An assistant bishop in the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

is a

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

appointed to assist a diocesan bishop.

Church of England

In the established

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

, assistant bishops are usually retired (diocesan or suffragan) bishops – in which case they are ''honorary assistant bishop''s. Historically, non-retired bishops have been appointed to be assistant bishops – however, unlike a diocesan or suffragan they do not hold a see: they are not the "Bishop of Somewhere". Some honorary assistant bishops are bishops who have resigned their see and returned to a priestly ministry (vicar, rector, canon, archdeacon, dean etc.) in an English diocese. A current example of this is Jonathan Frost,

Dean of York Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles ...

, who is also an honorary assistant bishop of the

Diocese of York The Diocese of York is an administrative division of the Church of England, part of the Province of York. It covers the city of York, the eastern part of North Yorkshire, and most of the East Riding of Yorkshire. The diocese is headed by the ...

, with membership of the diocesan House of Bishops (i.e. sits and votes with the archbishop and bishops suffragan in Diocesan Synod).

Ex-colonials

From the mid-19th to the mid-to-late 20th centuries, with the population growth of England, diocesan bishops sought out various levels of episcopal assistance. Suffragan bishops had been legally possible but never appointed for over two hundred years, and there were many ecclesiological, pragmatic and theological objections to their use. So Ordinaries took to appointing Englishmen who had been consecrated bishops for the colonies as

stipend A stipend is a regular fixed sum of money paid for services or to defray expenses, such as for scholarship, internship, or apprenticeship. It is often distinct from an income or a salary because it does not necessarily represent payment for work p ...

iary assistant (or coadjutor — without right of succession) bishops in their diocese, often with another post such as an especially notable (or lucrative) living. As this practice increased, it drew heavy criticism for depriving those colonies of 'their' bishop. The trends of 'returning' bishops slowly faded with the resumption of old and erection of new suffragan sees, which started in 1870 with Dover and

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

and continued steadily till

Brixworth Brixworth is a large village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England. The 2001 census recorded a parish population of 5,162, increasing to 5,228 at the 2011 census. The village's All Saints' Church is of Anglo-Saxon origin. Loca ...

in 1989. These bishops were titled quite inconsistently, and referred to as assistant bishops, coadjutor bishops, and even as suffragan bishops; the most stable forms were "Assistant Bishop of " and "Bishop ".

Recent stipendiaries

From 1987 until 2016, there were two successions of assistant bishops who were active rather than retired: the Assistant Bishop of Newcastle and the

Assistant Bishop of Leicester The Bishop of Leicester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Leicester in the Province of Canterbury. Through reorganisation within the Church of England, the Diocese of Leicester was refounded in 1927, and St Martin's Church ...

. In practice, they acted almost exactly like a suffragan bishop (those dioceses had none), whereas they were actually ''

iary assistant bishop''s. Following the passage of the Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure 2014 by

General Synod The General Synod is the title of the governing body of some church organizations. Anglican Communion The General Synod of the Church of England, which was established in 1970 replacing the Church Assembly, is the legislative body of the Church of ...

, further appointment to these roles was made untenable. Therefore, when their incumbents retired in 2016 and 2017 respectively, they were replaced with suffragan bishops: the

Bishop of Berwick The Bishop of Berwick is an episcopal title used by the suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Newcastle in the Province of York, England.

(a see abeyant since the 16th century) for the

Diocese of Newcastle The Diocese of Newcastle is a Church of England diocese based in Newcastle upon Tyne, covering the historic county of Northumberland (and therefore including the part of Tyne and Wear north of the River Tyne), as well as the area of Alston Moo ...

, and the

Bishop of Loughborough The Bishop of Loughborough is an episcopal title used by the sole suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Leicester in the Province of Canterbury, England. From 1987 to 2017, the Assistant Bishop of Leicester was an episcopal title ...

(a newly erected see) for the

Diocese of Leicester The Diocese of Leicester is a Church of England diocese based in Leicester and including the current county of Leicestershire. The cathedral is Leicester Cathedral, where the Bishop of Leicester has his episcopal chair. The diocese is divided int ...

Anglican Church of Australia

In the

Anglican Church of Australia The Anglican Church of Australia, formerly known as the Church of England in Australia and Tasmania, is a Christian church in Australia and an autonomous church of the Anglican Communion. It is the second largest church in Australia after the ...

, the appointments of assistant bishops have been made in accordance with ''the Assistant Bishops' Canon'' since 1966. In the Australian dioceses, these assistant bishops function similarly to suffragan bishops in England (the Australian church has no suffragans ''per se''). According to the 1966 canon, while the term coadjutor bishop may be used for an assistant bishop, no bishop may have the right or expectation to succeed to a diocesan see.

The Episcopal Church

In the US-based Episcopal Church, both the titles assistant bishop and assisting bishop are used. Both are appointed by the diocesan bishop and must have been previously consecrated as bishop for another position. The appointments are only valid during the terms of the diocesan who makes the appointment. Assistant bishops are usually full time and assisting bishops serve on a more limited part-time or short-term basis. The title visiting bishop is used in some diocese for assisting bishops. In the nineteenth-century the title assistant bishop was used for bishops coadjutor. In 2022, the bishops of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine appointed each other as assisting bishops in their dioceses to foster regional cooperation.

References