BISHOPRIC, or DIOCESE: The territory over
which the jurisdiction of a bishop extends. The
origin of such divisions goes back to the foundation
and growth of the very early Christian communities.
When the apostles founded a church in a city, the
faithful living there (Gk. paroikoi, parepidemoi;
cf. Eph. ii, 19; I Pet. ii, 11) formed a community
(paroikia) which gradually took more definite
shape under the leadership of the presbyters or
bishops, and gained adherents outside the town.
At first these latter attended divine service in the
city, until their numbers increased sufficiently to
form a separate dependent community, the term
paroikia being applied to the larger territory
equally. In the West the name parochia retained
this sense until the ninth century, when it became
restricted to single parishes in the modern sense,
the bishop's jurisdiction being known as diœcesis
(already in use to designate a civil governor's jurisdiction). The latter word in the East, following the
analogy of civil divisions, was applied to the district
ruled by a patriarch. In Gaul the ecclesiastical unit
was constituted out of the chief town of a district
and its annexed territory (conventus, Gk. dioikesis),
which in the Frankish period corresponded to the
jurisdiction of a count. In Germany the original
diocese was larger, and the Gau was coterminous
with its subdivision of archdeaconry or deanery.
The erection or redistribution of dioceses was from
the fourth century a function of the metropolitan
and the provincial synod; in Germany from the
eighth century it was carried out under papal
supervision. From the eleventh century it has
been reserved to the pope; but in Germany the
joint action of the state has been required, the
matter being considered a
causa mixta.
(E. FRIEDBERG.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Thomassin, Vetus et nova ecclesiœ disciplina,
part I, book iii, Lucca, 1728; R. Hooker, Ecclesiastical Polity,
book viii, chap. 8, best ed., by Keble, 3 vols.,
Oxford, 1845; H. Milman, History of Christianity, book
iv, London, 1867; W. T. Arnold, Roman System of Provincial Administration,
London, 1879; Bingham, Origines,
Books iv-v, ix; KL, ii, 878-888.
