Bishops and civil government
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.
Bishops ruling temporal states
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.
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
Eastern Orthodox bishops, along with all other members of the clergy, are canonically forbidden to hold political office. Occasional exceptions to this rule are tolerated when the alternative is political chaos. A recent prominent example of this was Archbishop Makarios III of Cyprus, who served as President of the Republic of Cyprus from 1960 to 1977.
piscopacy 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.
Bishops in Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican churches
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.
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. In the Roman Catholic Church, the title is purely honorific and carries no extra jurisdiction, though most archbishops are also metropolitan bishops. In most provinces of the Anglican Communion, however, an archbishop has metropolitical and primatial power.
- 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 a Metropolitan. 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).
- 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 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 appointed as the vicar general of the diocese in which they serve.Source In the Maronite Church, an auxiliary bishop is often known as a Chorbishop.
- 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 usually 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 necessarily a bishop (e.g., Jesuit theologian Henri de Lubac, Jesuit theologian Avery Dulles and a few others), 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 Catholic Churches. 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.
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 (sacramental) or legality (liceity). Roman Catholic doctrine holds that any bishop, even one, can validly ordain another male (priest) a bishop validly.
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 liturgical tradition, a priest can 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.
In the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church the administration of Confirmation is normally reserved to the local bishop.
The Pope, 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. Since Pope Leo XIII issued the bull Apostolicae Curae 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 recognize as valid (though illicit) ordinations done by breakaway Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, Eastern Orthodox or Oriental Orthodox bishops, and groups descended from them, so long as the people receiving the ordination conform to other canonical requirements and as long as an orthodox rite of episcopal consecration, expressing the proper functions and sacramental status of a bishop, is used; this gives rise to the phenomenon of episcopi vagantes. Roman Catholics recognize the validity of bishops of Eastern Orthodox, Independent Catholic, Old Catholic, Oriental Orthodox and Assyrian Nestorian churches.
Some provinces of the Anglican Communion have begun ordaining women as bishops in recent decades. The first woman ordained a bishop was Barbara Clementine Harris, who was ordained to the Anglican episcopate 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 Nordic Lutheran state churches (similar to that of the Church of England), 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 in 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 in Canada (ELCC), except that its bishops cover entire provinces (ELCA synods are usually metropolitan in structure).
United Methodist Bishops
In the United Methodist Church, bishops serve as administrative and pastoral superintendents of the church. They are elected for life from among the clergy (Presbyters or "elders") by vote of the delegates in regional (called Jurisdictional) conferences, and are consecrated by the other bishops present at the conference through the laying on of hands. Within the United Methodist Church only bishops are empowered to consecrate bishops and ordain clergy for ministry within the church. Among their most critical duties is the ordination and appointment of clergy to serve local churches as pastor, presiding at sessions of the Annual, Jurisdictional, and General Conferences, providing pastoral ministry for the clergy under their charge, and for safeguarding the doctrine and discipline of the Church. 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, with the Rev. Marjorie Matthews being the first woman to be consecrated a bishop in 1980. John Wesley consecreated Thomas Coke a "General Superintendent," and directed that Francis Asbury also be consecrated for the United States of America in 1784, where the Methodist Episcopal Church 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. At first he did not call himself bishop, but eventually submitted to the usage by the denomination.
Notable bishops in United Methodist history include Coke, Asbury, Richard Whatcoat, Philip William Otterbein, Martin Boehm, Jacob Albright, John Seybert, Matthew Simpson, John Stamm, William Ragsdale Cannon, Marjorie Matthews, Leontine T. Kelly , William B. Oden, Ntambo Nkulu Ntanda, William Willimon, and Thomas Bickerton.
Methodists in the United Kingdom 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
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, call local leaders, and participate in one-on-one worthiness interviews with his ward members for things such as priesthood ordination, temple recommends and confession. While it is believed that the bishop is a "common judge," that he has both the right and ability to receive divine instruction in the form of revelation for the ward under his direction, and that he can help persons through the repentance process, he is not thought to be a gateway through which an individual church member must pass to gain access to God. Rather, the individual is responsible for their own personal relationship with God through prayer and study, and each person has the ability to receive inspiration and revelation for themselves through the Holy Spirit
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. Charity is believed to be "The Pure Love of Christ".
A bishop is chosen from members of the local congregation by the stake presidency and called by receiving a letter from the President of the church. After being called, he chooses his two counselors, and the three men together form a bishopric. Like almost all positions in the LDS Church, bishops are not paid or reimbursed financially for their services and therefore have normal full-time jobs to provide for their families. There are many callings in the ward. Every worthy member of the ward is asked to help the Bishop. Also, a ward member may decide that professional help is necessary and the LDS Church's Family Services department can be asked to assist a Bishop in keeping his ward members well.
Although a bishop is the spiritual leader of a ward, he is also considered to be the servant to all of the people that he serves. From the Bible, "And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant"[1] or "And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all."[2]
A bishop is typically released from his calling by the stake presidency after about five years and a new bishop is called to the position. After being released, a bishop is usually still referred to by the title "Bishop" by the people he served as a show of respect for his service.
