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A bishop is an ordained or appointed member in a religious institution, who is generally

entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. The title is most often used in Christian
Churches, but is also used in some Japanese Buddhist institutions, and by the Japanese new
religion Tenrikyo.
Within the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Moravian, Anglican, Old Catholic,
some Lutheran churches, Independent Catholicchurches, as well as the Assyrian Church of
the East, bishops claim apostolic succession, a direct historical lineage dating back to the
original Twelve Apostles. Within these churches, bishops are seen as those who possess the
full priesthood and can ordain clergy, including other bishops. Some Protestant churches,
including the Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist and some Pentecostal churches have bishops
serving similar functions as well, though not always understood to be within apostolic
succession in the same way. A person ordained as a deacon, priest, and then bishop is
understood to hold the fullness of the (ministerial) priesthood, given responsibility by Christ
to govern, teach, and sanctify the Body of Christ. Priests, deacons and lay ministers co-
operate and assist their bishops in pastoral ministry.

Contents

 1Term
 2History in Christianity
o 2.1Apostolic Fathers
 3Christian bishops and civil government
o 3.1Bishops holding political office
o 3.2Episcopacy during the English Civil War
 4Christian churches
o 4.1Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Anglican churches
 4.1.1Duties
 4.1.2Ordination of Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental
Orthodox and Anglican bishops
o 4.2Lutheranism
o 4.3Methodism
 4.3.1African Methodist Episcopal Church
 4.3.2Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
 4.3.3United Methodist Church
o 4.4The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
o 4.5New Apostolic Church
o 4.6Church of God in Christ
o 4.7Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee)
o 4.8Pentecostal Church of God
o 4.9Seventh-day Adventists
o 4.10Others
  5Dress and insignia in Christianity
 6The term's use in non-Christian religions
o 6.1Buddhism
o 6.2Tenrikyo
 7See also
 8Notes
 9References
o 9.1Citations
o 9.2Sources
 10External links

Term[edit]
The English term bishop derives from the Greek word ἐπίσκοπος epískopos, meaning
"overseer" in Greek, the early language of the Christian Church.[1] However, the
term epískopos did not originate in Christianity. In Greek literature, the term had been used
for several centuries before the advent of Christianity. It later transformed into
the Latin episcopus, Old English biscop, Middle English bisshop and lastly bishop.[2]
In the early Christian era the term was not always clearly distinguished
from  presbýteros (literally: "elder" or "senior", origin of the modern English word "priest"),
but is used in the sense of the order or office of bishop, distinct from that of presbyter, in the
writings attributed to Ignatius of Antioch.[1] (died c. 110).

