A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
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. The Anglo-Catholic tradition within Anglicanism identifies more with the Roman Catholic position about the sacramental nature of ordination.
A synod is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word synod comes from the Greek: σύνοδος [ˈsinoðos] meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin word concilium meaning "council". Originally, synods were meetings of bishops, and the word is still used in that sense in Catholicism, Oriental Orthodoxy and Eastern Orthodoxy. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not. It is also sometimes used to refer to a church that is governed by a synod.
The Mariavite Church is today one of two independent Christian churches collectively known as Mariavites who first emerged from the religious inspiration of Polish noblewoman and nun, Feliksa Kozłowska (1862-1921) in the late 19th-century. Initially, it was a renewal movement seeking reform in Polish Catholicism. The movement was an attempt to replicate the simplicity of the life of Mary, in Latin, qui Mariae vitam imitantur,, thus vita Mariae, the Life of Mary, gave the movement its name.
The Evangelical Catholic Church (ECC) was founded in 1976 by former pastors and members of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) who were influenced by or interested in Eastern Orthodoxy. Originally a small High Church, Evangelical Catholic denomination, it later became an Independent Catholic Church, but it remained theologically Lutheran. The ECC became inactive in 2009, was revived in 2014, and disbanded in 2016.
The Antiochian Catholic Church in America (ACCA) is an Independent Catholic Church. What sets the ACCA apart from most such Churches is that it espouses the theology and embraces many distinctive practices of the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Indian Orthodox Church, from which the clergy of the ACCA claim to derive apostolic succession primarily via the lineage of René Vilatte. The orders of the ACCA are also derived from the Old Catholic movement, in this case by way of Arnold Mathew. The ACCA, however, is not in communion with any of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. It ordains women to the diaconate and does not require celibacy of its bishops, allowing them, like priests and deacons, to marry.
Catholicity is a concept pertaining to beliefs and practices widely accepted across numerous Christian denominations, most notably those that describe themselves as catholic in accordance with the Four Marks of the Church, as expressed in the Nicene Creed of the First Council of Constantinople in 381: "[I believe] in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church."
In keeping with its prevailing self-identity as a via media or "middle path" of Western Christianity, Anglican sacramental theology expresses elements in keeping with its status as a church in the catholic tradition and a church of the Reformation. With respect to sacramental theology the Catholic tradition is perhaps most strongly asserted in the importance Anglicanism places on the sacraments as a means of grace, sanctification and forgiveness as expressed in the church's liturgy.
Abba Seraphim is a British independent Oriental Orthodox bishop. He is the Patriarch of Glastonbury and head of the British Orthodox Church with the self appointed title of "His Beatitude Patriarch Seraphim, the British Patriarch of Glastonbury".
Henry Alfonso Mary Carfora, the son of Ferdinand Carfora and Angeline D'Ambrosio, was baptized a Roman Catholic in his native Naples, Italy on August 29, 1878 at two days of age.
The Old Roman Catholic Church in North America, officially called Old Roman Catholic Church, is an independent Old Catholic denomination. It descends from the North American Old Roman Catholic Church founded by Archbishop Carmel Henry Carfora. Archbishop Richard Arthur Marchenna consecrated Robert Alfred Burns, a priest ordained by Carmel Henry Carfora, in 1961. Burns left Marchenna in 1963. That year he joined with Archbishop Wilfred A. Barrington-Evans of the Old Roman Catholic Church and began using that designation. He was appointed Archbishop of Chicago by Barrington-Evans.
The timeline of Eastern Orthodoxy in North America represents a timeline of the historical development of religious communities, institutions and organizations of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in North America.
Rebaptism in Christianity is the baptism of a person who has previously been baptized, usually in association with a denomination that does not recognize the validity of the previous baptism. When a denomination rebaptizes members of another denomination, it is a sign of significant differences in theology. Churches that practice exclusive believer's baptism, including Baptists and Churches of Christ, rebaptize those who were baptized as infants because they do not consider infant baptism to be valid.
The Polish Episcopal Conference or Polish Bishops' Conference is the central organ of the Catholic Church in Poland. It is composed of 2 cardinals, 28 archbishops and 118 bishops.
The Orthodox Anglican Communion (OAC) is a communion of churches established in 1964 or 1967, by James Parker Dees. The AOC was formed outside of the See of Canterbury; the OAC is not part of the Anglican Communion. The Anglican Orthodox Communion adheres to the doctrine, discipline and worship contained in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and the 1562 Articles of Religion.
Hugh George de Willmott Newman was an Independent Catholic or independent Old Catholic bishop. He was known religiously as Mar Georgius I and bore the titles, among others, of Patriarch of Glastonbury, Catholicos of the West, and sixth British Patriarch. He was the head of the Catholicate of the West from when he became a bishop, in 1944, until his death in 1979.
The Christ Catholic Church of the Americas and Europe was an Old Catholic denomination. The denomination was founded in 1937 when several churches merged.
Karl Hugo Prüter, commonly referred to as Karl Pruter, was an Old Catholic bishop in the United States. He founded the Christ Catholic Church.
The Albanian Orthodox Diocese of America is a jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the United States. As of 2013, its leader was Bishop Ilia (Katre) of Philomelion, who lives in Boston, Chicago, and Las Vegas.
The Catholicate of the West was a Christian denomination established in 1944 and which ceased to exist in 1994 to become the British Orthodox Church.
