An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and

Eastern Christianity Eastern Christianity comprises Christian traditions and church families that originally developed during classical and late antiquity in Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Northeast Africa, the Fertile Crescent and ...

. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of several dioceses (or eparchies), one of them being the

archdiocese 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 increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

(or archeparchy), headed by a metropolitan bishop or

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdio ...

who has ecclesiastical jurisdiction over all other bishops of the province. In the

Greco-Roman world The Greco-Roman civilization (; also Greco-Roman culture; spelled Graeco-Roman in the Commonwealth), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and countries that culturally—and so historically—were di ...

, ''ecclesia'' ( grc, ἐκκλησία; la, ecclesia) was used to refer to a lawful assembly, or a called

legislative body A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known as p ...

. As early as Pythagoras, the word took on the additional meaning of a community with shared beliefs. This is the meaning taken in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures (the Septuagint), and later adopted by the Christian community to refer to the assembly of believers. In the history of Western world (sometimes more precisely as

) adopted by the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire, Christian ecclesiastical provinces were named by analogy with the secular Roman province as well as certain extraterritorial formations of western world in early medieval times (see Early Middle Ages). The administrative seat of each province is an

episcopal see An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, mak ...

. In hierarchical Christian churches that have dioceses, a province is a collection of those dioceses (as a basic unit of administration). Over the years certain provinces adopted the status of metropolis and have a certain degree of self-rule. A

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

of such province is called the metropolitan bishop or metropolitan. The

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

(both Latin and Eastern Catholic), the Orthodox Churches and the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and oth ...

all have provinces. These provinces are led by a metropolitan archbishop.

Early history

Ecclesiastical provinces first corresponded to the civil provinces of the Roman Empire. From the second half of the 2nd century, the bishops of these provinces were accustomed to assemble on important occasions for common counsel in

synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word ''wikt:synod, synod'' comes from the meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin ...

s. From the end of that century the summons to attend these increasingly important synods was usually issued by the bishop of the capital or metropolis of the province, who also presided over the assembly, especially in the East. Important communications were also forwarded to the bishop of the provincial capital to be brought to the notice of the other bishops. Thus in the East during the 3rd century the bishop of the provincial metropolis came gradually to occupy a certain superior position, and received the name of metropolitan. At the First Council of Nicaea (325) this position of the metropolitan was taken for granted, and was made the basis for conceding to him definite rights over the other bishops and dioceses of the state province. In Eastern canon law since the 4th century (cf. also the Synod of Antioch of 341, can. ix), it was a principle that every civil province was likewise a church province under the supreme direction of the metropolitan, i.e. of the bishop of the provincial capital. This division into ecclesiastical provinces did not develop so early in the Western Empire. In North Africa the first metropolitan appears during the 4th century, the

Bishop of Carthage The Archdiocese of Carthage, also known as the Church of Carthage, was a Latin Catholic diocese established in Carthage, Roman Empire, in the 2nd century. Agrippin was the first named bishop, around 230 AD. The temporal importance of the city of ...

being recognized as primate of the dioceses of Northern Africa; metropolitans of the separate provinces gradually appear, although the boundaries of these provinces did not coincide with the divisions of the empire. A similar development was witnessed in Spain, Gaul, and Italy. The migration of the nations, however, prevented an equally stable formation of ecclesiastical provinces in the Christian West as in the East. It was only after the 5th century that such gradually developed, mostly in accordance with the ancient divisions of the Roman Empire. In Italy alone, on account of the central ecclesiastical position of Rome, this development was slower. However, at the end of antiquity the existence of church provinces as the basis of ecclesiastical administration was fairly universal in the West. In the

Carolingian period The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pi ...

they were reorganized, and have retained their place ever since.

