Except for the ordination of bishops, the Church was independent.

Let the ordination of bishops be within three months: necessity however may make the time longer.

A bishop went to represent his people at the ordination of bishops in neighbouring churches.

The ordination of bishops is the most contentious issue dividing Beijing and the Vatican, who have no formal relations.

Canons 2-5 give regulations for the selection and ordination of bishops, presbyters and deacons.

Analysts say the two sides are close to reaching a modus vivendi on the diplomatic issue, but remain far apart on the ordination of bishops.

It drew on ceremonies used by the Kings of the Franks and those used in the ordination of bishops.

The Book of Common Prayer provides rites for ordination of bishops, priests and deacons.

Zhang disagrees, diplomatically, with Beijing's defiance of the Vatican in the ordination of bishops.

By his Apostolicae Curea (1896) Anglican ordinations of bishops and priests were declared invalid.

Disputes over appointments in China's official church have been avoided by quietly conferring on candidates, leading to several ordinations of bishops with the Holy See's blessing.

In recent weeks, such annual holiday ceremonies as the ordination of bishops and the baptism of children in the Sistine Chapel were dropped from his schedule.

In the Mennonite Church there has been a gradual decline in the ordination of bishops, vesting the responsibility of oversight in conference ministers and overseers.

It thus speaks of bishops as "superior to priests", and of "the ordination of bishops, priests, and of the other orders".

His elevation comes amid a new low point in relations between the Holy See and Beijing over the Chinese state-backed church's ordination of bishops without papal consent.

The ordination of bishops from within the apostolic succession was of major importance to this group, as also was having the church recognized as a lawfully constituted Religious denomination.

Thus, all the hierarchy of UAOC in 1942 received the canonical ordinations of Bishops in the lineage of Apostle Peter.

In 375 Desmothenes of Pontus convened a synod at Ancyra to try Gregory on charges of embezzlement of church funds and irregular ordination of bishops.

His appointment revived a war of words this week between China and the Vatican over the ordination of bishops, the most contentious issue dividing the nations that do not have formal relations.

The Roman Catholic prayer of ordination of bishops, renewed after the Second Vatican Council, has been re-written and based on the one included in the Apostolic Tradition.

Among the issues to be discussed are religious freedoms for Christians, following a recent increase in attacks on Christians in Iraq, and a dispute with China over ordination of bishops without papal approval.

While not unexpected, the revocation by the Chinese Catholic Bishops Council is likely to aggravate tensions between Beijing and the Vatican, which have been at loggerheads over the ordination of bishops.

Little known about how the early bishops were formally chosen or appointed; afterwards the Church developed a regularized pattern of selection and ordination of bishops, and from the third century on that was universally applied.

The final work defended the ordination of bishops per saltum ("by a leap", i.e. raised from non-clerical rank), such as the cases of Jordan and his predecessor, as a guard against highly politicised ecclesiastical procedures.