bishops holding political office

As well as the Archchancellors of the Holy Roman Empire, bishops generally served as chancellors to mediaeval monarchs, serving as head of the justiciary and chief chaplain. The Lord Chancellor of England was almost always a bishop up until the dismissal of Thomas Cardinal Wolsey by Henry VIII. Likewise, the position of Kanclerz in the Polish kingdom was always a bishop until the sixteenth century. In France before the French Revolution, representatives of the clergy — in practice, bishops and abbots of the largest monasteries — comprised the First Estate of the Estates-General, until their role was abolished during the French Revolution. The more senior bishops of the Church of England continue to sit in the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, as representatives of the established church, and are known as Lords Spiritual. The Bishop of Sodor and Man, whose diocese lies outside of the United Kingdom, is ex officio a member of the Legislative Council of the Isle of Man. In the past, the Bishop of Durham, known as a prince bishop, had extensive viceregal powers within his northern diocese — the power to mint money, collect taxes and raise an army to defend against the Scots.

Episcopacy during the English Civil War

During the period of the English Civil War (or rather, Civil Wars), the role of bishops as wielders of political power and as upholders of the established church became a matter of heated political controversy. John Calvin formulated a doctrine of Presbyterianism, which held that in the New Testament the offices of presbyter and episkopos were identical; he rejected the doctrine of apostolic succession. Calvin's follower John Knox brought Presbyterianism to Scotland when the Scottish church was reformed in 1560. In practice, presbyterianism meant that committees of lay elders had a substantial voice in church government, as opposed to merely being subjects to a ruling hierarchy. This vision of at least partial democracy in ecclesiology paralleled the struggles between Parliament and the King. A body within the Puritan movement in the Church of England sought to abolish the office of bishop and remake the Church of England along Presbyterian lines. The Martin Marprelate tracts, applying the pejorative name of prelacy to the church hierarchy, attacked the office of bishop with satire that deeply offended Elizabeth I and her Archbishop of Canterbury John Whitgift. The vestments controversy also related to this movement, seeking further reductions in church ceremony, and labelling the use of elaborate vestments as "unedifying" and even idolatrous. King James I, reacting against the perceived contumacy of his Presbyterian Scottish subjects, adopted "No Bishop, no King" as a slogan; he tied the hierarchical authority of the bishop to the absolute authority he sought as king, and viewed attacks on the authority of the bishops as attacks on his own authority. Matters came to a head when King Charles I appointed William Laud as the Archbishop of Canterbury; Laud aggressively attacked the Presbyterian movement and sought to impose the full Anglican liturgy on each church. The controversy eventually lead to Laud's impeachment for treason by a bill of attainder in 1645, and subsequent execution. Charles also attempted to impose episcopacy on Scotland; the Scots' violent rejection of bishops and liturgical worship sparked the Bishops' Wars in 1639-1640. During the height of Puritan power in the Commonwealth and the Protectorate, episcopacy was abolished in the Church of England in 1649. The Church of England remained Presbyterian until the Restoration of Charles II in 1660.