Provincial church organisation

Catholic Church

In general

In the

, a province consists of a metropolitan archdiocese and one or more

suffragan diocese A suffragan diocese is one of the dioceses other than the metropolitan archdiocese that constitute an ecclesiastical province. It exists in some Christian denominations, in particular the Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria ...

s headed by diocesan bishops. The

of the metropolitan see is the

metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...

of the province. The delimitation of church provinces in the Latin Church is reserved to the Holy See. There are exceptions to the rules. * A few dioceses are not part of any province. Their bishops are exempt from the authority of a metropolitan archbishop, instead reporting directly to the pope. For example, the bishop of the

Diocese of Oslo Oslo bishopric is the Church of Norway's bishopric for the municipalities of Oslo, Asker and Bærum. It is one of Norway's five traditional bishoprics and was founded around the year 1070. History Oslo was established as a diocese in 1068. It ...

in Norway. * A few archdioceses do not belong to provinces and contain no suffragan dioceses. For example, the Archdiocese of Strasbourg in France is not part of a province and has no diocesan bishops reporting to its archbishop. * Not all archdioceses are metropolitan sees. Some archdioceses are exempt, such as the

Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem ( la, Patriarchatus Latinus Hierosolymitanus) is the Latin Catholic ecclesiastical patriarchate in Jerusalem, officially seated in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It was originally established in 1099, wit ...

; its leader reports directly to the pope. Other non-metropolitan archdioceses, in contrast, are not exempt. Their archbishops report directly to metropolitan archbishops. The authority of a Latin Church metropolitan over the other sees within his province is now very limited. During a vacancy in a suffragan diocese, the metropolitan names a temporary diocesan administrator if the College of Consultors of the diocese fails to elect one within the prescribed period. A metropolitan generally presides at the installation and consecration of a new bishop in the province. The tribunal of the metropolitan see generally serves as the first court of appeal regarding canonical matters of provincial diocesan tribunals. The metropolitan's insignia is the pallium. The article in the '' Catholic Encyclopedia'' of 1911 on ''metropolitan'' shows that the metropolitan then had scarcely any more power than now. In the Eastern Catholic Churches, the patriarchal or major archiepiscopal Churches may also be divided into ecclesial provinces, each headed by a metropolitan. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has several, two of them in the United States and Canada. Some other Eastern Catholic Churches of a lower category and generally less populous, are known as metropolitanates. They are headed by a single metropolitan, the hierarch of a fixed

, As head of an autonomous Church, his name is mentioned in the

liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...

of that Church immediately after that of the Pope and, in suffragan eparchies, ahead of that of the local hierarch.Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, canon 161
/ref>

Provincial boundary lines

The borders of provinces have often been inspired, or even determined, by historical or present political

border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political bo ...

s; the same is often true of diocesan borders within a province. The following are some examples: * In France, where the boundaries partly reflected later Roman provinces, most were rearranged in 2002 to fit new administrative regions. * A comparable process to that of France occurred earlier in Spain. * In southern Germany, the diocesan boundaries follow the political boundaries that existed between 1815 and 1945. * In Ireland, the four ecclesiastical provinces fixed by the Synod of Kells in 1152 reflected the contemporary boundaries of the secular provinces, but the ecclesiastical provinces and dioceses do not coincide with the present civil province and county borders. Since the Partition of Ireland in 1920–1922 six dioceses in the province of Armagh straddle the international border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. * In Scotland, the dioceses, and subsequently the two provinces, follow both civil and geographical boundaries such as rivers. * In geographically large nations with a sizeable Catholic population, such as the United States, ecclesiastical provinces typically follow state lines, with less populous states being grouped into provinces. In the United States, there are five exceptions: ** California has two metropolitan archdioceses and provinces: Los Angeles and San Francisco. ** Texas has two metropolitan archdioceses and provinces: Galveston-Houston and San Antonio. ** Maryland is unusual in that fourteen of its 23 counties belong to dioceses whose see cities are outside Maryland: (1) the nine counties of Maryland's

Eastern Shore Eastern Shore may refer to: * Eastern Shore (Nova Scotia), a region * Eastern Shore (electoral district), a provincial electoral district in Nova Scotia * Eastern Shore of Maryland, a region * Eastern Shore of Virginia, a region * Eastern Shore (Al ...

( Delmarva Peninsula) are part of the

Diocese of Wilmington The Diocese of Wilmington ( la, Dioecesis Wilmingtoniensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the eastern United States and comprises the entire state of Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland (i.e ...