History in Christianity[edit]
The earliest organization of the Church in Jerusalem was, according to most scholars, similar
to that of Jewishsynagogues, but it had a council or college of ordained presbyters (Ancient
Greek: πρεσβύτεροι elders). In Acts 11:30 and Acts 15:22, we see a collegiate system of
government in Jerusalem chaired by James the Just, according to tradition the first bishop of
the city. In Acts 14:23, the Apostle Paul ordains presbyters in churches in Anatolia.[3] The
word presbyter was distinguished from overseer (Ancient Greek: ἐπίσκοπος episkopos, later
used exclusively to mean bishop), as in Acts 20:17, Titus 1:5–7 and 1 Peter 5:1.[a][b] The earliest
writings of the Apostolic Fathers, the Didache and the First Epistle of Clement, for example,
show the church used two terms for local church offices—presbyters (seen by many as an
interchangeable term with episcopos or overseer) and deacon.
A 6th-century image of Saint Augustine, bishop of Hippo Regius.[6]
In Timothy and Titus in the New Testament a more clearly defined episcopate can be seen.
We are told that Paul had left Timothy in Ephesus and Titus in Crete to oversee the local
church.[7][8] Paul commands Titus to ordain presbyters/bishops and to exercise general
oversight.
Early sources are unclear but various groups of Christian communities may have had the
bishop surrounded by a group or college functioning as leaders of the local churches.[9]
[10]
 Eventually the head or "monarchic" bishop came to rule more clearly,[11] and all local
churches would eventually follow the example of the other churches and structure themselves
after the model of the others with the one bishop in clearer charge,[9] though the role of the
body of presbyters remained important.[11]
Eventually, as Christendom grew, bishops no longer directly served individual congregations.
Instead, the metropolitan bishop (the bishop in a large city) appointed priests to minister each
congregation, acting as the bishop's delegate.
Apostolic Fathers[edit]
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Around the end of the 1st century, the church's organization became clearer in historical
documents[citation needed]. In the works of the Apostolic Fathers, and Ignatius of Antioch in
particular, the role of the episkopos, or bishop, became more important or, rather, already was
very important and being clearly defined. While Ignatius of Antioch offers the earliest clear
description of monarchial bishops (a single bishop over all house churches in a city) he is an
advocate of monepiscopal structure rather than describing an accepted reality. To the bishops
and house churches to which he writes, he offers strategies on how to pressure house churches
who don't recognize the bishop into compliance. Other contemporary Christian writers do not
describe monarchial bishops, either continuing to equate them with the presbyters or speaking
of episkopoi (bishops, plural) in a city.
Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, student of John the Apostle
"Blessed be God, who has granted unto you, who are yourselves so excellent, to obtain such
an excellent bishop." — Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians 1:1  [12] 
"and that, being subject to the bishop and the presbytery, ye may in all respects be sanctified."
— Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians 2:1 [13] 
"For your justly renowned presbytery, worthy of God, is fitted as exactly to the bishop as the
strings are to the harp." — Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians 4:1 [14] 
"Do ye, beloved, be careful to be subject to the bishop, and the presbyters and the deacons."
— Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians 5:1 [14] 
"Plainly therefore we ought to regard the bishop as the Lord Himself" — Epistle of Ignatius to
the Ephesians 6:1.
"your godly bishop" — Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians 2:1.
"the bishop presiding after the likeness of God and the presbyters after the likeness of the
council of the Apostles, with the deacons also who are most dear to me, having been entrusted
with the diaconate of Jesus Christ" — Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians 6:1.
"Therefore as the Lord did nothing without the Father, [being united with Him], either by
Himself or by the Apostles, so neither do ye anything without the bishop and the presbyters."
— Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians 7:1.
"Be obedient to the bishop and to one another, as Jesus Christ was to the Father [according to
the flesh], and as the Apostles were to Christ and to the Father, that there may be union both
of flesh and of spirit." — Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians 13:2.
"In like manner let all men respect the deacons as Jesus Christ, even as they should respect the
bishop as being a type of the Father and the presbyters as the council of God and as the
college of Apostles. Apart from these there is not even the name of a church." — Epistle of
Ignatius to the Trallesians 3:1.
"follow your bishop, as Jesus Christ followed the Father, and the presbytery as the Apostles;
and to the deacons pay respect, as to God's commandment" — Epistle of Ignatius to the
Smyrnans 8:1.
"He that honoureth the bishop is honoured of God; he that doeth aught without the knowledge
of the bishop rendereth service to the devil" — Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnans 9:1.
— Lightfoot translation.
As the Church continued to expand, new churches in important cities gained their own bishop.
Churches in the regions outside an important city were served by Chorbishop, an official rank
of bishops. However, soon, presbyters and deacons were sent from bishop of a city church.
Gradually priests replaced the chorbishops. Thus, in time, the bishop changed from being the
leader of a single church confined to an urban area to being the leader of the churches of a
given geographical area.
Clement of Alexandria (end of the 2nd century) writes about the ordination of a certain
Zachæus as bishop by the imposition of Simon Peter Bar-Jonah's hands. The words bishop
and ordination are used in their technical meaning by the same Clement of Alexandria.[15] The
bishops in the 2nd century are defined also as the only clergy to whom the ordination to
priesthood (presbyterate) and diaconate is entrusted: "a priest (presbyter) lays on hands, but
does not ordain." (cheirothetei ou cheirotonei[16])
At the beginning of the 3rd century, Hippolytus of Rome describes another feature of the
ministry of a bishop, which is that of the "Spiritum primatus sacerdotii habere potestatem
dimittere peccata": the primate of sacrificial priesthood and the power to forgive sins.[17]