Bishops in Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican churches

Although many Protestant churches have rejected the place of bishops in church leadership, churches rooted in tradition continue to ordain bishops to lead the church. Bishops form the leadership in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Anglican Communion, and the Independent Catholic Churches. The traditional role of a bishop is as pastor of a diocese (also called a bishopric, eparchy or see). Dioceses vary considerably in their size of area and population. Some dioceses around the Mediterranean Sea which were Christianized early are rather compact; whereas dioceses in areas of rapid modern growth in Christian commitment, as in some parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, South America and the Far East, are much larger and more populous. Far East As well as traditional diocesan bishops, many churches have a well-developed structure of church leadership that involves a number of layers of authority and responsibility. ;Archbishop:An archbishop is the bishop of an archdiocese. This is usually a prestigious diocese with an important place in local church history. The title is purely honorific and carries no extra jurisdiction, though most archbishops are also metropolitan bishops. ;Metropolitan bishop:A metropolitan bishop is an archbishop in charge of an ecclesiastical province, or group of dioceses, and exercises some oversight over the other dioceses. Sometimes a metropolitan may also be the head of an autocephalous, sui juris, or autonomous church. ;Suffragan bishop:A suffragan bishop is a bishop subordinate to another. In the Roman Catholic Church this term is applied to all non-metropolitan bishops (diocesan and auxiliary bishops). In the Anglican Communion, the term applies to a bishop who is a full-time assistant to a diocesan bishop: the Bishop of Warwick is suffragan to the Bishop of Coventry (the diocesan), though both live in Coventry. Some Anglican suffragans are given the responsibility for a geographical area within the diocese (for example, the Bishop of Stepney is an area bishop within the Diocese of London). Diocese of London, Puerto Rico, is a Metropolitan Bishop. ]] ;Titular bishop:A titular bishop is a bishop without a diocese. Rather, the bishop is head of a titular see, which is usually an ancient city that used to have a bishop, but, for some reason or other, does not have one now. Titular bishops often serve as coadjutors or auxiliary bishops. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, bishops of modern diocese are often given a titular see alongside their modern one (for example, the Archbishop of Thyateira and Great Britain). ;Auxiliary bishop:An auxiliary bishop is a full-time assistant to a diocesan bishop (the Roman Catholic equivalent of an Anglican suffragan bishop). Auxiliaries are almost always titular bishops, and are often appointed as the vicar general of the diocese in which they serve. ;Coadjutor bishop:A coadjutor bishop is a bishop who is given automatic right to succeed the incumbent diocesan bishop. The appointment of coadjutors is often seen as a means of providing for continuity of church leadership. ;Honorary assistant bishop:This title is usually applied to retired bishops who are given a general license to minister as episcopal pastors under a diocesan's oversight. ;Primate:A primate is the bishop of the oldest church of a nation. Sometimes this carries jurisdiction over metropolitan bishops, but usually it is another honorific. An exarch is like a primate in the Eastern churches. The title Presiding or President Bishop is often used for the head of a national Anglican church, but this title is not usually associated with a particular episcopal see like a primate. The primate of the Scottish Episcopal Church is chosen from among the diocesan bishops, and, while retaining diocesan responsibility, is called Primus. ;Cardinal:A cardinal, although not until recently necessarily a bishop (e.g., Jesuit theologian Henri de Lubac), is usually a primate, patriarch or titular bishop within the Roman Catholic Church. Their primary duty is to elect the pope. ;Major archbishop:Major archbishops are the heads of some of the Eastern Rite churches in the Roman Catholic Church. Their authority within their sui juris church is equal to that of a patriarch, but they receive fewer ceremonial honors. ;Catholicos:Catholicoi are the heads of some of the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches, roughly similar to a Catholic major archbishop. ;Patriarch:Patriarchs are the heads of certain ancient autocephalous or sui juris churches. Some of these churches call their leaders Catholicos; the patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Egypt, is called Pope. While most patriarchs in the Roman Catholic Church have jurisdiction, all Latin Rite patriarchs, except for the Pope, are honorary. Pope]]Bishops in all of these communions are ordained by other bishops. Depending on the church, there need to be two or three bishops for validity or legality. Apart from the ordination, which is always done by other bishops, there are different methods in different churches as to the actual choosing of a candidate for ordination as bishop. In the Roman Catholic Church today, the Congregation for Bishops oversees the selection of new bishops with the approval of the Pope. Most Eastern Orthodox churches allow varying amounts of more or less formalized laity and/or lower clergy influence on the choice of bishops. More information on this topic is needed. Only a bishop can ordain a bishop, priest, or deacon. In the Eastern Orthodox Church and in the Eastern Rite liturgical tradition, a priest may celebrate the Divine Liturgy only with the blessing of a bishop. An antimension signed by the bishop is kept on the altar partly as a reminder of whose altar it is and under whose omophorion the priest at a local parish is serving. The Pope of Rome, in addition to being the Bishop of Rome and head of the Roman Catholic Church, is the Patriarch of the Latin Catholic Church. Each bishop within the Latin Catholic Church is only answerable directly to the Pope and not any other bishop except to metropolitans in certain oversight instances. In the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches and the Anglican Communion, the cathedral of a diocese will have a special chair set aside for the exclusive use of the bishop. This is the bishop's cathedra, which is often called the bishop's throne. In some other Christian denominations, other churches besides the cathedral will maintain a chair for the use of a Bishop when he visits their parish. Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox Christian bishops claim to be part of a continuous sequence of ordained bishops since the days of the apostles, the apostolic succession. However, since a bull of Pope Leo XIII issued in 1896, the Roman Catholic church has insisted that Anglican orders are invalid, because of that church's changes in the ordination rites. The Roman Catholic church does however recognize as valid (though illegal) ordinations done by breakaway Roman Catholic bishops, and groups descended from them, so long as the people receiving the ordination conform to other canonical requirements; this gives rise to the phenomenon of episcopi vagantes. Roman Catholics also recognize the validity of ordinations of bishops, priests, and deacons in the Orthodox churches. Some provinces of the Anglican Communion have begun ordaining women as bishops in recent decades. The first was Barbara Clementine Harris, who was ordained to the epsicopate in 1989.