, Delaware, and (2) the five counties adjacent to the District of Columbia and in southern Maryland are part of the

Archdiocese of Washington The Archdiocese of Washington is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the United States. Its territorial remit encompasses the District of Columbia and the counties of Calvert, Charles, Montgomery, P ...

, which is a different province. Only the remaining nine counties and the City of Baltimore are part of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. ** Fishers Island, a part of Suffolk County, New York, and north of

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, is part of the Diocese of Norwich, Connecticut, which is in a different province. ** Those parts of Idaho and Montana that are within Yellowstone National Park are part of the Diocese of Cheyenne, Wyoming, which is in a different province. :In addition, the

Diocese of Gallup The Diocese of Gallup ( la, Dioecesis Gallupiensis, es, Diócesis de Gallup) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the southwestern region of the United States, encompassing counties in the states of Ariz ...

(New Mexico) contains two Arizona counties—

Apache County Apache County is in the northeast corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. Shaped in a long rectangle running north to south, as of the 2020 census, its population was 66,021. The county seat is St. Johns. Most of the county is occupied by part ...

and Navajo County—and part of a third county, i.e., those parts of the

Navajo The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...

and

Hopi The Hopi are a Native American ethnic group who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 census, there are 19,338 Hopi in the country. The Hopi Tribe is a sovereign nation within the Unite ...

reservations that are in Coconino County (Arizona). New Mexico and Arizona, however, together form one province. * Many countries contain more than one province, except those with a small population or few Catholics. * In at least one case, a province contains dioceses that are in more than one nation, e.g., the Province of Samoa-Apia, of which the metropolitan see (the Archdiocese of Samoa-Apia) is in the Independent State of Samoa, and its only suffragan see (the

Diocese of Samoa-Pago Pago 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 increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

) is in American Samoa (an unincorporated territory of the United States). Even individual dioceses, let alone ecclesiastical provinces, can comprise more than one state: examples are San Marino-Montefeltro ( San Marino and part of Italy), Urgell ( Andorra and part of Spain), and the Diocese of Rome itself ( Vatican City and part of Italy).

Eastern Orthodox Church

Historical development of ecclesiastical provinces in the Eastern Orthodox Church was influenced by strong tendencies of internal administrative centralization. Since the First Ecumenical Council (325), the Archbishop of Alexandria was given supreme jurisdiction over all provinces of Egypt. Similar authority was also granted to Archbishop of Antioch regarding jurisdiction over provinces of Orient. Since the

Fourth Ecumenical Council The Council of Chalcedon (; la, Concilium Chalcedonense), ''Synodos tēs Chalkēdonos'' was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian. The council convened in the city of Chalcedon, Bithy ...

(451),

Patriarch of Constantinople The ecumenical patriarch ( el, Οἰκουμενικός Πατριάρχης, translit=Oikoumenikós Patriárchēs) is the archbishop of Constantinople (Istanbul), New Rome and '' primus inter pares'' (first among equals) among the heads of th ...

was given the right to consecrate metropolitan bishops in all regions that were placed under his supreme jurisdiction. In time, previous administrative autonomy of original ecclesiastical provinces was gradually and systematically reduced in favor of patriarchal centralization. Ancient practice of annual councils of provincial bishops, headed by their local metropolitans, was also abandoned in favor of centralized councils, headed by patriarchs and attended by metropolitan bishops. The creation of new autonomous and autocephalous jurisdictions was also marked by tendencies of internal centralization. The newly created Archbishopric of Ohrid (1018) was structured as a single ecclesiastical province, headed by an archbishop who had jurisdiction over all of his suffragan bishops. In 1219, autocephalous

Serbian Orthodox Church The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, Christian churches. The majori ...

was also organized as one ecclesiastical province, headed by archbishop with direct jurisdiction over all Serbian bishops. By the end of Middle Ages, each autocephalous and autonomous church in Eastern Orthodoxy was functioning as a single, internally integrated ecclesiastical province, headed by local patriarch or archbishop. Only in modern times, some Eastern Orthodox Churches have revived the ancient practice by creating internal ecclesiastical provinces on the middle (regional) level of church administration. In the Romanian Orthodox Church there are six regional metropolitanates, headed by local metropolitans who preside over regional synods of local bishops, and have special duties and privileges. For example, the Metropolitan of Oltenia has regional jurisdiction over four local dioceses. On the other hand, a majority of Eastern Orthodox Churches remain and function as highly centralized church bodies, each of them functioning as a single ecclesiastical province.

