Diocese
This article is on the ecclesiastical diocese- for the Roman administrative unit, see Roman provinceIn some Christian churches, the
diocese is an administrative territorial unit administrated by a
bishop, hence also referred to as a
bishopric or
episcopal see, though more often the term
episcopal see means the office held by the bishop. In the
Roman Catholic and
Eastern Orthodox Churches, an important diocese is called an
archdiocese (usually due to size, historical significance, or both), which is governed by an
Archbishop, who may in the Catholic hierarchy either be exempt or have Metropolitan authority over the other ('suffragan') dioceses within a wider jurisdiction called
ecclesiastical province.
As of 2003, there are approximately 569 Roman Catholic archdioceses and 2014 dioceses.
The
Church of England continued and developed this diocesan structure after the
Reformation.
In the later organization of the
Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided
provinces were administratively associated in a larger unit, the diocese. (
Latin dioecesis, from the
Greek term διοίκησις meaning "administration").
The Catholic Church adopted the Roman diocesan structure of authority during the
5th and
6th centuries, as each bishop fully assumed the role of the former Roman
praefectus. This transfer of authority from secular officials to ecclesiastical leaders was facilitated by the Christian practice of establishing areas of ecclesiastical administration that coincided with those of the Roman civil administration. In modern times, many an ancient diocese, though later divided among several dioceses, has preserved the boundaries of a long-vanished Roman administrative division. See also:
Bishops and civil government.
The earliest use of 'diocese' as an administrative unit was in the Greek-speaking East. Three districts—
Cibyra,
Apamea and
Synnada— were added to the province of
Cilicia in the time of
Cicero, who mentions the fact in his familiar letters (
EB 1911). The word 'diocese', which at that time was equivalent to a tax-collecting district, came to be applied to the territory itself.
The reorganization of the
Empire known as Tetrarchy began under Emperor
Diocletian, who divided the vast Empire into four quarters, originally each under a co-emperor ('Tetrarch') but as these soon were abolished under their former chiefs of staff, styled pretorian prefects, who had authority over the next, also new administrative level: twelve dioceses. The largest,
Oriens, included sixteen provinces, and the smallest, Britain, was comprised of only four provinces. A list of Roman dioceses as they existed in
395 CE can be found at the entry for
Roman provinces.
Each diocese of the Empire was governed by a
vicarius . Between the
4th and
6th centuries, as the older administrative structure began to crumble, the role of the bishops in the western lands of the Empire enabled those lands and their peoples to maintain a semblance of civilisation as the authority of Rome vanished. The
senatorial aristocracy, especially in the provinces, continued in many places to serve as sources of local authority to complement the authority assumed by the Church. At that time, ecclesiastical political power was often vested in the spiritual offices of the
bishops in each region. It is, therefore, unsurprising that, as the
Catholic, and later the
Eastern Orthodox, churches began to define their respective administrative structures, they relied on the older Roman terminology and methods to describe administrative units and hierarchy, which caused the division between ecclesiastical and secular authority to often disappear. In the
Eastern Empire, this became fundamental doctrine: see
Caesaropapism.
Modern Christian usage of 'diocese' tends to refer to the sphere of a bishop's jurisdiction. This became commonplace during the self-conscious "classicizing" structural evolution of the
Carolingian empire in the 9th century, but this usage had itself been evolving from the much earlier
parochia ("
parish"), dating from the increasingly formalised Christian authority structure in the 4th century (see
EB 1911).
In English-speaking countries,
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints uses the term
ward, rather than parish, to refer to the jurisdiction of the
bishop and his counselors. However, the ward is not equal in size to a Catholic diocese; rather, a
stake is.
In the
United Methodist Church, a
bishop is given oversight over a geographical area called an Episcopal Area. The
clergy under his supervision along with their churches are collectively referred to as the Annual Conference. Thus, depending on how the term "diocese" is being used (whether to refer to geography or a group of churches) either the term "Episcopal Area" or "Annual Conference" might be the appropriate UMC equivalent.
*
Eparchy, a term in
Eastern Rite Catholicism,
Eastern Orthodoxy,
Oriental Orthodoxy, and the
Assyrian Church of the East*
List of Bishops*
Particular church*
Ecclesiastical Latin*
Catholic Church in Great Britain*
List of Roman Catholic archdioceses*
List of the Roman Catholic dioceses of Argentina*
List of the Roman Catholic dioceses of the Czech Republic*
List of the Roman Catholic dioceses of France*
List of the Roman Catholic dioceses of Ireland*
List of the Roman Catholic dioceses of Japan*
List of the Roman Catholic dioceses of Spain*
List of the Roman Catholic dioceses of the United States*
List of Church of England dioceses*
List of Church of Ireland dioceses*
Dioceses of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America*
Encyclopedia Britannica 1911*
Virtually complete list of current and historical Catholic dioceses worldwide*
Another such list, in English and Norwegian*
notitia dignitatum*
List of current Anglican/Episcopalian dioceses
