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.
The Church of Sweden is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.4 million members at year end 2023, 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.
The Nippon Sei Ko Kai, abbreviated as NSKK, sometimes referred to in English as the Anglican Episcopal Church in Japan, is the national Christian church representing the Province of Japan within the Anglican Communion.
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 subdivision of the diocese. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church has defined an archdeacon as "A cleric having a defined administrative authority delegated to him by the bishop in the whole or part of the diocese." The office has often been described metaphorically as oculus episcopi, the "bishop's eye".
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.
The Anglican ministry is both the leadership and agency of Christian service in the Anglican Communion. Ministry commonly refers to the office of ordained clergy: the threefold order of bishops, priests and deacons. More accurately, Anglican ministry includes many laypeople who devote themselves to the ministry of the church, either individually or in lower/assisting offices such as lector, acolyte, sub-deacon, Eucharistic minister, cantor, musicians, parish secretary or assistant, warden, vestry member, etc. Ultimately, all baptized members of the church are considered to partake in the ministry of the Body of Christ.
Stephen George Platten, is a retired Anglican prelate, the last to serve as diocesan Bishop of Wakefield in the Church of England.
The Anglican Diocese of Armidale is a diocese of the Anglican Church of Australia located in the state of New South Wales. As the Diocese of Grafton and Armidale, it was created by letters patent in 1863. When the Anglican Diocese of Grafton was split off in 1914, the remaining portion was renamed Armidale, retaining its legal continuity and its incumbent bishop.
John Medley,, was a Church of England clergyman who became the first bishop of Fredericton in 1845. In 1879 he succeeded Ashton Oxenden as Metropolitan of Canada.
David Standish Ball was the seventh bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Albany in the United States from 1984 to 1998.
Morris Henry St John Maddocks was a bishop in the Church of England.
Henry Washington Lee was a 19th-century bishop in the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. He served as the first Bishop of Iowa from 1854–1874. He also served as Provisional Bishop of Nebraska from 1857–1859 and Provisional Bishop of Kansas, 1860–1864.
Hollingworth Tully Kingdon was an Anglican bishop, the second Bishop of Fredericton until his death. He was also a noted author.
Archibald Donald Davies was an American Anglican bishop. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he became the fourth Episcopal bishop of Dallas and subsequently the first Episcopal bishop of Fort Worth. Davies was also a founder of the Evangelical and Catholic Mission, and later founded the Episcopal Missionary Church, after which he became Archbishop and Primate of the Christian Episcopal Church (XnEC).
Festo Habakkuk Olang’,was born in Ebusakami Esabalu village about 1914 In 1925 he began attending Kisumu Primary School, then called Komulo School. In 1927, he sat for the Common Entrance Examination at Maseno School and was admitted in 1928. He studied there for three years but found it quite a traumatic experience to be away from home, having to conform to the school regulations and dress code. However, he was greatly helped and influenced by the headmaster of Maseno School and famous mathematician, Mr. Edward Carey Francis. Olang’s faith in Jesus Christ grew and was strengthened under his guidance and, like many of the 300 boys at the school, Olang’ taught at Sunday schools in the area each Sunday, after learning how to give the lesson under Mr. Francis’s tutelage each week. Olang’ taught Luhya speaking groups and was also encouraged to plant trees around the village churches.
Robert Hardwick is a retired bishop of the Anglican Church of Canada. He served as the 12th Bishop of the Diocese of Qu'Appelle, which covers much of the southern part of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Originally from England, he and his family moved to Canada in 2001, where he became parish priest at St Stephen the Martyr, Swift Current, Saskatchewan. In 2008 he was appointed executive archdeacon for the diocese and in 2012 he was elected Bishop of Qu'Appelle at an electoral synod. He retired in 2021.
William Hawley Clark was bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Delaware, serving as diocesan from 1975 to 1985. He was elected January 24, 1975, consecrated on May 16, 1975, and installed on May 18, 1975. Clark retired on December 31, 1985.
Ellen Jane Clark-King is a British-Canadian Anglican priest and academic. Since 2020, she has served as Dean of King's College London.
Walter Raymond Banek is an American Anglican bishop and classical Christian educator. He is currently serving as bishop suffragan in the Reformed Episcopal Church's Diocese of Mid-America and as rector of Good Shepherd Church in Tyler, Texas.