Protestantism

Anglican Communion

Member churches of the

are often referred to as provinces. Some provinces are coterminous with the boundaries of political states, some include multiple nations while others include only parts of a nation. Some, such as the

Church of the Province of West Africa The Church of the Province of West Africa is a province of the Anglican Communion, covering 17 dioceses in eight countries of West Africa, specifically in Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Senegal and Sierra Leone. Ghana is ...

, have the word "province" in their names. These member churches are known as "provinces of the Anglican Communion", and are headed by a primate, who is usually also styled archbishop, but may have an alternative title such as primus (for example, the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church), presiding bishop, or

moderator Moderator may refer to: Government *Moderator (town official), elected official who presides over the Town Meeting form of government Internet *Internet forum#Moderators, Internet forum moderator, a person given special authority to enforce the ...

. The word is also used to refer to a grouping of

diocese 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 increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

s within a member church, commonly known as a metropolitical province, metropolitan province, or internal province. 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 Britai ...

is divided into two such provinces: Canterbury and York. The Anglican Church of Australia has five provinces: New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia, and an extraprovincial diocese of Tasmania. The

Anglican Church of Canada The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC or ACoC) is the Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is ''l'Église anglicane du Canada''. In 2017, the Anglican Church co ...

has four: British Columbia and Yukon,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

, Ontario, and Rupert's Land. The Church of Ireland has two:

Armagh Armagh ( ; ga, Ard Mhacha, , "Macha's height") is the county town of County Armagh and a city in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Pri ...

and

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

. The Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA) numbers, rather than names, its nine provinces. In all cases apart from ECUSA each metropolitan or internal province is headed by a metropolitan bishop with the title archbishop.

Evangelical State Church in Prussia

The ''Evangelical State Church in Prussia'', formed in 1821 (renamed: ''Evangelical State Church in Prussia's older Provinces'' in 1875, Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union in 1922), had ecclesiastical provinces (Kirchenprovinzen) as administrative subsections mostly following the boundaries of those political

Provinces of Prussia The Provinces of Prussia (german: Provinzen Preußens) were the main administrative divisions of Prussia from 1815 to 1946. Prussia's province system was introduced in the Stein-Hardenberg Reforms in 1815, and were mostly organized from duchies a ...

which formed part of the state before 1866, with some border changes after 1920 following WWI territorial cessions. }
Ecclesiastical Province of the March of Brandenburg (1926–1948)
german: link=no, Kirchenprovinz Mark Brandenburg , Province of Brandenburg and

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

(politically separate since 1881) , Berlin,
Züllichau (1944–1945) , provincial synod (Provinzialsynode),
consistory,
1829–1933: general superintendents for (1) Berlin inner city, (2) Berlin suburbia (1911–1933), (3)

Kurmark The German term ''Kurmark'' (archaic ''Churmark'', "Electoral March") referred to the Imperial State held by the margraves of Brandenburg, who had been awarded the electoral (''Kur'') dignity by the Golden Bull of 1356. In early modern times, ''K ...

and (4) Lusatia and

New March The Neumark (), also known as the New March ( pl, Nowa Marchia) or as East Brandenburg (), was a region of the Margraviate of Brandenburg and its successors located east of the Oder River in territory which became part of Poland in 1945. Call ...

1933–1935: provincial bishops of Berlin and of Brandenburg, provosts of Kurmark and of New March-Lower Lusatia , 1821–1948 , Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg , - valign=top , Regional Synodal Federation of the Free City of Danzig
german: link=no, Landessynodalverband der Freien Stadt Danzig ,

Free City of Danzig The Free City of Danzig (german: Freie Stadt Danzig; pl, Wolne Miasto Gdańsk; csb, Wòlny Gard Gduńsk) was a city-state under the protection of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gda ...

