A bishop is an ordination member of the Christian
clergy. In those Christian churches that maintain an episcopal form of church government, a bishop holds a position of authority. Their roles can differ
significantly in the various denominations.
Etymology
Bishop comes from the Greek word episkopos (επίσκοπος, from επι "over"
and σκοπος "seeing") which can be translated bishop, overseer, superintendent, supervisor, the
first, leader or foreman. From the word episkopos are derived the English words episcopacy,
episcopate and episcopal. The system of church government by bishops is called episcopacy.
Bishops in the New Testament
The New Testament uses the word episkopos five times.
Words related to episkopos are used in two other verses. Some English Bibles transliterate this word as bishop
(KJV, RSV,
NRSV, etc.), while others use a more basic translation such as "overseer"
(NIV, ESV, etc.). Biblical
scholars differ on which, if any, of these verses refer specifically to ordained bishops as we understand them, and which simply
refer to a generic "overseer" capacity.
The ministry of these New Testament episkopoi, according to some writers, was
not explicitly commissioned by Jesus Christ as far as the Gospels
tell, but appears to be a natural, practical development of the church of the apostles during the first and second centuries AD.
Others maintain that the episcopal structure of the Church was present from the beginning, being a direct institution by Jesus,
referring to the apostles who clearly led the first local churches, governed and laid on
hands. Supporting this latter view, the portions of the New Testament that mention episkopoi do not appear to be ordering
a new type of ministry, but giving instructions for an already existing position within the early Church. In places (particularly
in the verses from the Epistle to Titus) it appears that the position of
episkopos is often similar or the same as that of presbyter
(πρεσβυτερος), or elder and (or) priest. The
Epistle to Timothy mentions deacons (διακονοι) in a manner that suggests that the office
of deacon differs from the office of the bishop, and is subordinate to it, though it carries similar qualifications. Some
references indicate that a congregation might have multiple episkopoi, which is different than the bishop's role as it
came to be established in the 2nd century.
In the Acts of the Apostles, episkopoi are mentioned as being shepherds
of the flock, imagery that is still in use today. The other passages from the New
Testament describe them as stewards, leaders or administrators, and teachers. In 1 Timothy episkopoi are required to be 'the husband of but one wife'. Thus, it is clear that
the New Testament has no prohibition against bishops being married and already having children. The most famous example of this
is the Apostle Peter himself, who was married and had children. It remains unclear however,
whether a kind of celibacy or abstinence had to be practiced by these first bishops and
apostles after their appointment or episcopal consecration (see also clerical celibacy).
It is interesting to note that in the second chapter of 1 Peter,
Jesus is described as 'the Shepherd and Episkopos of your souls' (τον ποιμενα και
επισκοπον των ψυχων υμων).
Bishops in the Apostolic Fathers
Around the end of the first century AD, the church's organization becomes clearer in historical documents. 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.
"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.
It is clear that, by this period, a single bishop was expected to lead the church in each centre of Christian mission,
supported by a council of presbyters (a distinct and subordinate position at least by this
time) with a pool of deacons. As the Church continued to expand, new churches in important cities
gained their own bishop, but churches in the regions around an important city were served by presbyters and deacons from the
bishop's city church. 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.[1] 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[2])
At the end of the 2nd century and the beginning of the 3rd
century, we have Hippolytus of Rome describing 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.[3]
Bishops and civil government
The efficient infrastructure of the Roman Empire became the template for the
organization of the church in the fourth century, particularly after the 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.
The most usual term for the geographical 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 fifth century, and Pope Gregory I in the sixth 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 see were much less
common, the state power did not collapse the way it did in the West, and thus the tendency of bishops acquiring secular 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 ruling temporal states
-
The most important of these prince bishops was the Pope,
who ruled as monarch of the Papal States by virtue of his title as Bishop of
Rome. His claim to this fief rested on the forged Donation of Constantine, but in fact his authority over this kingdom in central Italy grew
slowly after the collapse of Roman and Byzantine authority in the area. The Papal
States were abolished when King Victor Emmanuel II took possession of Rome
in 1870 and completed the reunification of Italy. This became a perennial source of tension between
the Papacy and the government of Italy. In 1929, a representative of Pope Pius XI signed a concordat with the Fascist government of
Benito Mussolini and the Pope became the independent sovereign of the Vatican, while giving up any rights to the rest of the former Papal States. He was recognised as an
independent, non-hereditary, elected monarch by the Lateran
Treaties, a position the current Pope continues to hold. The only other bishop who currently is a head of state is the Bishop of Urgell, a Co-Prince of Andorra.
