Bishop
This article is about the office in Christian churches. For other uses, see Bishop (disambiguation). For bishops as a group, see Historical episcopate. For forms of church government by bishops, see Episcopal polity. A bishop (English derivation [a] [1] [2] [3] from the New Testament of the Christian Bible Greek επίσκοπος , epískopos , "overseer", "guardian") is an ordained, consecrated, or appointed member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, Old Catholic and Independent Catholic churches and in the Assyrian Church of the East, bishops claim apostolic succession, a direct historical lineage dating back to the original Twelve Apostles. Within these churches, bishops are seen as those who possess the full priesthood and can ordain clergy – including another bishop. Some Protestant churches including the Lutheran and Methodist churches...