n.
In some Christian churches, the chief pastor and overseer of a diocese, an area containing several congregations.
From the 4th century AD until the Reformation , bishops held broad secular and religious powers, including the settling of disputes, ordination of clergy, and confirmation of church members. Some Christian churches (notably the Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox churches) continue the bishop's office and the doctrine of Apostolic succession . Others, including some Lutheran and Methodist churches, retain bishops but not the principle of apostolic succession; still others have abolished the office altogether. Popes , cardinals , archbishops , patriarchs , and metropolitans are gradations of bishops. In Roman Catholicism, the pope selects the bishop; in Anglicanism, the dean and chapter of the cathedral of the diocese elect the bishop; in Methodism a synod chooses the bishop. See also episcopacy .