Diocese
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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In some forms of Christianity, a diocese is an administrative territorial unit administered by a bishop. It is also referred to as a bishopric or Episcopal Area (as in United Methodism) or episcopal see, though strictly the term episcopal see refers to the domain of ecclesiastical authority officially held by the bishop, and bishopric to the post of being bishop. The diocese is the key geographical unit of authority in the form of church governance known as episcopal polity. In the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion a diocese which is important due to size or historical significance is called an archdiocese, and is governed by an archbishop, who may have metropolitan authority over the other ('suffragan') dioceses within a wider jurisdiction called an ecclesiastical province.
