Diocese

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.

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.

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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.

Related Topics:
Diocletian - Oriens - Roman province

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Each diocese was governed by a praetor vicarius who was subjected to the praefectus. Between the 4th and 6th 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 senatorial 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 theEastern Empire, this became fundamental doctrine: see Caesaropapism.

Related Topics:
Praetor vicarius - Praefectus - 4th - 6th - Late Antiquity - Senatorial - Bishop - Catholic - Eastern Orthodox - Eastern Empire - Caesaropapism

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