Ecclesiastical titles

The pope is the bishop of Rome and the head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the pope was the sovereign or head of state of the Papal States, and since 1929 of the much smaller Vatican City State. From a Catholic viewpoint, the primacy of the bishop of Rome is largely derived from his role as the apostolic successor to Saint Peter, to whom primacy was conferred by Jesus, who gave Peter the Keys of Heaven and the powers of "binding and loosing", naming him as the "rock" upon which the

A priest is a certain male religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities. Their office or position is the "priesthood", a term which also may apply to such persons collectively. A priest may have the duty to hear confessions periodically, give marriage counseling, provide prenuptial counseling, give spiritual direction, teach catechism, or visit those

A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role or office of the bishop is called episcopacy or the episcopate. Organisationally, several Christian denominations utilise ecclesiastical structures that call for the position of bishops, while other denominations have dispensed with this office, seeing it as a symbol of power. Bishops have also exercised political authority within their dioceses.

right|thumb|Arms of a Catholic abbot are distinguished by a gold crozier with a veil attached and a black [[galero with twelve tassels (the galero of a territorial abbot would be green).]]

In Christianity, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdiocese, and some who hold non-metropolitan sees or are otherwise granted a titular archbishopric. In others, such as the Lutheran Church of Sweden, the title is borne by the leader of the denomination. thumb|The Archbishop of Uppsala is the primate of the [[Church of Sweden. The Church of Sweden was the only Lutheran church to keep the episcopal polity and apostolic

thumb|upright|Saint Stephen, one of the first seven deacons in the Christian Church, holding a [[Gospel Book in a 1601 painting by Giacomo Cavedone.]] A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions.

An antipope () is a person who claims to be Bishop of Rome and leader of the Roman Catholic Church in opposition to the officially elected pope. Between the 3rd and mid-15th centuries, antipopes were supported by factions within the Church itself and secular rulers. While modern claimants to the papacy still take place, they are rarely given serious consideration by either the public or the Church.

thumb|A pastor with an open Bible on a stand

ecclesiastical office, archbishop at the head of a metropolitan archdiocese

cleric; member of certain bodies subject to an ecclesiastical rule

A vicar (; Latin: vicarius) is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, vicar is cognate with the English prefix "vice", similarly meaning "deputy". It also refers to a senior priest in the Church of England. The title appears in a number of Christian ecclesiastical contexts, but also as an administrative title, or title modifier, in the Roman Empire. In addition, in the Holy Roman Empire, a local representative of the emperor, such as an archduke, could be styled "vi

alt=Martin of Tours giving his capellanu cape, from where the field of chaplaincy got its name from.|thumb|Martin of Tours giving his capellanu cape, from which the field of chaplaincy got its name. thumb|The Reverend Manasseh Cutler, [[American Revolutionary War chaplain who served in George Washington's Continental Army and co-founded Ohio University]]

high-ranking bishop in certain Christian churches

Presbyter () is an honorific title for Christian clergy. The word derives from the Greek , which means elder or senior, although many in Christian antiquity understood presbyteros to refer to the bishop functioning as overseer. The word presbyter is used many times in the New Testament, referring both to the Jewish leadership and the "tradition of the elders", and to the leaders of the early Christian community.

Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct research.

thumb|Protodeacon Vladimir Nazarkin (left) and archdeacon Andrei Mazur of the Russian Orthodox Church during procession. An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that of most clergy and below a bishop. In the High Middle Ages it was the most senior diocesan position below a bishop in the Catholic Church. An archdeacon is often responsible for administration within an archdeaconry, which is the principal s

thumb|right|200px|Johann Otto von Gemmingen, Prince-Bishop of Augsburg (1591–1598)

thumb|right|' ("government official"), by Louis Dusée, Utrecht, 1961 An official' is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (either their own or that of their superior or employer, public or legally private). The term officer'' is close to being a synonym, but it has more military connotations. An elected official is a person who is an official by virtue of an election.

thumb|Eufemia Szaniawska, Abbess of the Benedictine Monastery in Nesvizh|Nieśwież with a [[crosier, , National Museum in Warsaw]] thumb|Abbess Joanna van Doorselaer de ten Ryen, Waasmunster Roosenberg Abbey

Catholic canonization status

thumb|A sacristan

thumb|A novice is at the left. The religious habit|habit of a novice often differs from that of the full professed sisters.|alt= The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian novice (or prospective) monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether they are called to vowed religious life. It often includes times of intense study, prayer, living in community, studying the vowed life, deepening one's relationship with God, and deepening one's self-awareness. In the Catholic Church,

senior official in various Christian churches

An exarch (; from Ancient Greek ἔξαρχος exarchos) is an official in various jurisdictions (administrative, military, ecclesiastical) both historical and modern.