Bishops in other churches

Some other churches, such as Lutherans, Methodists and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ("LDS Church"; see also Mormon), also have bishops, but their roles differ significantly from the Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican ones.

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

In the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States, and based largely on the Church of Sweden and United Danish Church, bishops are elected by synod councils, consisting of both lay members and clergy, for a term of 6 years, which can be renewed, depending upon the local synod's "constitution" (which usually mirrors that of the national ELCA constitution). Currently, they are responsible for, since going into ecumenical communion with the Episcopal Church of the United States, with the ordaining of all pastors, consecrating all diaconal ministers, giving approvals to "roster" all current pastors (pastors are called by local congregations, like that of the Episcopal Church), and upholding the teachings of Luther, the ELCA and synod constitutions. The Presiding Bishop of the ELCA, the national bishop, is elected for a single 6-year term, and handles all episcopal consecrations, as well as presiding at the General Assembly, which is held every 2 years. A similar structure exists with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada (ELCC).

United Methodist Bishops

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada In the United Methodist Church, bishops are administrative superintendents of the church; they are elected for life from among the clergy by vote of the delegates in regional (called Jurisdictional) conferences and, among their duties, are responsible for appointing clergy to serve local churches as pastor, for performing ordinations, and for safeguarding the doctrine and discipline of the Church. The Juridictional Conferences, meeting every four years, are comprised of an equal number of clergy and lay delegates. In each Annual Conference, United Methodist bishops serve for four year terms, and may serve up to three terms before either retirement or appointment to a new Conference. United Methodist bishops may be male or female. John Wesley made Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury superintendents for the United States of America in 1784, where Methodism first became a separate denomination apart from the Church of England. Coke soon returned to England, but Asbury was the primary builder of the new church. He did not call himself bishop, but eventually submitted to the usage by the people. Notable bishops in United Methodist history include Coke, Asbury, Richard Whatcoat, Philip William Otterbein, Martin Boehm, Jacob Albright, John Seybert, Matthew Simpson, John Stamm, Marjorie Matthews, Ntambo Nkulu Ntanda, William Willimon, and Thomas Bickerton. Methodists in Great Britain acquired their own bishops early in the nineteenth century, after the Methodist movement in Britain formally parted company with the Church of England. The position no longer exists, however, in British Methodism.