Christian bishops and civil government[edit]

See also:  State church of the Roman Empire
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The efficient organization of the Roman Empire became the template for the organisation of
the church in the 4th century, particularly after Constantine's Edict of Milan. As the church
moved from the shadows of privacy into the public forum it acquired land for churches,
burials and clergy. In 391, Theodosius I decreed that any land that had been confiscated from
the church by Roman authorities be returned.

A bishop with other officials on an 11th-century grave in Sweden.

The most usual term for the geographic 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 5th
century, and Pope Gregory I in the 6th 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 seewere much less common, the state
power did not collapse the way it did in the West, and thus the tendency of bishops acquiring
civil 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 holding political office[edit]

Johann Otto von Gemmingen, Prince-Bishop of Augsburg

As well as being Archchancellors of the Holy Roman Empire after the 9th century, bishops
generally served as chancellors to medieval monarchs, acting as head of the justiciary and
chief chaplain. The Lord Chancellor of England was almost always a bishop up until the
dismissal of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey by Henry VIII. Similarly, the position of Kanclerz in
the Polish kingdom was always held by a bishop until the 16th century.[citation needed]
In modern times, the principality of Andorra is headed by Co-Princes of Andorra, one of
whom is the Bishop of Urgell and the other, the sitting President of France, an arrangement
that began with the Paréage of Andorra (1278), and was ratified in the 1993 constitution of
Andorra.[18]
The office of the Papacy is inherently held by the sitting Roman Catholic Bishop of Rome.[19]
[20]
 Though not originally intended to hold temporal authority, since the Middle Ages the
power of the Papacy gradually expanded deep into the secular realm and for centuries the
sitting Bishop of Rome was the most powerful governmental office in Central Italy.[21] In
modern times, the Pope is also the sovereign Prince of Vatican City, an internationally
recognized micro-state located entirely within the city of Rome.[22][23][24][25]
In France, prior to the Revolution, representatives of the clergy — in practice, bishops
and abbots of the largest monasteries — comprised the First Estate of the Estates-General.
This role was abolished after separation of Church and State was implemented during the
French Revolution.
In the 21st century, the more senior bishops of the Church of England continue to sit in
the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, as representatives of
the established church, and are known as Lords Spiritual. The Bishop of Sodor and Man,
whose diocese lies outside the United Kingdom, is an ex officio memberof the Legislative
Council of the Isle of Man.[26] In the past, the Bishop of Durham had extensive vice-regal
powers within his northern diocese, which was a county palatine, the County Palatine of
Durham, (previously, Liberty of Durham) of which he was ex officio the earl. In the
nineteenth century, a gradual process of reform was enacted, with the majority of the bishop's
historic powers vested in The Crown by 1858.[27]
Eastern Orthodox bishops, along with all other members of the clergy,
are canonically forbidden to hold political office.[citation needed] Occasional exceptions to this rule
are tolerated when the alternative is political chaos. In the Ottoman Empire, the Patriarch of
Constantinople, for example, had de facto administrative, cultural and legal jurisdiction[citation
needed]
, as well as spiritual authority, over all Eastern Orthodox Christians of the empire, as part
of the Ottoman millet system. An Orthodox bishop headed the Prince-Bishopric of
Montenegro from 1516-1852, assisted by a secular guvernadur. More recently,
Archbishop Makarios III of Cyprus, served as President of the Cyprus from 1960 to 1977, an
extremely turbulent time period on the island.[citation needed]
In 2001, Peter Hollingworth, AC, OBE – then the Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane – was
controversially appointed Governor-General of Australia. Although Hollingworth gave up his
episcopal position to accept the appointment, it still attracted considerable opposition in a
country which maintains a formal separation between Church and State.[citation needed]