Subdeacon is a ministry in various branches of Christianity. The subdeacon has a specific liturgical role and is placed below the deacon and above the acolyte in the order of precedence.

thumb|upright|The Acolyte by Abraham Solomon, 1842

profession in church

ecclesiastical title for a monastic superior

thumb|The Poor Parson is described in Canterbury Tales: The Prologue, by Geoffrey Chaucer A parson is an ordained Christian person responsible for a small area, typically a parish. The term was formerly often used for some Anglican clergy and, more rarely, for ordained ministers in some other churches. It is no longer a formal term denoting a specific position within Anglicanism, but has some continued historical and colloquial use.

right|thumb|200px|Grave-digger, by Viktor Vasnetsov, 1871

a Catholic liturgical minister who proclaims Scripture, by readings from the Old or New Testament

The ecclesiastical title of archpriest, traditionally archpresbyter or protopresbyter, belongs to certain priests with supervisory duties over one or several parishes in the Eastern Orthodox Church (and some Eastern Catholic). The archpriest is somewhat analogous to the dean (vicar forane) in the Latin Church. The Orthodox archpriest is conferred the title via liturgical ceremony and wears a specific vestment and typically a pectoral cross.

Biblical phrase

thumb|upright=1.4|A chained Cartulary from Senlis, northern France. A cartulary or chartulary (; Latin: cartularium or chartularium), also called pancarta or codex diplomaticus, is a medieval manuscript volume or roll (rotulus) containing transcriptions of original documents relating to the foundation, privileges, and legal rights of ecclesiastical establishments, municipal corporations, industrial associations, institutions of learning, or families. The term is sometimes also applied to collections of original documents bound in one volume or attached to one another so as to form a roll, as w

position, assistant of the diocesan bishop of any diocese, with the right to succession thereof

thumb|Elizabeth Ferard|Elizabeth Catherine Ferard, first ordained deaconess of the Church of England A deaconess is a member of a ministry for women in some Christian churches to provide pastoral care, especially for other women, and who may carry a liturgical role. The word comes from the Greek (), for "deacon", which means a servant or helper and occurs frequently in the Christian New Testament of the Bible.

an officer of a church or civic authority who by reason of office has ordinary power to execute laws

An apocrisiarius, the Latinized form of apokrisiarios (), sometimes Anglicized as apocrisiary, was a high diplomatic representative during Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages. The corresponding (purist) Latin term was responsalis ("he who answers"). The title was used by Byzantine ambassadors, as well as by the representatives of bishops to the secular authorities. The closest modern equivalent is a papal nuncio; the title apocrisiarius is also still employed by the Anglican Church.

leader in the field of some Christian denominations

A chorbishop is a rank of Christian clergy below bishop. The name chorepiscope or chorepiscopus (plural chorepiscopi) is taken from the Greek and means "rural bishop".

Protodeacon derives from the Greek proto- meaning 'first' and diakonos, which is a standard ancient Greek word meaning "assistant", "servant", or "waiting-man". The word in English may refer to any of various clergy, depending upon the usage of the particular church in question.

head of an administrative division of a Protestant church

thumb|Mosaic depicting a man in a tunic watching a street scene from the Villa del Cicerone in Pompeii, 1st century CE An ostiarius, a Latin word sometimes anglicized as ostiary but often literally translated as porter or doorman, originally was a slave or guard posted at the entrance of a building, similarly to a gatekeeper.

church or synagogue officer charged with the maintenance of the church buildings and/or the surrounding graveyard

The Latin term primicerius, Hellenized as primikērios (), was a title applied in the later Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire to the heads of administrative departments, and also used by the Church to denote the heads of various colleges.

upright=1.35|thumb|The portrait of the almoner or The breviary (1886) by [[Jules-Alexis Muenier.]]

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A postulant (from , "to ask") was originally one who makes a request or demand; hence, a candidate. The use of the term is now generally restricted to those asking for admission into a Christian monastery or a religious order for the period preceding their admission into the novitiate.

The term "coadjutor" (literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence.

thumb|right|Tomás de Torquemada, 15th-century Spanish Dominican friar and [[Grand Inquisitor.]] An inquisitor was an official (usually with judicial or investigative functions) in an inquisition – an organization or program intended to eliminate heresy and other things contrary to the doctrine or teachings of the Catholic faith. Literally, an inquisitor is one who "searches out" or "inquires" (from the Latin inquirere).

Indo-Iranian honorific term

A prothonotary is the "principal clerk of a court," from Late Latin prothonotarius (c. 400), from Greek protonotarios "first scribe," originally the chief of the college of recorders of the court of the Byzantine Empire, from Greek '' protos "first" + Latin notarius ("notary"); the h'' appeared in Medieval Latin. The title was awarded to certain high-ranking notaries, and was first recorded in the English language in 1447.

Decanus means "chief of ten" in Late Latin. The term originated in the Roman army and became used thereafter for subaltern officials in the Byzantine Empire, as well as for various positions in the Church, whence derives the English title "dean". It is unrelated to the position of deacon (Latin diaconus, Greek διάκονος).

A churchwarden is a lay official in a parish or congregation of the Anglican Communion, Lutheran Churches or Catholic Church, usually working as a part-time volunteer. In the Anglican tradition, holders of these positions are ex officio members of the parish board, usually called a vestry, parochial church council, or in the case of a Cathedral parish the chapter. Historically, a churchwarden was responsible for maintaining the churchwardens' accounts of the parish's income and expenses.

Referendary is the English form of a number of administrative positions, of various rank, in chanceries and other official organizations in Europe.

A precentor is a person who helps facilitate worship. The details vary depending on the religion, denomination, and era in question. The Latin derivation is præcentor, from cantor, meaning "the one who sings before" (or alternatively, "first singer").

ecclesiastical profession

thumb|A crucifer, in the center, carrying a cross

A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop.

acclamation adopted by the early church