The Most Reverend is a
style applied to certain religious figures, primarily within the historic denominations of Christianity, but occasionally in some more modern traditions also. It is a variant of the more common style "
The Reverend
The Reverend is an style (manner of address), honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and Minister of religion, ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and c ...
".
Anglican
In 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 ...
, the style is applied to
archbishops (including those who, for historical reasons, bear an alternative title, such as presiding bishop), rather than the style "
The Right Reverend
The Right Reverend (abbreviated The Rt Revd, The Rt Rev'd, The Rt Rev.) is a style (manner of address), style applied to certain religion, religious figures.
Overview
*In the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholicism in the United Kingdom, ...
" which is used by other bishops. "The Most Reverend" is used by both
primates (the senior archbishop of each independent national or regional church) and
metropolitan archbishops (as metropolitan of an
ecclesiastical province
An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of sev ...
within a national or regional church).
Retired archbishops usually revert to being styled "The Right Reverend", although they may be appointed "archbishop emeritus" by their province on retirement, in which case they retain the title "archbishop" and the style "The Most Reverend", as a courtesy. Archbishop
Desmond Tutu is a prominent example. Uniquely within Anglicanism, for historical reasons, the
Bishop of Meath and Kildare is also given this style despite not being an archbishop.
Catholic
In 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 ...
, two different systems may be found. In England, Scotland, Wales, and a number of Commonwealth nations, the system is identical to that described for Anglicanism. Archbishops bear the style "The Most Reverend", with other bishops styled "The Right Reverend". In other countries, all bishops are styled "The Most Reverend", as well as
monsignors of the rank of
protonotary apostolic ''de numero''.
Eastern Orthodox
In the
Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism.
Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canoni ...
tradition,
archbishops under the
Ecumenical Patriarchate (those who are not the
primates of
autocephalous churches) and
metropolitans are styled "The Most Reverend". Other bishops are styled "The Right Reverend".
Other denominations
In some modern Christian denominations, particularly amongst anglican churches, "The Most Reverend" is used to refer to archbishops and presiding bishops,
or sometimes simply to senior pastors of churches.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Most Reverend, The
Ecclesiastical styles