Christian Methodist Episcopal Church

nineteenth century In the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, bishops are administrative superintendents of the church; they are elected by "delegate" votes for as many years deemed until the age of 74, then he/she must retire. Among their duties, are responsibility for appointing clergy to serve local churches as pastor, for performing ordinations, and for safeguarding the doctrine and discipline of the Church. The General Conference, a meeting every four years, are comprised of an equal number of clergy and lay delegates. In each Annual Conference, CME bishops serve for four year terms. CME Church bishops may be male or female.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Bishop is the leader of a local congregation, called a ward. As such, it is his duty to preside at sacrament meetings, assign local leaders, and participate in one-on-one interviews with his ward members for things such as temple recommends and confession. Bishop is an office of the Aaronic Priesthood; in addition to his ward responsibilities, it is a bishop's duty to preside over the priest's quorum. Responsible for the physical welfare of the ward, he collects tithing and fast offerings and distributes financial assistance where needed. A bishop is chosen from members of the local congregation by the stake presidency. After being called, he chooses his two counselors, and the three men together form a bishopric. Like almost all positions in the Church, bishops are not paid or reimbursed financially for their services and therefore have normal full-time jobs to provide for their families. A ward typically releases its bishop and calls a new one every five years or so; after being released, a bishop is usually still referred to by the title "Bishop" by the people he served.

New Apostolic Church

The New Apostolic Church (NAC) knows 3 classes of ministries: Diacons, Priests and Apostles. The Apostles, all conclused in the apostolate with the Chief Apostle as head, are the highest ministries. Of the several kinds of priest-ministries, the bishop is the highest one. Nearly all bishops are set in directly from the chief apostle. They support and help their superior apostle.

Others

In some smaller Protestant denominations and independent churches the term bishop is used in the same way as pastor, to refer to the leader of the local congregation who may be male or female. This usage is especially common in African American churches in the USA. In the Church of Scotland, which has a Presbyterian church structure, the word "bishop" refers to an ordained person, usually a normal parish minister, who has temporary oversight of a trainee minister.

References & Resources

Print

- Ignatius of Antioch, Epistles of to the Ephesians, Magnesians, Trallesians, and Smyrnans, Lightfoot, trans., Harmer, ed. (Kessinger, 1891/2003). ISBN 0766164985
- Mathews, James, Set Apart To Serve: The Role of the Episcopacy in the Wesleyan Tradition (Nashville: Abingdon, 1985).
- Moede, Gerald, The Office of Bishop in Methodism: Its History and Development (Nashville: Abingdon, 1965).

Online

- [http://biblestudytools.net/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?word=1+Timothy+3%3A1-7§ion=0&version=nrs&new=1&oq=&NavBook=1ti&NavGo=3&NavCurrentChapter=3 1 Timothy 3:1-7] (NRSV)
- [http://biblestudytools.net/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?word=Titus+1%3A7-9§ion=0&version=nrs&new=1&oq=&NavBook=tit&NavGo=1&NavCurrentChapter=1 Titus 1:7-9] (NRSV)
- [http://www.revneal.org/Writings/apostoli.htm Methodist/Anglican Thoughts On Apostolic Succession] by Gregory Neal
- [http://www.revneal.org/Writings/methepisc.htm Methodist Episcopacy: In Search of Holy Orders] by Gregory Neal
- Category:Christian group structuring Category:Roman Catholic Church offices Category:Methodism Category:Religious workers Category:Ecclesiastical titles ko:주교 ja:司教

Apostolic administrator

In the Roman Catholic Church, an apostolic administrator is a prelate appointed by the Pope to serve as an ordinary for either an area that is not yet a diocese (a stable apostolic administration) or for a diocese that either has no bishop (an apostolic administrator sede vacante) or, in very rare cases, has an incapacitated bishop (apostolic administrator sede plena). Apostolic administrators of stable administrations are equivalent in law with diocesan bishops, which means that they can do just about anything a diocesan bishop can do. Administrators sede vacante or sede plena, though, only serve in their role until a newly chosen diocesan bishop takes posession of the diocese and are restricted by canon law in what they can do to the diocese they temporarily administer. Normally when a diocese falls vacant a vicar capitular/diocesan administrator is chosen locally, but the Pope, having full governmental power, can preempt this choice and name an apostolic administrator instead. Sometimes a retiring bishop is designated to be apostolic administrator until his successor takes office. Category:Roman Catholic Church offices