Hierarch
An ordinary (from Latin ''ordinarius'') is an officer of a church or civic authority who by reason of office has ordinary power to execute laws. Such officers are found in hierarchically organised churches of Western Christianity which have an ecclesiastical legal system.See, e.g.c. 134 § 1 ''Code of Canon Law'', 1983 For example, diocesan bishops are ordinaries in the Catholic Church and the Church of England. In Eastern Christianity, a corresponding officer is called a hierarch (from Greek ''hierarkhēs'' "president of sacred rites, high-priest" which comes in turn from τὰ ἱερά ''ta hiera'', "the sacred rites" and ἄρχω ''arkhō'', "I rule"). Ordinary power In canon law, the power to govern the church is divided into the power to make laws (legislative), enforce the laws (executive), and to judge based on the law (judicial). An official exercises power to govern either because he holds an office to which the law grants governing power or because someone with ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Eastern Catholic Churches
The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous (''sui iuris'') particular churches of the Catholic Church in full communion with the pope in Holy See, Rome. Although they are distinct theologically, liturgically, and historically from the Latin Church, they are all in full communion with it and with each other. Eastern Catholics are a minority within the Catholic Church; of the 1.3 billion Catholics in communion with the pope, approximately 18 million are members of the eastern churches. The largest numbers of Eastern Catholics are found in Eastern Europe, Eastern Africa, the Middle East, and India. As of 2022, the Syro-Malabar Church is the largest Eastern Catholic Church, followed by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. With the exception of the Maronite Church, the Eastern Catholic Churches are groups that, at different ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cleric
Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the terms used for individual clergy are clergyman, clergywoman, clergyperson, churchman, cleric, ecclesiastic, and vicegerent while clerk in holy orders has a long history but is rarely used. In Christianity, the specific names and roles of the clergy vary by denomination and there is a wide range of formal and informal clergy positions, including deacons, elders, priests, bishops, cardinals, preachers, pastors, presbyters, ministers, and the pope. In Islam, a religious leader is often known formally or informally as an imam, caliph, qadi, mufti, sheikh, mullah, muezzin, and ulema. In the Jewish tradition, a religious leader is often a rabbi (teacher) or hazzan (cantor). Etymology The word ''cleric'' comes from the ecclesia ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions and has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization.Gerald O'Collins, O'Collins, p. v (preface). The church consists of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical rites#Churches, ''sui iuris'' (autonomous) churches, including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, which comprise almost 3,500 dioceses and Eparchy, eparchies List of Catholic dioceses (structured view), around the world, each overseen by one or more Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishops. The pope, who is the bishop of Rome, is the Papal supremacy, chief pastor of the church. The core beliefs of Catholicism are found in the Nicene Creed. The ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1983 Code Of Canon Law
The 1983 ''Code of Canon Law'' (abbreviated 1983 CIC from its Latin title ''Codex Iuris Canonici''), also called the Johanno-Pauline Code, is the "fundamental body of Ecclesiastical Law, ecclesiastical laws for the Latin Church". It is the second and current comprehensive codification (law), codification of Canon Law (Catholic Church), canonical legislation for the Latin Church of the Catholic Church. The 1983 ''Code of Canon Law'' was Promulgation (Catholic canon law), promulgated on 25 January 1983 by John Paul IISacrae Disciplinae Leges accessed Jan-11-2013 and Entry into force, took legal effect on the First Sunday of Advent (27 November) 1983. It replaced the 1917 Code of Canon Law, 1917 ''Code of Cano ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bishop (Catholic Church)
In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an Holy orders in the Catholic Church, ordained Minister (Catholic Church), minister who holds the fullness of the Sacraments of the Catholic Church, sacrament of holy orders and is responsible for teaching doctrine, governing Catholics in his Ecclesiastical jurisdiction, jurisdiction, sanctifying the world and representing the church. Catholics trace the origins of the office of bishop to the Apostles in the New Testament, apostles, who it is believed were endowed with a special charism and office by the Holy Spirit in Christianity, Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Catholics believe this special charism and office has been transmitted through an apostolic succession, unbroken succession of bishops by the laying on of hands in the sacrament of holy orders. Diocesan bishops—known as eparchial bishops in the Eastern Catholic Churches—are assigned to govern local regions within the Catholic Church known as dioceses in the Latin Church and Eparchy ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bishop Of Rome
The pope is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the pope was the sovereign or head of state of the Papal States, and since 1929 of the much smaller Vatican City state. From a Catholic viewpoint, the primacy of the bishop of Rome is largely derived from his role as the apostolic successor to Saint Peter, to whom primacy was conferred by Jesus, who gave Peter the Keys of Heaven and the powers of "binding and loosing", naming him as the "rock" upon which the Church would be built. The current pope is Leo XIV, who was elected on 8 May 2025 on the second day of the 2025 papal conclave. Although his office is called the papacy, the jurisdiction of the episcopal see is called the Holy See. The word "see" comes from the Latin for 'seat' or 'chair' (, referring in particular to the one on which the newly elected pope sits during ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lumen Gentium
, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, is one of the principal documents of the Second Vatican Council. This dogmatic constitution was promulgated by Pope Paul VI on 21 November 1964, following approval by the assembled bishops by a vote of 2,151 to 5. As is customary with significant Catholic Church documents, it is known by its incipit, "", Latin for 'Light of the Nations'. The eight chapters of the document can be paired thematically: chapters one and two treat the church's nature and historical existence, chapters three and four treat different roles in the church, chapters five and six treat holiness and religious life, while chapters seven and eight discuss the saints and Mary. Contents Chapter 1: The Mystery of the Church (1–8) In its first chapter on ecclesiology, the constitution states that "all the just, from Adam and 'from Abel, the just one, to the last of the elect,' will be gathered together with the Father in the universal Church ..a people made one with th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Episcopate
A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role or office of the bishop is called episcopacy or the episcopate. Organisationally, several Christian denominations utilise ecclesiastical structures that call for the position of bishops, while other denominations have dispensed with this office, seeing it as a symbol of power. Bishops have also exercised political authority within their dioceses. Traditionally, bishops claim apostolic succession, a direct historical lineage dating back to the original Twelve Apostles or Saint Paul. The bishops are by doctrine understood as those who possess the full priesthood given by Jesus Christ, and therefore may ordain other clergy, including other bishops. A person ordained as a deacon, priest (i.e. presbyter), and then bishop is understood to hold ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Church Of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, tradition, with foundational doctrines being contained in the ''Thirty-nine Articles'' and ''The Books of Homilies''. The Church traces its history to the Christian hierarchy recorded as existing in the Roman Britain, Roman province of Britain by the 3rd century and to the 6th-century Gregorian mission to Kingdom of Kent, Kent led by Augustine of Canterbury. Its members are called ''Anglicans''. In 1534, the Church of England renounced the authority of the Papacy under the direction of Henry VIII, beginning the English Reformation. The guiding theologian that shaped Anglican doctrine was the Reformer Thomas Cranmer, who developed the Church of England's liturgical text, the ''Book of Common Prayer''. Papal authority was Second Statute of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Prelate
A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'prefer'; hence, a prelate is one set over others. The archetypal prelate is a bishop, whose prelature is his particular church. All other prelates, including the religious institute, regular prelates such as abbots and major superiors, are based upon this original model of prelacy. Related terminology 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 vicar, vicariates/exarch, exarchates, or territorial abbacies. It equally applies to Cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinals, who enjoy a kind of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Eparchy
Eparchy ( ''eparchía'' "overlordship") is an Ecclesiology, ecclesiastical unit in Eastern Christianity that is equivalent to a diocese in Western Christianity. An eparchy is governed by an ''eparch'', who is a bishop. Depending on the administrative structure of a specific Eastern Church, an eparchy can belong to an ecclesiastical province (usually a Metropolis (religious jurisdiction), metropolis), but it can also be exempt. Each eparchy is divided into parishes, in the same manner as a diocese in Western Churches. Historical development of eparchies in various Eastern Churches was marked by local distinctions that can be observed in modern ecclesiastical practices of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches and Eastern Catholic Churches. Terminology The English language, English word ''eparchy'' is an anglicized term that comes from the original Greek language, Greek word (, ). It is an abstract noun, formed with an intensive word form, intensive prefix (, , + , ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Eastern Christianity
Eastern Christianity comprises Christianity, Christian traditions and Christian denomination, church families that originally developed during Classical antiquity, classical and late antiquity in the Eastern Mediterranean region or locations further east, south or north. The term does not describe a single Communion (Christian), communion or religious denomination. Eastern Christianity is a category distinguished from Western Christianity, which is composed of those Christian traditions and churches that originally developed further west. Major Eastern Christian bodies include the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches, along with those groups descended from the historic Church of the East (also called the Assyrian Church (other), Assyrian Church), as well as the Eastern Catholic Churches (which are in communion with Holy See, Rome while maintaining Eastern Catholic liturgy, Eastern liturgies), and the Eastern Protestant Christianity, Eastern Protest ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |