Dioceses

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈdaɪəsiːz/

Definitions

1. A geographic region presided over by a bishop, which includes multiple churches and their congregants within its boundaries
2. This term denotes the church's administrative territory governed by a bishop, comprising several parishes and their members
3. An ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop, encompassing various congregations and the churches they inhabit

Etymology: "Dioceses" is the plural of "diocese," and the plural form is the one that tells the story: a diocese was once a tax district before it was a church territory. The Greek "dioíkēsis" meant "internal administration" or "management of a household," from "dioikein," "to keep house" or govern thoroughly. The Romans borrowed it as "dioecēsis" for a district under a governor, and under the late Roman Empire it named the large administrative regions into which provinces were grouped. The church took the term over later. Late Latin "diocēsis" came to describe a bishop's district, and Old French "diocese" carried it into Middle English as "diocise" before the modern spelling settled in. The sense shift is the centrepiece: a word for the financial and civil management of a region became the name for the area a bishop governs spiritually.

Synonyms: church districts, ecclesiastical territories