Three senior bishops served as Electors in the Holy Roman Empire. By the terms of the Golden Bull of
1356, the Archbishops of Mainz, Trier, and Cologne were made permanent electors, who chose the next Holy Roman Emperor upon the death of his predecessor. The Archbishop of Mainz was President of the
Electors and Archchancellor of Germany. Likewise, the Archbishop of Cologne was
Archchancellor of Italy, and the Archbishop of Trier was Archchancellor of Burgundy. A number of other bishops within the Holy Roman Empire, although not being Electors, were sovereign
prince-bishops in their own lands.
Bishops holding political office
As well as the Archchancellors of the Holy Roman Empire, bishops generally served
as chancellors to medieval monarchs, serving as head of the justiciary and chief chaplain. The Lord
Chancellor of England was almost always a bishop up until the dismissal of
Thomas Cardinal Wolsey by Henry VIII.
Likewise, the position of Kanclerz in the Polish kingdom was always a bishop until the sixteenth
century.
In France before the French Revolution,
representatives of the clergy — in practice, bishops and abbots of the largest monasteries — comprised the First Estate of the Estates-General, until their role was abolished during the French Revolution.
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 of the United
Kingdom, is ex officio a member of the Legislative Council of the Isle of Man. In
the past, the Bishop of Durham, known as a prince
bishop, had extensive viceregal powers within his northern diocese — the power to mint money, collect taxes and raise an
army to defend against the Scots.
Eastern Orthodox bishops, along with all other members of the clergy, are
canonically forbidden to hold political office. 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, fiscal, cultural and legal jurisdiction, as well as spiritual, over all the Christians of the empire. A
recent prominent example of this was Archbishop Makarios III of Cyprus, who served as President of the Republic of Cyprus from 1960 to 1977.
Episcopacy during the English Civil War
During the period of the English Civil War, the role of bishops as wielders of
political power and as upholders of the established church became a matter of heated
political controversy. John Calvin formulated a doctrine of Presbyterianism, which held that in the New Testament the offices of presbyter and
episkopos were identical; he rejected the doctrine of apostolic succession. Calvin's follower John Knox brought Presbyterianism to Scotland when the Scottish church was
reformed in 1560. In practice, Presbyterianism meant that committees of lay elders had a
substantial voice in church government, as opposed to merely being subjects to a ruling hierarchy.
William Laud, Charles I's Archbishop of Canterbury.
This vision of at least partial democracy in ecclesiology paralleled the struggles between Parliament and
the King. A body within the Puritan movement
in the Church of England sought to abolish the office of bishop and remake the Church
of England along Presbyterian lines. The Martin Marprelate tracts, applying the
pejorative name of prelacy to the church hierarchy,
attacked the office of bishop with satire that deeply offended Elizabeth I and
her Archbishop of Canterbury John
Whitgift. The vestments controversy also related to this movement, seeking
further reductions in church ceremony, and labelling the use of elaborate vestments as "unedifying" and even idolatrous.
King James I, reacting against the perceived contumacy of his Presbyterian
Scottish subjects, adopted "No Bishop, no King" as a slogan; he tied the hierarchical authority of the bishop to the absolute
authority he sought as king, and viewed attacks on the authority of the bishops as attacks on his own authority. Matters came to
a head when King Charles I appointed William
Laud as the Archbishop of Canterbury; Laud aggressively attacked the Presbyterian movement and sought to impose the full
Anglican liturgy. The controversy eventually lead to Laud's impeachment for treason by a bill of attainder in 1645,
and subsequent execution. Charles also attempted to impose episcopacy on Scotland; the Scots' violent rejection of bishops and
liturgical worship sparked the Bishops' Wars in 1639-1640.
During the height of Puritan power in the Commonwealth and the Protectorate, episcopacy was abolished in the Church of England in 1649. The Church of England remained Presbyterian until the Restoration of the monarchy with Charles II in
1660.
Churches
Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican churches
A
mitre is used as a symbol of the bishop's ministry in Western Christianity.
-
- Main article Bishop (Catholic Church)
Bishops form the leadership in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox
Churches, the Anglican Communion, the Independent Catholic Churches, the Independent Anglican Churches, and certain other, smaller, denominations.
