In
church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the
ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a
bishop.
History
In the later organization of the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...
, the increasingly subdivided
provinces were administratively associated in a larger unit, the
diocese (
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
''dioecesis'', from the
Greek term διοίκησις, meaning "administration").
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...
was given legal status in 313 with the
Edict of Milan. Churches began to organize themselves into
dioceses based on the
civil dioceses, not on the larger regional imperial districts. These dioceses were often smaller than the
provinces. Christianity was declared the Empire's
official religion by Theodosius I in 380.
Constantine I
Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to convert to Christianity. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterran ...
in 318 gave litigants the right to have court cases transferred from the civil courts to the bishops. This situation must have hardly survived
Julian, 361–363. Episcopal courts are not heard of again in the East until 398 and in the West in 408. The quality of these courts was low, and not above suspicion as the Bishop of
Alexandria Troas found that clergy were making a corrupt profit. Nonetheless, these courts were popular as people could get quick justice without being charged fees. Bishops had no part in the civil administration until the town councils, in decline, lost much authority to a group of 'notables' made up of the richest councilors, powerful and rich persons legally exempted from serving on the councils, retired military, and bishops post-AD 450. As the
Western Empire collapsed in the 5th century, bishops in Western Europe assumed a larger part of the role of the former Roman governors. A similar, though less pronounced, development occurred in the East, where the Roman administrative apparatus was largely retained by the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
. In modern times, many dioceses, though later subdivided, have preserved the boundaries of a long-vanished Roman administrative division. For Gaul, Bruce Eagles has observed that "it has long been an academic commonplace in France that the medieval dioceses, and their constituent ''
pagi'', were the direct territorial successors of the Roman ''
civitates''."
Modern 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"; Late Latin derived from the Greek παροικία ''paroikia''), dating from the increasingly formalized Christian authority structure in the 4th century.
Archdiocese
Dioceses ruled by an
archbishop are commonly referred to as archdioceses; most are
metropolitan sees, being placed at the head of an
ecclesiastical province. In the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
, some are
suffragans
A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations.
In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdiction ...
of a metropolitan see or are directly subject to the
Holy See.
The term 'archdiocese' is not found in
Catholic canon law
The canon law of the Catholic Church ("canon law" comes from Latin ') is "how the Church organizes and governs herself". It is the system of laws and ecclesiastical legal principles made and enforced by the hierarchical authorities of the Cath ...
, with the terms "diocese" and "
episcopal see" being applicable to the area under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of any bishop. If the title of archbishop is granted on ''
personal'' grounds to a
diocesan bishop, his diocese does not thereby become an archdiocese.
Catholic Church
The
Canon Law of the Catholic Church defines a diocese as "a portion of the people of God which is entrusted to a bishop for him to shepherd with the cooperation of the presbyterium, so that, adhering to its pastor and gathered by him in the Holy Spirit through the gospel and the Eucharist, it constitutes a particular church in which the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of Christ is truly present and operative."
Also known as ''particular churches'' or ''local churches.'' Dioceses are under the authority of a
Bishop, They are described as
ecclesiastical districts defined by geographical territory. Dioceses are often grouped by the
Holy See into
ecclesiastical provinces for greater cooperation and common action among regional dioceses. Within a ecclesiastical province, one diocese can be designated an “archdiocese” or “metropolitan archdiocese”, establishing centrality within an ecclesiastical province and denoting a higher rank. Archdioces are often chosen based on their population and historical significance. All dioceses and archdioceses, and their respective Bishops or Archbishops, are distinct and autonomous. An archdiocese has limited responsibilities within the same ecclesiastical province assigned to it by the Holy See.
, in the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
there are 2,898 regular dioceses consisting of: 1
papal see, 9
patriarchates, 4
major archdioceses, 560
metropolitan archdioceses, 76 single archdioceses and 2,248 dioceses in the world.
In the
Eastern Catholic Churches
The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous ('' sui iuris'') particular churches of ...
that are in communion with the
Pope
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
, the equivalent entity is called an ''
eparchy'' or "archeparchy," with an "eparch" or "archeparchy" serving as the
ordinary.
Eastern Orthodox Church
The
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...
calls dioceses ''episkopies'' (from the Greek ἐπισκοπή) in the Greek tradition and ''eparchies'' (from ἐπαρχία) in the Slavic tradition.
Church of England and Anglican Communion
After the
English Reformation, the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...
retained the existing diocesan structure which remains throughout the
Anglican Communion. The one change is that the areas administered under the Archbishop of Canterbury and Archbishop of York are properly referred to as dioceses, not archdioceses: they are the metropolitan bishops of their respective provinces and bishops of their own diocese and have the position of archbishop.
The
Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia in its constitution uses the specific term "Episcopal Unit" for both dioceses and because of its unique three-''
tikanga'' (culture) system. are the tribal-based jurisdictions of
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
(bishops) which overlap with the "New Zealand dioceses" (i.e. the geographical jurisdictions of the (European) bishops); these function like dioceses, but are never called so.
Lutheranism
Certain
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...
denominations such as the
Church of Sweden do have individual dioceses similar to Roman Catholics. These dioceses and archdioceses are under the government of a bishop (see
Archbishop of Uppsala). Other Lutheran bodies and synods that have dioceses and bishops include the
Church of Denmark, the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland ( fi, Suomen evankelis-luterilainen kirkko; sv, Evangelisk-lutherska kyrkan i Finland) is a national church of Finland. It is part of the Lutheran branch of Christianity. The church has a legal positi ...
