§ 108. The Rights of Diocesan Bishops

The rights of the diocesan bishop are determined by the position of the bishop as supreme teacher, high priest and archpastor within his diocese. These rights belong also to every archbishop, whether he be patriarch, exarch or metropolitan, for each is at the same time the head of some particular diocese. With regard to this position of the bishop in his diocese we shall set out, in their main outline, his rights as well:

I. The bishop is the supreme teacher in his diocese, to whom it is entrusted to preach the Christian truth, to see to its spread, and to see that it is kept by all pure and unimpaired.[1] Accordingly:

1. Preaching, as it constitutes the most eminent right of the bishop, is likewise one of his first duties.[2] This is mentioned to the bishop as his first task in the charter he receives after his consecration.[3] To the bishop belongs, in its full plenitude, the right of preaching in his diocese,[4] and from him derives the authority of priests to preach, so that no one may preach in church without the bishop’s knowledge and authorization.[5]

2. To the bishop belongs the supreme right of care for religious education in the diocese. a) The education of the clergy constitutes one of the chief tasks of the bishop’s teaching authority, and for this reason he himself directs and supervises the lectures given in theological institutions,[6] directs the upbringing of candidates for the priesthood in seminaries,[7] subjects to examination those persons who are to be teachers in theological institutions,[8] as well as those who are to teach religion in secular schools,[9] and orders the clergy under him to hold clerical conferences for the cultivation of theological education.[10] b) Just as with the religious education of the clergy, to the bishop belongs the right to care also for such education of the people. For this he preaches in the churches every Sunday and feast day,[11] and especially at the time of his canonical visitations of the diocese,[12] and he appoints special preachers who are to instruct the people in the Christian truths in designated churches and at designated times,[13] giving instructions to the clergy that their preaching must be founded on Holy Scripture, and that Holy Scripture may be expounded only as the Orthodox Church teaches.[14] c) The care for the religious education of the young in secular schools belongs to a special right of the bishop. He orders that in every secular school the teaching of religion be given and piety be instilled in the young.[15] Without his authorization no one may teach religion in any school,[16] just as no textbook for teaching that subject may be introduced without his approval.[17]

3. The bishop has the right to exercise chief oversight that sound doctrine be preserved among all in his diocese, and accordingly to remove every false teaching that may begin to spread;[18] to subject to his censure every book of religious content that is to be published;[19] to forbid his faithful the reading of any book contrary to the faith and to morals;[20] to oversee whether the clergy preach sound Christian doctrine;[21] and finally to issue orders that Christian doctrine be everywhere made firm.[22]

II. As high priest the bishop has the right to perform in his diocese every sacred act.[23] According to his rank in the sacred hierarchy, to the bishop alone belongs, exclusively:

1. The ordination of presbyters, deacons, and all the other lower clergy in his diocese.[24] With the consent of the bishop concerned he may also ordain clergy of other dioceses.[25]

2. The advancement to the various degrees of the hierarchy of jurisdiction, namely the appointment of protodeacons, protopresbyters, protosyncelli, hegumens and archimandrites.[26] This, like ordination itself, could also be performed in the dioceses concerned by chorbishops, but only upon the authorization of the competent diocesan bishop.[27] Hegumens too, with episcopal consent, may appoint readers in their own monastery.[28]

3. The consecration of the Holy Chrism (τοῦ ἁγίου μύρου τελετή) belongs to the right of the bishop by the ordinance of canon 6 of the Council of Carthage. This right has, in the course of time, passed to the patriarchs and to the bishops of certain privileged churches.[29]

4. The consecration of churches (καθιέρωσις τῶν ναῶν) and of antimensia (τῶν ἀντιμινσίων) is mentioned as the exclusive right of the bishop by the same (6th) canon of the Council of Carthage.[30] To bless the foundation of a new church, as well as the whole building of a new church, a presbyter too may do, but only with the bishop’s permission.[31]