The traditional role of a bishop is as pastor of a diocese (also called a bishopric,
synod, eparchy or see),
and so to serve as a "diocesan bishop," or "eparch" as it is called in many Eastern Christian churches . Dioceses vary
considerably in their size of area and population. Some dioceses around the Mediterranean
Sea which were Christianized early are rather compact; whereas dioceses in areas of rapid modern growth in Christian
commitment, as in some parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, South America and the Far East, are much larger and more populous.
As well as traditional diocesan bishops, many churches have a well-developed structure of church leadership that involves a
number of layers of authority and responsibility.
- Patriarch
- Patriarchs are the bishops who head certain ancient autocephalous or sui juris churches, which are a collection of metropolitan sees or provinces. Some of these churches call
their leaders Catholicos; the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Egypt, is called Pope, meaning
'Father'. While most patriarchs in the Eastern Catholic Churches have
jurisdiction over a "ritual church" (a group or diocese of a particular Eastern tradition), all Latin Rite patriarchs, except for the Pope, have only honorary titles.
- Catholicos
- Catholicoi are the heads of some of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Rite Catholic sui juris churches
(notably the Armenian), roughly similar to a Patriarch (see above).
- Primate
- A primate is usually the bishop of the oldest church of a nation. Sometimes this carries
jurisdiction over metropolitan bishops, but usually it is purely honorific. The primate of the Scottish Episcopal Church is chosen from among the diocesan bishops, and, while retaining
diocesan responsibility, is called Primus.
- Presiding or President Bishop
- These titles are often used for the head of a national Anglican church, but the title is not usually associated with a
particular episcopal see like the title of a primate.
- Major archbishop
- Major archbishops are the heads of some of the Eastern Catholic Churches.
Their authority within their sui juris church is equal to that of a patriarch, but they receive fewer ceremonial
honors.
- Metropolitan bishop
- A metropolitan bishop is an archbishop in charge of an ecclesiastical province, or group of dioceses, and in addition to having immediate jurisdiction
over his own archdiocese, also exercises some oversight over the other dioceses within that province. Sometimes a metropolitan
may also be the head of an autocephalous, sui
juris, or autonomous church when the number of adherents of that tradition
are small. In the Latin Rite, metropolitans are always archbishops; in many Eastern churches, the title is "metropolitan," with
some of these churches using "archbishop" as a separate office.
- Archbishop
- An archbishop is the bishop of an archdiocese. This is usually a prestigious diocese with an
important place in local church history. In the Roman Catholic Church, the title is purely honorific and carries no extra
jurisdiction, though most archbishops are also metropolitan bishops, as above. In
most provinces of the Anglican Communion, however, an archbishop has metropolitical and primatial power.
Monseigneur Roger Joseph Vangheluwe, Belgium
- Suffragan bishop
- A suffragan bishop is a bishop subordinate to a Metropolitan. In the
Roman Catholic Church this term is applied to all non-metropolitan bishops (that
is, diocesan bishops of dioceses within a metropolitan's province, and auxiliary
bishops). In the Anglican Communion, the term applies to a bishop who is a
full-time assistant to a diocesan bishop: the Bishop of Warwick is
suffragan to the Bishop of Coventry (the diocesan), though both live in
Coventry. Some Anglican suffragans are given the responsibility for a geographical area within
the diocese (for example, the Bishop of Stepney is an area bishop within the
Diocese of London).
- Titular bishop
- A titular bishop is a bishop without a diocese. Rather, the bishop is head of a
titular see, which is usually an ancient city that used to have a bishop, but, for some
reason or other, does not have one now. Titular bishops often serve as auxiliary
bishops. In the Ecumenical Patriarchate, bishops of
modern dioceses are often given a titular see alongside their modern one (for example, the Archbishop of Thyateira and Great
Britain).
- Auxiliary bishop
- An auxiliary bishop is a full-time assistant to a diocesan bishop (the Roman
Catholic equivalent of an Anglican suffragan bishop). Auxiliaries are titular bishops, and are often appointed as the vicar general or
at least as episcopal vicar of the diocese in which they serve.Source.
- Coadjutor bishop
- A coadjutor bishop is an auxiliary bishop who is given almost equal authority in a
diocese with the diocesan bishop, and the automatic right to succeed the incumbent diocesan bishop. The appointment of coadjutors
is often seen as a means of providing for continuity of church leadership.
- Honorary Assistant bishop or Bishop Emeritus
- This title is usually applied to retired bishops who are given a general licence to minister as episcopal pastors under a
diocesan's oversight. The title, in this meaning, is not used by the Catholic Church.
- Chorbishop
- A chorbishop is an official of a diocese in some Eastern Christian churches. Chorbishops are not generally ordained bishops –
they are not given the sacrament of Holy Orders in that degree – but function as assistants to the diocesan bishop with certain
honorary privileges.
- Cardinal
- A cardinal is a member of the clergy appointed by the pope to serve in the
College of Cardinals, the body empowered to elect the pope; however, on turning 80
a cardinal loses this right of election. Cardinals also serve as advisors to the pope and hold positions of authority with the
structure of the Catholic Church. Under modern canon law, a man who is appointed a cardinal must accept ordination as a bishop,
unless he already is one, or seek special permission from the pope to decline such ordination. Most cardinals are already bishops
at the time of their appointment, the majority being archbishops of important archdioceses or patriarchs, and a substantial
portion of the rest already titular archbishops serving in the Vatican. Recent popes have appointed a few priests, most of them
influential theologians, to the College of Cardinals without requiring them to be ordained as bishops; invariably, these men are
over the age of 80, which means they are not permitted to take part in a conclave. The purpose of these appointments is to
recognise their tremendous contribution to the life of the Church.
Patriarch Alexius II of Moscow and All Russia consecrating a Russian Orthodox diocesan bishop. Ordination of a bishop, and thus
continuation of apostolic succession, takes place through a ritual centered on the imposition of hands and prayer.
Bishops in all of these communions are ordained by other bishops. Depending on the
church, there need to be two or three bishops for validity (sacramental) or legality (liceity). Roman Catholic doctrine holds that any bishop can validly ordain another male (priest) as a
bishop. Though a minimum of three bishops participating is desirable (there are usually several more) in order to demonstrate
collegiality, canonically only one bishop is necessary. The practice of only one bishop ordaining was normal in countries where
the Church was persecuted under Communist rule.
Apart from the ordination, which is always done by other bishops, there are different methods as to the actual choosing
of a candidate for ordination as bishop. In the Roman Catholic Church today, the
Congregation for Bishops oversees the selection of new bishops with the
approval of the pope. The papal nuncio usually solicits names from the bishops of a country, and
then selects three to be forwarded to Rome. Most Eastern Orthodox churches allow varying amounts of more or less formalized laity
and/or lower clergy influence on the choice of bishops. This also applies in those Eastern churches which are in union with the
pope, though he is required to give assent.
Only a bishop can ordain a bishop, priest, or deacon.
In the Eastern liturgical tradition, a priest can celebrate the Divine Liturgy only
with the blessing of a bishop. In Byzantine usage, an antimension signed by the bishop is
kept on the altar partly as a reminder of whose altar it is and under whose omophorion the
priest at a local parish is serving. In Syriac Church usage, a consecrated wooden block called a tablitho is kept for the same reasons.
The pope, in addition to being the Bishop of Rome and spiritual head of the Roman Catholic Church, is the Patriarch of the Latin Catholic
Church. Each bishop within the Latin Catholic Church is answerable directly to the Pope and not any other bishop except to
metropolitans in certain oversight instances.
In the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches and the Anglican Communion, the cathedral of a
diocese will have a special chair set aside for the exclusive use of the bishop. This is the bishop's cathedra, which is often called the bishop's throne. In some Christian
denominations, other churches besides the cathedral will maintain a chair for the use of the bishop when he visits their parish;
this is to signify the parish's union with the bishop.
Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox Christian bishops claim to be part of a continuous sequence of ordained bishops since the
days of the apostles; this is called Apostolic Succession. Since Pope Leo XIII issued the bull Apostolicae Curae in
1896, the Roman Catholic Church has insisted that Anglican orders are invalid because of that
church's changes in the ordination rites and divergence in understanding of the theology of episcopacy and Eucharist. Since the
1930s Old Catholic bishops (whom Rome recognises as valid) have participated in the ordination of several Anglican bishops, and
this has muddied the waters somewhat as it could be argued that the strain of Apostolic Succession has been re-introduced into
Anglicanism. The Roman Catholic Church does recognise as valid (though illicit) ordinations done by breakaway Roman Catholic, Old
Catholic, or Oriental bishops, and groups descended from them, and as valid and licit those ordinations done by Eastern Orthodox
bishops,[4] so long as those receiving the ordination
conform to other canonical requirements (e.g. is an adult male) and an orthodox rite of episcopal ordination, expressing the
proper functions and sacramental status of a bishop, is used; this gives rise to the phenomenon of episcopi vagantes (e.g. clergy of the Independent Catholic groups claiming Apostolic
Succession).
