Topic: Titles of clergy

[mike]

I'm very confused about the way you write about priests and bishops. Is is necessary to write this all The Most Blessed or The Most Reverend? Is it forum's practise to express respect to them or is it ordinary language rule?

I'd use such titles only if I wrote directly to that person, like nameday card or asking for blessing to wedding during lent . In any other situations I write simply metropolitan X of Y. This is not due to my disrespect but it makes text clearlier and it's orthographically correct (in Polish). Even bishops have to obey spelling rules

Are those titles written with capital or small letter?

I'd be grateful if someone also posted list of abbreviations of these titles. 

[ytterbiumanalyst]

All titles in English should be capitalized, whether they are abbreviated or not, even terms like Mister.

Common abbreviations for clergy are as follows:

Ecumenical Patriarch: EP
Patriarch: Pat.
Metropolitan: Met.
Archbishop: Abp.
Bishop: Bp.
Father: Fr.
Mother: Mtr.
Brother: Br.
Sister: Sr.

Reverend: Rev.
Honourable: Hon.

Short words like Very, Most, or Pope are not abbreviated.

That's all I can think of at the moment. If I remember others, I'll update the list.

[Fr. George]

Short words like Very, Most, or Pope are not abbreviated.

However, in the title "Very Reverend" the "Very" is abbreviated as V.Rev.

All of the above titles (in Mr Y's post) can be and are usually abbreviated; however, the honorific titles (His Eminence, His Holiness, His Beatitude, etc.) are usually not.  Those titles should be used in conversation when speaking about Hierarch X or Y, and most definitely as the means of directly addressing them.  There are similar honorific titles for Priests and Deacons, which are theoretically the way we should address them (even though, according to some books in Greek that I've seen, "Father" is appropriate for all three - Priest, Deacon, and Bishop), although they are not used in practice (I've had a Metropolitan's Deacon correct me on this - "only the Bishop should call his deacon "Deacon," and to everyone else he is "Father").

[serb1389]

Just wanted to give a more general answer to your specific question.  Here is a web site for how the Greek Archdiocese in America says is the correct etiquette for how to call each clergy member and etc.

http://www.goarch.org/resources/etiquette

[mike]

Thanks a lot.

[serb1389]

Thanks a lot.

you're welcome!  just be carefuly b/c these are official as well as not-official.  For example, the term for metropolitan bishop who is a titular bishop, may NOT be used.  i.e.  Metropolitan Nikitas, formerly of Hong Kong, is no longer "sevasmiotate" according to the GOARCH website.  However at the institute that he is at now, all of his incoming mail is addressed "sevasmiotate" even though the official name is not that (according to GOARCH). 

my basic point is...when in doubt, make sure to ask! 

[mike]

Is Hierarch an English word? Spellchecker highlights it.

[serb1389]

Is Hierarch an English word? Spellchecker highlights it.

It is an english word, but you have to beat spellcheck into submission when you use it for ecclesiastical words.  9 out of 10 times spellcheck is going to go crazy for ecclesiastical words such as eucharist, conciliar, and as you have found out "hierarch".  There should be an option on your spell check to "add a word to the dictionary" in which case you just put the word into the computer as an approved english word, and it will always remember the spelling you gave it.  It's very handy if you are going to use the word repetitively. 

[mike]

I don't have such an option in my forum spellchecker.

[serb1389]

I don't have such an option in my forum spellchecker.

OOOH!  I thought you were talking about Microsoft Word, not the forum.  My fault, please forgive me.  Yah there's no option for it on the forum...just ignore it.  Hopefully people on the site are PM'ing you about spelling errors and etc. so I think you'll be fine. 

[mike]

Can't Admins add it to the base? And other frequently used words such as: autocephaly, Phanar, calendarists and similar?

[serb1389]

Can't Admins add it to the base? And other frequently used words such as: autocephaly, Phanar, calendarists and similar?

I'm not sure.  You should start a post in regards to this in the "technical issues" part of the forum.  hopefully you can get a good answer from Robert or someone else...

[John of the North]

Thanks a lot.

you're welcome!  just be carefuly b/c these are official as well as not-official.  For example, the term for metropolitan bishop who is a titular bishop, may NOT be used.  i.e.  Metropolitan Nikitas, formerly of Hong Kong, is no longer "sevasmiotate" according to the GOARCH website.  However at the institute that he is at now, all of his incoming mail is addressed "sevasmiotate" even though the official name is not that (according to GOARCH). 

my basic point is...when in doubt, make sure to ask! 

This went way over my head...and that's a first for you bro!

[serb1389]

Thanks a lot.

you're welcome!  just be carefuly b/c these are official as well as not-official.  For example, the term for metropolitan bishop who is a titular bishop, may NOT be used.  i.e.  Metropolitan Nikitas, formerly of Hong Kong, is no longer "sevasmiotate" according to the GOARCH website.  However at the institute that he is at now, all of his incoming mail is addressed "sevasmiotate" even though the official name is not that (according to GOARCH). 

my basic point is...when in doubt, make sure to ask! 

This went way over my head...and that's a first for you bro!

Maybe I should explain it in terms you would understand...goo goo gah gah     

[mike]

"Diacon" or "Deacon"? I'm confused.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

"Diacon" or "Deacon"? I'm confused.

A deacon is one person. All deacons together are called the Diaconate.

[mike]

Thanks.