In certain Christian denominations, holy orders are the ordained ministries of bishop, priest (presbyter), and deacon, and the sacrament or rite by which candidates are ordained to those orders. Churches recognizing these orders include the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, Assyrian, Old Catholic, Independent Catholic and some Lutheran churches. Except for Lutherans and some Anglicans, these churches regard ordination as a sacrament.
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. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Scandinavian Lutheran Churches, the Methodist Churches, the Anglican Communion, and the Free Church of England, view the diaconate as an order of ministry.
The Church of Sweden is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.6 million members at year end 2021, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden, the largest Lutheran denomination in Europe and the third-largest in the world, after the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania.
A provincial episcopal visitor (PEV), popularly known as a flying bishop, is a Church of England bishop assigned to minister to many of the clergy, laity and parishes who on grounds of theological conviction, "are unable to receive the ministry of women bishops or priests". The system by which such bishops oversee certain churches is referred to as alternative episcopal oversight (AEO).
Jonathan Sansbury Bailey, was an English Anglican bishop. He was Bishop of Dunwich from 1992 to 1995, Bishop of Derby from 1995 to 2005, and Clerk of the Closet from 1997 to 2005.
John Warren Gladwin is a retired Anglican bishop. From 2004 to 2009, he was the Bishop of Chelmsford in the Church of England. He stands in the open evangelical tradition.
David Staffurth Stancliffe is a retired Church of England bishop. He was Provost of Portsmouth Cathedral from 1982 to 1993, and the Bishop of Salisbury from 1993 to 2010. He is the third generation of his family to serve the ordained ministry.
Stephen George Platten, FSA is a retired Anglican bishop. He was the last diocesan Bishop of Wakefield in the Church of England. He was consecrated in this role on 19 July 2003 and immediately prior to that was Dean of Norwich from 1995. He was installed at Wakefield Cathedral on 19 July 2003.
Eric Waldram Kemp was a Church of England bishop. He was the Bishop of Chichester from 1974 to 2001. He was one of the leading Anglo-Catholics of his generation and one of the most influential figures in the Church of England in the last quarter of the twentieth century.
Robert Mar Erskine Paterson is a British Anglican bishop. He was the Bishop of Sodor and Man in the Church of England from 2008 until his retirement in 2016.
Christopher John Cocksworth is a Church of England bishop in the open evangelical tradition. He is the current Bishop of Coventry; prior to becoming bishop he was the Principal of Ridley Hall, Cambridge.
John Charles Broadhurst is an English priest of the Roman Catholic Church. Broadhurst was formerly a bishop of the Church of England and served as the Bishop of Fulham in the Diocese of London from 1996 to 2010. He resigned in order to be received into the Roman Catholic Church and became a priest in that church in 2011.
David Keith Gillett is a British Anglican bishop. From 1988 to 1999, he was Principal of Trinity College, Bristol, an Anglican theological college. From 1999 to 2008, he was the Bishop of Bolton, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Manchester. Since 2008, he has been an honorary assistant bishop and Diocesan Interfaith Adviser in the Diocese of Norwich.
Brian Arthur Smith was the Bishop of Edinburgh in the Scottish Episcopal Church.
Carl Christopher Epting is a bishop in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. He served the Diocese of Iowa as coadjutor bishop and diocesan bishop from 1988 to 2001, and as the Deputy for Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations for the Episcopal Church from 2001 to 2009. He then served as the Assistant Bishop of the Diocese of Chicago from November 2011 through December 2015 before retiring. Since 2021 Bishop Epting and wife Susanne have resided in Englewood, Colorado.
John Edward Holbrook is a Church of England bishop. He is the Bishop of Brixworth in the Diocese of Peterborough. He also is currently serving as acting diocesan Bishop of Peterborough. He had been Rural Dean of Wimborne in the Diocese of Salisbury and served as Acting Bishop of Leicester.
Andrew Peter Nunn is a British Anglican priest. Since 2012, he has been the Dean of Southwark in the Church of England.
Emma Gwynneth Ineson is a British Anglican bishop and academic, specialising in practical theology. Since 2023, she has served as Bishop of Kensington, the area bishop for West London. From 2014 to 2019, she was Principal of Trinity College, Bristol, an evangelical Anglican theological college; from 2019 to 2021, she was Bishop of Penrith, the suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Carlisle; and from 2021 to 2023, she served as "Bishop to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York", i.e. assistant bishop on the staffs of both archbishops.
Bruce Duncan, is a retired Anglican priest, chaplain, and academic administrator. From 1995 to 2002, he was the first Principal of Sarum College, an ecumenical theological college in Salisbury, England.
William Alfred Franklin was a British Anglican bishop who served as Bishop of Colombia and as full-time Assistant Bishop of Peterborough.
