A diocese, from the Greek term διοίκησις, meaning "administration", is the district under the supervision of a bishop. A diocese is divided into parishes (in the Church of England into benefices and parishes). This structure of church governance is known as episcopal polity. The word diocesan means relating or pertaining to a diocese. It can also be used as a noun meaning the bishop who has the principal supervision of a diocese.
A diocese also may be referred to as a bishopric or episcopal see, though strictly the term episcopal see refers to the domain of ecclesiastical authority officially held by the bishop, and the term bishopric to the post of being bishop.
An archdiocese (or archiepiscopal see or archbishopric) is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or have had importance due to size or historical significance. The archbishop may have metropolitan authority over any other suffragan bishops and their dioceses within his ecclesiastical province.
Bishop is the highest priesthood office of the Aaronic priesthood in the Latter Day Saint movement, and is leader of the Aaronic priesthood in a given ward or congregation. It is almost always held by one who already holds the Melchizedek Priesthood office of high priest and who serves as the leader of a local congregation of church members. The Latter Day Saint concept of the office differs significantly from the role of bishops in other Christian denominations, being in some respects more analogous to a pastor or parish priest. Each bishop serves with two counselors, which together form a bishopric.
The role of a bishop varies in the different Latter Day Saint denominations; however, they derive from a common history.
Edward Partridge became the first man called to the office of bishop in the early Latter Day Saint church on February 4, 1831. The duties of the office were to oversee the temporal affairs and accounts of the church through the implementation of the law of consecration. Partridge was called to preside over the Missouri church in Joseph Smith's absence and soon thereafter Partridge and his family emigrated to the church's growing colony in Jackson County, Missouri, where he continued to act as bishop of the branch of the church. Newel K. Whitney was then called as a bishop to oversee the temporal affairs of the church in Kirtland, Ohio.
A prince-bishop is a bishop who is the civil governor of some secular principality. Thus the principality ruled politically by a prince-bishop could wholly or largely overlap with his diocesan jurisdiction, since some parts of his diocese, even the city of his residence, could be exempt from his civil rule, obtaining the status of free imperial city. If the episcopal see is an archbishopric, the correct term is prince-archbishop; the equivalent in the regular (monastic) clergy is prince-abbot.
In the West, with the decline of imperial power from the 4th century onwards in the face of the barbarian invasions, sometimes Christian bishops of cities took the place of the Roman commander, made secular decisions for the city and led their own troops when necessary. Later relations between a prince-bishop and the burghers were invariably not cordial. As cities demanded charters from emperors, kings, or their prince-bishops and declared themselves independent of the secular territorial magnates, friction intensified between burghers and bishops.