5. The reconciliation of penitents (καταλλαγὴν τῶν μετανοούντων). In earlier times the bishop alone had the right to impose penances on sinners, to admit them to penance, and to fix the time and manner thereof, just as he alone had the right publicly and solemnly to reconcile sinners with God and, once the penance was completed, to admit them to communion.[32] Presbyters could do this with the bishop’s permission,[33] provided they had been appointed by a special charter as confessors (πατὴρ πνευματικός).[34] Today the bishop commits the right to hear confession and to receive the repentance of sinners generally to every presbyter, but the right always belongs to the bishop, at his own discretion, to shorten or increase the penances imposed on sinners.[35]

6. The consecration of nuns (κορῶν καθιέρωσις) likewise belongs to the exclusive right of the bishop by canon 6 of the Council of Carthage.[36] Only the tonsure (ἀπόκαρσις) of monks is permitted to every hegumen in his own monastery without any special permission of the bishop for it.[37]

7. Finally, without the approval of the competent diocesan bishop, no procession that is not already customary may be held anywhere in the diocese,[38] nor may any extraordinary church service be performed.[39]

III. To the bishop, as archpastor, are subject in spiritual respect all who make up his diocese, as well as all the institutions in the diocese devoted to worship and to Christian education.[40] According to his archpastoral position, the bishop exercises in his diocese: 1. legislative, 2. supervisory, and 3. judicial authority.

1. Of the legislative authority of the bishop we speak in the third part of this book (§ 141). Here we mention his right of dispensation from existing legal prescriptions. We have said in the proper place (§ 19, III) that dispensation (συγκατάβασις) from a law can be granted only by the one who has the right to enact the law, and subordinate authorities may do so only within limits and according to the power of attorney received from the legislative authority. Accordingly the diocesan bishop too may exercise the right of dispensation. He may exercise this right in the full sense with regard to those laws and ordinances which he himself has issued by his own legislative authority. As to the remaining legal prescriptions, he may exercise this right conditionally and within fixed limits. From the church laws recognized as universally binding by the whole church, no one may dispense save the ecumenical council alone, and accordingly not the diocesan bishop either; nor may he dispense from church-legal prescriptions issued by the competent authority for the extent of a territorial autocephalous church, for this belongs only to that authority. But he may, according to the circumstances of time and place, and when no danger threatens the Church or the moral principle, release particular persons in exceptional cases from the strict observance of some prescription, while preserving for all others, who remain in normal circumstances, the integrity of the same prescription, and with the corresponding penance attached. Under this norm the diocesan bishop may grant dispensation: a) in matrimonial matters, namely permitting that in some remote degree of kinship, physical or spiritual, a marriage may be blessed, that a marriage may be blessed without a third or even a second banns, that it may be blessed in a house rather than in church, that it may be blessed during a fast;[41] b) in matters of certain vows already made, excepting monastic vows;[42] c) in matters of the age and preparation of candidates for the priesthood, that is, when the need of the Church requires that a person be admitted to holy orders before completing the prescribed years of age or before finishing all the prescribed theological studies;[43] and d) in matters of fasting and abstention from work on certain feast days, that is, when for reasons of health it must be permitted to some person, or to a whole district, to eat meat on days when this is not allowed, and when for particular economic or similar reasons certain persons must be allowed to work on days when otherwise they would have to keep the feast.[44] In all these cases the bishops grant dispensations when there is extreme necessity and when, on account of threatening danger, the relevant permission cannot be postponed, the bishops in every case imposing suitable penances on those concerned. If there is no danger in delaying the dispensation, the diocesan bishop, in matters of greater importance, seeks the opinion of the council of bishops. Of all dispensations granted in the course of a year the bishop keeps a register, and since these are acts of his extraordinary jurisdiction, he reports on them to the council of bishops at its regular session.[45]

