Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A diocesan bishop, within various Christian traditions, is a bishop or archbishop in pastoral charge of a diocese or archdiocese. In relation to other bishops, a diocesan bishop may be a suffragan, a metropolitan (if an archbishop) or a primate. They may also hold various other positions such as being a cardinal or patriarch.
The typical role of a bishop is to provide pastoral governance for a diocese. [19] Bishops who fulfill this function are known as diocesan ordinaries, because they have what canon law calls ordinary (i.e. not delegated) authority for a diocese. These bishops may be known as hierarchs in the Eastern Catholic Churches.
An auxiliary bishop is a full-time assistant to a diocesan bishop or archbishop. Auxiliaries are titular (arch)bishops without the right of succession, who assist the diocesan bishop or archbishop in a variety of ways and are usually appointed as vicars general or episcopal vicars of the (arch)diocese in which they serve. [33]
For example, diocesan bishops are ordinaries in the Catholic Church [1] and the Church of England. [2] In Eastern Christianity , a corresponding officer is called a hierarch [ 3 ] (from Greek ἱεράρχης hierarkhēs "president of sacred rites, high-priest" [ 4 ] which comes in turn from τὰ ἱερά ta hiera , "the sacred rites" and ...
Relatedly, those with jurisdiction take precedence over those with titular, ad personam, or emeritus titles, so someone serving in a specific office (e.g., diocesan bishop) has precedence over someone with a titular claim to the same rank (e.g., titular bishop) or someone who used to serve in an equivalent office (e.g., a retired bishop).
The appointment of Church of England diocesan bishops follows a detailed process, reflecting the church's traditional tendency towards compromise and complex solutions, traditional ambiguity between hierarchy and democracy, and traditional role as a semi-autonomous state church.
Initially, bishops were chosen by the local clergy with approval from nearby bishops. "A newly elected bishop was installed in office and given his authority ... by the bishops who supervised the election and performed the ordination." [1] Examples of episcopal election in the early church include such notable figures as Ambrose of Milan.
In a general sense, a "prelate" in the Catholic Church and other Christian churches is a bishop or other ecclesiastical person who possesses ordinary authority of a jurisdiction, i.e., of a diocese or similar jurisdiction, e.g., ordinariates, apostolic vicariates/exarchates, or territorial abbacies.