, Danzig , regional synod (Landessynode), consistory,
1922-1933: general supintendent
1933–1940: provincial bishop of Danzig , 1922–1940 , Ecclesiastical Region of Danzig-West Prussia , - valign=top , Ecclesiastical Region of Danzig-West Prussia
german: link=no, Kirchengebiet Danzig-Westpreußen , Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia , Danzig , no synod, consistory,
bishop of Danzig , 1940–1945 , de facto dissolved by flight, murder and expulsion of parishioners , - valign=top ,
german: link=no, Kirchenprovinz Ostpreußen , Province of East Prussia
plus West Prussia governorate in 1922
minus Memel Territory in 1925
plus Memel Territory March 1939
minus West Prussia governorate in 1940 , Königsberg in Prussia , provincial synod, consistory,
1886–1933: general superintendent, 1933–1945: provincial bishop and general superintendent for Memel (1939–1944) , 1886–1945 , de facto dissolved by flight, murder and expulsion of parishioners , - valign=top , Regional Synodal Federation of the Memel Territory
german: link=no, Landessynodalverband Memelgebiet , Klaipėda Region , Memel , regional synod, consistory (est. 1927),
general superintendent (as of 1926) , 1925–1939 , Ecclesiastical Province of East Prussia , - valign=top ,
german: link=no, Unierte Evangelische Kirche in Polnisch Oberschlesien pl, link=no, Ewangelicki Kościół Unijny na polskim Górnym Śląsku , East Upper Silesia ,

Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popul ...

, regional synod, regional ecclesiastical council (Landeskirchenrat),
church president , 1923–1937 , church body continued without status as ecclesiastical province till 1939, then merged in the Ecclesiastical Province of Silesia , - valign=top ,

Ecclesiastical Province of Pomerania The Pomeranian Evangelical Church (german: link=no, Pommersche Evangelische Kirche; PEK) was a Protestant regional church in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, serving the citizens living in Hither Pomerania. The Pomeranian Evangelical C ...

german: link=no, Kirchenprovinz Pommern , Province of Pomerania ,

Stettin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin language, Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Po ...

(till 1945),
Greifswald (since 1945) , provincial synod, consistory,
1883–1933: general superintendents (east and west region), 1933–1945: provincial bishop , 1821–1950 , Pomeranian Evangelical Church , - valign=top , Ecclesiastical Province of Posen
german: link=no, Kirchenprovinz Posen ,

Province of Posen The Province of Posen (german: Provinz Posen, pl, Prowincja Poznańska) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1848 to 1920. Posen was established in 1848 following the Greater Poland Uprising as a successor to the Grand Duchy of Posen, w ...

, Posen , provincial synod, consistory,
general superintendent , 1821–1920 , Ecclesiastical Province of Posen-West Prussia (west), (centre; german: link=no, Unierte Evangelische Kirche in Polen, pl, link=no, Ewangelicki Kościół Unijny w Polsce) , - valign=top , Ecclesiastical Province of Posen-West Prussia
german: link=no, Kirchenprovinz Posen-Westpreußen , Province of the Frontier March of Posen-West Prussia , Schneidemühl , provincial synod, consistory,
1923–1933: general superintendent, 1933–1939: provost , 1921–1939 , Ecclesiastical Province of Pomerania , - valign=top , Ecclesiastical Province of Prussia
german: link=no, Kirchenprovinz Preußen , Province of Prussia , Königsberg in Prussia , provincial synod, consistory,
general superintendent , 1821–1886 , Ecclesiastical Province of East Prussia (east), Ecclesiastical Province of West Prussia (west) , - valign=top , Ecclesiastical Province of the Rhineland
german: link=no, Kirchenprovinz Rheinland ,

Rhine Province The Rhine Province (german: Rheinprovinz), also known as Rhenish Prussia () or synonymous with the Rhineland (), was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822 to 1946. It ...