, the
Evangelical Church in Germany (partially), and the
Church of Norway.
From about the 13th century until the
German mediatization of 1803, the majority of the bishops of the
Holy Roman Empire were
prince-bishops, and as such exercised political authority over a principality, their so-called
Hochstift
In the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic Church, the German term (plural: ) referred to the territory ruled by a bishop as a prince (i.e. prince-bishop), as opposed to his diocese, generally much larger and over which he exercised only s ...
, which was distinct, and usually considerably smaller than their diocese, over which they only exercised the usual authority of a bishop.
Some American Lutheran church bodies such as the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America have a bishop acting as the head of the synod, but the synod does not have dioceses and archdioceses as the churches listed above. Rather, it is divided into a
middle judicatory
A middle judicatory is an administrative structure or organization found in religious denominations between the local congregation and the widest or highest national or international level. The term is meant to be neutral with regard to polity, t ...
.
The
Lutheran Church - International, based in
Springfield, Illinois, presently uses a traditional diocesan structure, with four dioceses in North America. Its current president is Archbishop Robert W. Hotes.
Church of God in Christ
The
Church of God in Christ (COGIC) has dioceses throughout the United States. In the COGIC, most states are divided into at least three or more dioceses that are each led by a bishop (sometimes called a "state bishop"); some states have as many as ten dioceses. These dioceses are called "jurisdictions" within COGIC.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
In
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
, the term "bishopric" is used to describe the
Bishop together with his two counselors, not the
ward or congregation of which a bishop has charge.
Churches that have bishops, but not dioceses
In the
United Methodist Church (the United States and some other countries), a bishop is given oversight over a geographical area called an
episcopal area. Each episcopal area contains one or more
annual conferences, which is how the churches and clergy under the bishop's supervision are organized. Thus, the use of the term "diocese" referring to geography is the most equivalent in the United Methodist Church, whereas each annual conference is part of one episcopal area (though that area may contain more than one conference). The
African Methodist Episcopal Church has a similar structure to the United Methodist Church, also using the Episcopal Area. Note that the bishops govern the church as a single bench.
In the
British Methodist Church and
Irish Methodist Church, the closest equivalent to a diocese is the
'circuit'. Each local church belongs to a circuit, and the circuit is overseen by a superintendent minister who has pastoral charge of all the circuit churches (though in practice he or she delegates such charge to other presbyters who each care for a section of the circuit and chair the local church meetings as deputies of the superintendent). This echoes the practice of the early church where the bishop was supported by a bench of presbyters. Circuits are grouped together to form Districts. All of these, combined with the local membership of the Church, are referred to as the "Connexion". This 18th-century term, endorsed by
John Wesley, describes how people serving in different geographical centres are 'connected' to each other. Personal oversight of the Methodist Church is exercised by the President of the Conference, a presbyter elected to serve for a year by the Methodist Conference; such oversight is shared with the Vice-President, who is always a deacon or layperson. Each District is headed by a 'Chair', a presbyter who oversees the district. Although the district is similar in size to a diocese, and Chairs meet regularly with their partner bishops, the Methodist superintendent is closer to the bishop in function than is the chair. The purpose of the district is to resource the circuits; it has no function otherwise.
Churches that have neither bishops nor dioceses
Many churches worldwide have neither bishops nor dioceses. Most of these churches are descended from the
Protestant Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...
and more specifically the
Swiss Reformation led by
John Calvin.
Presbyterian churches derive their name from the
presbyterian form of church government, which is governed by representative assemblies of elders. The
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland.
The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Reformation of 1560, when it split from the Catholic Church ...
is governed solely through
presbyteries, at parish and regional level, and therefore has no dioceses or bishops.
Congregational churches practice
congregationalist church governance
Congregationalist polity, or congregational polity, often known as congregationalism, is a system of ecclesiastical polity in which every local church (congregation) is independent, ecclesiastically sovereign, or "autonomous". Its first articulat ...
, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs.
Churches of Christ, being strictly
non-denominational, are governed solely at the congregational level.
Most
Baptists hold that no church or ecclesiastical organization has inherent authority over a Baptist church. Churches can properly relate to each other under this polity only through voluntary cooperation, never by any sort of coercion. Furthermore, this Baptist polity calls for freedom from governmental control.
Most Baptists believe in "Two offices of the church"—pastor-elder and deacon—based on certain scriptures (; ). Exceptions to this local form of local governance include a few churches that submit to the leadership of a body of
elders, as well as the
Episcopal Baptists that have an
Episcopal system.
Continental Reformed churches are ruled by assemblies of "elders" or ordained officers. This is usually called
Synod
A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin word mean ...
al government by the continental Reformed, but is essentially the same as
presbyterian polity.
See also
*
*
Global organization of the Catholic Church
*
Lists of patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops
* ''
Notitia Dignitatum''
*
Particular church
*
Personal ordinariate
A personal ordinariate for former Anglicans, shortened as personal ordinariate or Anglican ordinariate,"...the liturgies approved for the Anglican ordinariates..." "Bishop Stephen Lopes of the Anglican Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter..." i ...
*
Methodist Church Ghana
References
Sources and external links
Complete list of Catholic dioceses worldwideb
GCatholic.orgVirtually complete list of current and historical Catholic dioceses worldwideIndian Orthodox Church Diocese PortalLigação externa Diocese de Santo Anselmo - Brasil
{{Authority control
Episcopacy in Anglicanism
Episcopacy in the Catholic Church
Christian terminology