The Orthodox Churches would not accept the validity of any ordinations performed within the Independent Catholic groups, as
Orthodoxy considers to be spurious any consecration outside of the Church as a whole. Unlike Roman Catholicism, Orthodoxy
considers Apostolic Succession to exist only within the Church as a whole, and not through any authority held by individual
bishops.
Having said this, although Roman Catholicism does recognise the validity of the orders of those Old Catholics in communion
with Utrecht, as well as groups such as the Polish National Catholic
Church (which received its orders directly from Utrecht, and was - until recently - part of that communion), it would
refuse to recognise the orders of any group whose teaching is at variance with core tenets of Christianity e.g. The
Liberal Catholic Church which has a strong theosophist tendency and permits
belief in reincarnation even though they may use the proper ordination ritual. The recent practice within Independent Catholic
groups of ordaining women has added a definite cloudiness to the matter. The act of ordaining women demonstrates an understanding
of Priesthood which is unacceptable to the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches; thus, any sacramental acts performed by these
women are considered to be invalid. Further, the theology of male clergy is suspect as they presumably approve of the ordination
of females (thereby demonstrating a belief in Orders different from that of Catholicism and Orthodoxy), and may have even
undergone an (invalid) ordination ceremony conducted by a woman. Whilst members of the Independent Catholic movement take seriously the issue of valid orders, it is highly
significant that the relevant Vatican Congregations usually do not to respond to petitions from Independent Catholic bishops and
clergy who seek to be received into communion with Rome, hoping to continue in some sacramental role. In those instances where
Rome does grant reconciliation, those deemed to be clerics within the Independent Old Catholic movement are invariably admitted
as laity and not priests or bishops.
Independent Old Catholicism has long been rife with power struggles, splinters, mutual 'excommunications' and the setting up
of groups claiming to be religious orders with grandiose names, but often with no more than 2-3 members. The magnificent titles
held by the clergy are not matched by the size of the congregations; these are often no more than a handful of people, if any at
all. In an attempt to ensure Apostolic Succession, it is not uncommon for clergy within Independent Old Catholicism to undergo
more than one ordination, as bishops and priests fall out with one another. Both the Orthodox the Old Catholic churches reject
the validity of Independent Old Catholic orders, and Roman Catholicism does not look upon them with any seriousness.
There is a mutual recognition of the validity of orders amongst Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Old Catholic, Oriental Orthodox and Assyrian Nestorian
churches.
Some provinces of the Anglican
Communion have begun ordaining women as bishops in recent decades e.g.
Canada, the United States and New Zealand. The first woman bishop within Anglicanism was Barbara Clementine Harris, who was ordained in the United States in 1989.
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
In the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the largest
Lutheran denomination in the United States, and based largely on the Nordic Lutheran
state churches (similar to that of the Church of England), bishops are elected by
Synod Assemblies, consisting of both lay members and clergy, for a term of 6 years, which can be renewed, depending upon the
local synod's "constitution" (which usually mirrors that of the national ELCA constitution). Since a 1999 Concordat with the
Episcopal Church, they have been ordained in the historic episcopate of apostolic succession, by the laying on of hands of other
bishops whose line passes back to the apostles, including Episcopal bishops and Lutheran bishops from church branches in
apostolic succession. [5][6] Currently, they are responsible for, since going into ecumenical communion with
the Episcopal Church in the United States, ordaining of
all pastors, consecrating of all diaconal ministers, giving approvals to "roster" all current pastors (pastors are called by
local congregations, like that of the Episcopal Church), and upholding the teachings of Luther, the ELCA and synod constitutions.
The Presiding Bishop of the ELCA, the national bishop, is elected for a single 6-year term and is limited to 2 terms, and handles
all episcopal consecrations, as well as presiding at the Churchwide Assembly, which is held every 2 years. A similar structure
exists with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC). It
should be noted that although ELCA agreed with the Episcopal Church to limit ordination to the bishop "ordinarily", ELCA
pastor-ordinators are given permission to perform the rites in "extraordinary" circumstance. In practice, "extraordinary"
circumstance have included disagreeing with Episcopalian views of the episcopate.