The bishop’s supervisory authority in his diocese belongs to his ordinary jurisdiction and constitutes the most extensive field of episcopal rights, inasmuch as he must know whether all is in order in the ecclesiastical territory entrusted to him by God, for which he must answer to God. To the bishop’s right of supervision belongs:

a) The admission of persons to the priesthood, and oversight whether such persons are worthy of that order and fit to perform the various services of diocesan administration. In this the bishop has unlimited authority, and he alone is empowered to pronounce his judgment on it. On him alone depends whether priests from other dioceses will be received into the number of the diocesan clergy, and he alone is empowered to dismiss one of his priests from the diocese and to issue him the corresponding charter.[46]

b) The preparation and education of candidates for the priesthood (§ 65).

c) The assignment of the clergy concerned to the respective offices, in the first place to parochial service. The bishop is the chief and true parish priest of his diocese, for it is he who must care for the Lord’s people and who must give account for their souls, as the 39th apostolic canon says, while presbyters and deacons are nothing other than his helpers and coworkers. Every spiritual office in the diocese stands in absolute dependence on the bishop, nor may anyone occupy or perform some office without him.[47] He decides whom he will advance to the various degrees of the hierarchy of jurisdiction, and on him depends whether some cleric is to be honored with some church distinction.[48]

d) To the bishop’s right of supervision are subject all the higher and lower clergy of the diocese, for which reason he keeps a complete register of them all, and the district archpriests and monastery superiors are bound to submit to him every year detailed reports on the conduct of each cleric under them.[49]

e) All monasteries and monks are subject to the oversight of the bishop, since he is the supreme superintendent of all monasteries and the supreme hegumen of all monks; nor may any new monastery be founded, or any change be made in existing monasteries, without his express permission.

f) All schools and educational institutions are subject to the oversight of the diocesan bishop concerned.[50]

g) To the bishop belongs the supreme right of oversight over church property and endowments devoted to pious and Christian-educational purposes, and they may be disposed of only with his knowledge;[51] likewise the right belongs to him to approve the founding of associations with church and religious-educational purposes and to approve their statutes,[52] as well as to receive bequests and voluntary gifts of pious Christians and apply them to the purposes mentioned.[53]

h) In order to satisfy himself directly of the state of the diocese and of the conduct of the clergy, the diocesan bishop personally visits his diocese.[54] To this touring of the diocese, called today the canonical visitation, the state too attaches great importance, having issued legal norms concerning it. During the visitation the bishop examines the progress of Christian doctrine, piety and morals, the fulfillment of duties by the clergy, the administration of church property—in a word, everything that concerns the good of the diocese. In particular he examines: α) whether the priest of the parish concerned conducts himself as befits his position, β) whether the prescribed church services are held at the proper times, γ) whether the parish registers are properly kept and kept in a secure place, δ) whether the parish office is kept in order and all official documents preserved, ε) whether the inventories of church property are in order and how that property is administered, ζ) whether the young are being brought up in the fear of God and in Christian virtues. The bishop also visits the monasteries, and there examines whether the brotherhood lives according to the monastic rules, whether all the church services are exactly performed, and how the monastery’s property is administered. Every monastery and every parish is regularly visited by the bishop every three years, and he usually reports on each visitation to the council of bishops, and at the same time to the state authority.[55]

3. Finally, to the diocesan bishop, as archpastor, belongs judicial authority. By virtue of this authority the bishop has the right to pronounce excommunication (ἀφορισμός, excommunicatio) on anyone in his diocese, cleric or layman, who transgresses against the Church and its doctrine. This right is acknowledged to the bishop by the canons on the ground of divine right (§ 143). That the bishop must be most just in pronouncing his judgment is entirely natural, and is likewise recommended by many canons.[56] To this end the canons prescribe that the bishop must be assisted in this by the presbyteral council, today’s consistories (§ 114), although even independently of that presbyteral council (§ 145) the bishop has the right both to condemn a cleric or layman in his diocese[57] and likewise the right of pardon, that is, to increase or diminish a penalty already imposed on the person concerned.[58]

IV. In order that the diocesan bishop may exercise all the rights we have now set out, and may issue the necessary orders in every branch of his archpastoral authority, he has at his side his own resident clergy, who assist him in the exercise of that authority, and who make up a special official office (the episcopal presidium) under the direction of the episcopal protosyncellus.[59]