diocese

the territorial jurisdiction of a bishop

blesses Bishop Stephen Alencastre as fifth Roman Catholic Bishop of HonoluluApostolic Vicar of the Hawaiian Islands in a Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace stained glass windowwindow. In Roman CatholicismCatholicism, the pope is the bishop of the diocese of Rome. He creates the other List of Roman Catholic diocesesdioceses throughout the world and chooses their bishops.]]In some Christian churches, the diocese is an administrative territorial unit governed by a bishop, sometimes 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 Church, an important diocese, governed by an Archbishop is called an archdiocese (usually due to size, historical significance, or both). As of 2003, there are about 569 Roman Catholic archdioceses and 2014 dioceses in the world.Some Protestant churches such as the Church of England have inherited this diocesan structure directly, during the Protestant Reformation.In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman provinceprovinces were administratively associated in a larger unit, the diocese. (Latin ''dioecesis'', from the Greek languageGreek term διοίκησις meaning !"administration").Th e? Catholic Church directly inherited this Roman structure of authority during the 5th century5th and 6th century6th centuries, as each bishop fully assumed the role of the former Roman ''praefectus''. The transfer was facilitated by the Christian practice of setting the areas of ecclesiastical administration very exactly coinciding with those of the 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 further information concerning bishops in civil government at the entry Bishops#Bishops in civil governmentBishop.

In the Roman Empire - The earliest use of "diocese" as an administrative unit was in the Greek-speaking East, applied for instance to three districts— Cibyra, Apamea and Synnada— that were added to the province of Cilicia in the time of Cicero, who mentions the fact in his familiar letters (''EB'' 1911). The word, an equivalent to a tax-collecting district, came to be applied to the territory itself. In the reorganization of the empire that was begun by Diocletian and carried through by Constantine, the empire was divided into twelve dioceses, of which the largest, Oriens, included sixteen provinces, and the smallest, of Britain, included four. A list of Roman dioceses as the finally were in 395 CE can be found at the entry Roman province. Each diocese was governed by a ''praetor vicarius'' who was subjected to the ''praefectus''. Between the 4th century4th and 6th century6th centuries, as the older administrative structure began to crumble, the position of the bishops in the Christianized Empire of Late Antiquity expanded to fill the vacuum. The Roman Senatesenatorial aristocracy, especially in the provinces, remained a source of local authority. By this time, however, that authority was often vested in the spiritual office of bishop. It is therefore of little surprise that, as the Catholic and later the Eastern Orthodox churches began to define their administrative structure, they relied on the older Roman terminology to describe administrative units and hierarchy, and ecclesiastical and secular authorities blurred together. In theByzantine Empire Eastern Empire, this became fundamental doctrine: see Caesaropapism.

Christian hierarchy - Christian usage in the modern sense of the sphere of a bishop's jurisdiction became commonplace only within the consciously "classicizing" structure of the Carolingian empire in the 9th century, but the usage had been taking over from the much earlier ''parochia'' ("parish") from the surfacing of the 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 (Mormonism)ward, rather than parish, to refer to the jurisdiction of the bishop (Mormonism)bishop and his counselors. However, the ward is not equal in size to a Catholic diocese; rather, a stake (Mormonism)stake is.

See also -

Eparchy, a term in Eastern-Rite Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Oriental Orthodoxy

List of Bishops

Particular church

Latin_(Ecclesiastical)Ecclesiastical Latin

Catholic Church in Great Britain

List of Roman Catholic archdioceses

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 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

External links -

5.1911encyclopedia.org - ''Encyclopedia Britannica'' 1911

catholic-hierarchy.org - Virtually complete list of current and historical Catholic dioceses worldwide

katolsk.no - Another such list, in English and Norwegian

anglican.org - List of current Anglican/Episcopalian diocesesCategory:Christian group !structuringcs:Diecézeda:Stift de:Diözesees:Diócesisfr:Dioc èsehr:Dijecezait:Diocesila:Ep iscopatusnl:Bisdomno:Bispedøm mepl:Diecezjapt:Diocesesl:Ško fijasv:Stift? (kyrkligt !förvaltningsområde)uk:Єпа рхія

Diocese of Massachusetts
Established 1784 with 79,000 baptized members, 57,000 communicants, and 194 institutions. Features parish listings, diocesan resources, staff and newsletter.
http://www.diomass.org

Diocese of Texas
Official site.
http://www.epicenter.org/

Diocese of Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania. Administrative directory, parishes, press releases, events calendar, priesthood message center, and links.
http://www.diopitt.org/

The Diocese of Ely
Links, contact information and online newspaper for Anglicans in Cambridgeshire and West Norfolk
http://www.ely.anglican.org/

Diocese of Richmond
Virginia. Formation and spiritual resources, history and demographics, administration, parishes, schools, religious, facilities, calendar of events, news, and links.
http://www.diocric.org/

Diocese of Cleveland
Ohio. Contacts, services, parish and school directories, calendar, newspaper, diocesan bulletins, available positions, and links.
http://www.dioceseofcleveland.org/

Diocese of California
News and information, job listings, and programs for the diocese for the greater San Francisco Bay area.
http://diocal.org/