, western parts of the Saar Protectorate (1920–1935), Hohenzollern Province (since 1899) , Coblence (till 1934), Düsseldorf (since) , provincial synod, consistory,
general superintendents , 1821–1947 , Evangelical Church in the Rhineland , - valign=top , Ecclesiastical Province of Saxony
german: link=no, Kirchenprovinz Sachsen ,

Province of Saxony The Province of Saxony (german: link=no, Provinz Sachsen), also known as Prussian Saxony () was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1944. Its capital was Magdeburg. It was formed by the merge ...

, Magdeburg , provincial synod, 4 consistories in Magdeburg (1815–2008), Roßla (1719–1947), Stolberg at the Harz (1553–2005) and Wernigerode (1658–1930; the latter three with regional competences),
1815–1933: 3 general superintendents, 1933–1950: provincial bishops , 1821–1950 , Evangelical Church of the Ecclesiastical Province of Saxony , - valign=top , Ecclesiastical Province of Silesia
german: link=no, Kirchenprovinz Schlesien , Province of Silesia (1821–1919, 1938–1941)
Province of Lower Silesia and Province of Upper Silesia (1919—1938, and 1941–1945) , Breslau (till end of 1946),

Görlitz Görlitz (; pl, Zgorzelec, hsb, Zhorjelc, cz, Zhořelec, :de:Ostlausitzer Mundart, East Lusatian dialect: ''Gerlz'', ''Gerltz'', ''Gerltsch'') is a town in the Germany, German state of Saxony. It is located on the Lusatian Neisse River, and ...

(1947–2003) , provincial synod, consistory,
1829–1933: 2 general superintendents, 1933–2003: (provincial) bishop , 1821–1947 ,

Evangelical Church of Silesia The Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia (german: Evangelische Kirche Berlin-Brandenburg-schlesische Oberlausitz, EKBO) is a United Protestant church body in the German states of Brandenburg, Berlin and a part of Saxony ( ...

, - valign=top , Ecclesiastical Province of Westphalia
german: link=no, Kirchenprovinz Westfalen ,

Province of Westphalia The Province of Westphalia () was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946. In turn, Prussia was the largest component state of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918, of the Weimar Republic and from 1918 ...

, Münster in Westphalia , provincial synod, consistory,
general superintendent , 1821–1945 ,

Evangelical Church of Westphalia The Protestant Church of Westphalia (german: Evangelische Kirche von Westfalen, EKvW) is a United Protestant church body in North Rhine-Westphalia. The seat of the praeses (german: Präses, the head of the church) is Bielefeld. The EKvW emerged o ...

, - valign=top , Ecclesiastical Province of West Prussia
german: link=no, Kirchenprovinz Westpreußen , Province of West Prussia , Danzig , provincial synod, consistory,
1883–1920: general superintendent , 1886–1921 , Regional Synodal Federation of the Free City of Danzig (north), Ecclesiastical Province of East Prussia (east), Ecclesiastical Province of Posen-West Prussia (southwest), (centre)

Religious institutes

The term ''province'', or occasionally religious province, also refers to a geographical and administrative subdivision in a number of

orders Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of ...

and congregations. This is true of most, though not all, religious communities founded after the year AD 1000, as well as the

Augustinians Augustinians are members of Christian religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written in about 400 AD by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th– ...

, who date from earlier. A province of a religious institute is typically headed by a provincial superior. The title differs by each institute's tradition (provincial minister for Franciscans; provincial prior for Dominicans; provincial for the Augustinians, simply "provincial" or "provincial father" for the

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

s and many others, for instance). The borders of a religious institute's provinces are determined independently of any diocesan structure, and so the borders often differ from the 'secular', or diocesan, ecclesiastical provinces. The orders' provinces are usually far larger than a diocese, a secular province, or even a country, though sometimes they are smaller in an institute's heartland. Most monastic orders are not organized by provinces. In general, they organise their administration through autonomous houses, in some cases grouped in larger families. For example, each

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , found ...

abbey is an independent foundation, but will often choose to group themselves into congregations based on historical connections.

References

Sources

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List of Metropolitan Archdioceses, including all Catholic ecclesiastical provinces
GCatholic.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Ecclesiastical Province Types of Christian organization Episcopacy in Anglicanism Types of Roman Catholic organization Types of geographical division