United Methodist Church
In The United Methodist Church, bishops serve as administrative and pastoral
superintendents of the church. They are elected for life from among the ordained
elders (Presbyters) by vote of the delegates in regional (called Jurisdictional) conferences, and are consecrated by the
other bishops present at the conference through the laying on of hands. In The United Methodist Church bishops are not ordained
in the traditional sense (i.e. belonging to the threefold ministry of bishop,
presbyter, deacon) but remain members of the "Order of Elders" while being consecrated
to the "Office of the Episcopacy." Within The United Methodist Church only bishops are
empowered to consecrate bishops and ordain clergy. Among their most critical duties is the ordination and appointment of clergy
to serve local churches as pastor, presiding at sessions of the Annual, Jurisdictional, and General Conferences, providing
pastoral ministry for the clergy under their charge, and safeguarding the doctrine and discipline of the Church. Furthermore,
individual bishops, or the Council of Bishops as a whole, often serve a prophetic role, making statements on important social
issues and setting forth a vision for the denomination, though they have no legislative authority of their own. In all of these
areas, bishops of United Methodist Church function very much in the historic meaning of the term. According to the
Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church, a
bishop's responsibilities are
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Leadership.—Spiritual and Temporal.— 1. To lead and oversee the spiritual and temporal affairs of The United Methodist
Church, which confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and particularly to lead the Church in its mission of witness and
service in the world. 2. To travel through the connection at large as the Council of Bishops (¶ 526) to implement stategy for the
concern of the Church. 3. To provide liaison and leadership in the quest for Christian unity in ministry, mission, and structure
and in the search for strengthened relationships with other living faith communities. 4. To organize such Missions as shall have
been authorized by the General Conference. 5. To promote and support
the evangelistic vision of the whole Church. 6. To discharge such other duties as the Discipline may direct.
Presidential Duties.—1. To preside in the General, Jurisdictional, Central, and Annual Conferences. 2. To form the
districts after consultation with the district superintendents and after the number of the same has been determined by vote of
the Annual Conference. 3. To appoint the district
superintendents annually (¶¶ 517-518). 4. To consecrate bishops, to ordain elders and deacons, to consecrate diaconal
ministers, to commission deaconesses and home missionaries, and to see that the names of the
persons commissioned and consecrated are entered on the journals of the conference and that proper credentials are funised to
these persons.
Working with Ministers.—1. To make and fix the appointments in the Annual Conferences, Provisional Annual Conferences,
and Missions as the Discipline may direct (¶¶ 529-533). 2. To divide or to unite a circuit(s), stations(s), or mission(s) as
judged necessary for missionary strategy and then to make appropriate appointments. 3. To read the appointments of deaconesses,
diaconal ministers, lay persons in service under the World Division of the General Board of Global Ministries, and home
missionaries. 4. To fix the Charge Conference membership of all ordained ministers appointed to ministries other than the local
church in keeping with ¶443.3. 5. To transfer, upon the request of the receiving bishop, minsterial member(s) of one Annual
Conference to another, provided said member(s) agrees to transfer; and to send immediately to the secretaries of both
conferences involved , to the conference Boards of Ordained Ministry, and to the clearing house of the General Board of Pensions
written notices of the transfer of members and of their standing in the course of study if they are undergraduates.[7]
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In each Annual Conference, United Methodist bishops serve for four year terms, and may serve up to three terms before either
retirement or appointment to a new Conference. United Methodist bishops may be male or female, with the Rev. Marjorie Matthews being the first woman to be consecrated a bishop in 1980.
The collegial expression of episcopal leadership in the United Methodist
Church is known is the Council of Bishops. The Council of Bishops speaks to the Church and through the
Church into the world and gives leadership in the quest for Christian unity and interreligious relationships.[8] The Conference of Methodist
Bishops includes the United Methodist Council of Bishops plus bishops from affiliated autonomous Methodist or United Churches.
John Wesley consecrated Thomas Coke a
"General Superintendent," and directed that Francis Asbury also be consecrated for the
United States of America in 1784, where the Methodist Episcopal Church first became a separate denomination apart from the Church of England. Coke
soon returned to England, but Asbury was the primary builder of the new church. At first he did not call himself bishop, but
eventually submitted to the usage by the denomination.
Notable bishops in United Methodist history include Coke,
