An assistant bishop in the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is a Christian Full communion, communion consisting of the Church of England and other autocephalous national and regional churches in full communion. The archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity, ...

is a

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

appointed to assist a diocesan bishop.

Church of England

In the established

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

, assistant bishops are usually retired (diocesan or

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...

) 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 recent example of this is Jonathan Frost,

Dean of York The Dean of York is the member of the clergy who is responsible for the running of the York Minster cathedral. As well as being the head of the cathedral church of the diocese and the metropolitical church of the province, the Dean of York holds ...

, who was 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 ar ...

, 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 pe ...

iary assistant (or

coadjutor The term "coadjutor" (literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. These include: * Coadjutor bishop ...

— 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 Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

and

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

and continued steadily till

Brixworth Brixworth is a 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. Location T ...

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 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.

and the Assistant Bishop of Leicester. In practice, they acted almost exactly like a

suffragan bishop A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led b ...

(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 ...

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

s: 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 u ...

(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 in ...

Anglican Church of Australia

In the

Anglican Church of Australia The Anglican Church of Australia, originally known as the Church of England in Australia and Tasmania, is a Christian church in Australia and an autonomous church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. In 2016, responding to a peer-reviewed study ...

, 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 A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) ("co-assister" in Latin) is a bishop in the Latin Catholic, Anglican and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in administering the diocese. The coa ...

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 term 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 19th 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.

Church in Wales

:''See Church in Wales#Assistant bishops

References

Anglican episcopal offices Bishops by type