Dinter, Gustay Friedbich, a German theolo- gian, was bom at Boma, in Saxony, Feb. 29, 1760. He studied theology at Leipsic, and on leaving the
university was charged with the edociti« tf iki of chamberlain POllnitz. In 1787 be becaae pAri Kitacher, near Boma, and in 1797 director «ft^ ers' seminary at Friedrichatadt, near Dnsda. a was afterwards successively pastor at GdmitzisK school inspector in 1816, and finally pnfmu :{^ ology at Kdnigsberg in 1822. He died at tbe place May 29, 1831. He wrote larg^y on ctefca religious education, and other praciica] saJgecciIi the interest of Rationalism. In bis books bt dam Dinter opens their eyes as to the Imperfect ascm^ their fathers as to God, miraclea, etc. *'& ^ teachers directions how to conduct themselns «« in such matters, and afterwards, in agreeneotTiii principles he recommends, he biys down ^atd* chising. For example, there are to be twovFi* catechising about Jonah: one before an avfiasa sufficiently enlightened, and where all noiiBife old state ; another for places which have bmr ^ In the prophecies concerning the Mewiah, s4flG±Jr» pUnation is given for the same reason. Ooeh^i orthodox way, and the other a more probsbk mjv ical plan. A clever teacher is to cbooee ftr " a dull one may ask the parish clergyman hot ki may go.'* His collected works have been by Wilhelm, under the title Ecegeiisdke Wtrk^ 48, 12 vols.); Kaiechetueke Werke (1840-44, 16 Ri-f Pasdagogische Werke (1840-46, 9 vols.); i***! Werke (1844-51, 5 vols.). He published ti raphy {DUUer's Leben von ikm tt&d. hmknkm.^ stadt, 1829).— Kahnis, German ProU$Umtlim,^i\ 6 ; Pierer, Umvergal-Lexikony s. v. ; Etno^ *«^ cgklop. iii, 897; Hurst, History of RatumaSin,6.m
DioosesarSa. See Sepphoris.
Diooesan Bpisoopacy, that systa af E^ pacy in which the bishop has jorisdictioD flohr b*** certain number of parishes, or over a certwi fi^ of country, called a diocese. See Bishop ; £»««» CT; Diocese.
Diocese (^tounjffif , admimsiralisn), the twti^ circuit of a bishop's admmistraiion when tk i^ pacy is diocesan (q. v.).
1. Soman Civil Dioceses.— The origm of^ division is to be traced to the ancient difiKS d^ later Roman empire. The term diocese is used kv O ero {Fam. iii, 8, 4) to designate the district tfif^ emor's Jurisdiction. Ck>nstantine divided tk flF into 18 larger divisions, called dioceseSf vUck ^ again divided into 120 provinces. The £occ0 «* governed by vicars or prefects. The dra " division in the days of Arcadius and HoDorim 0*^ ning of the fifth century) was as follows : L iW^ Prcetorio per Orientem : five dioceses wwe irijai' his jurisdiction, namely, 1, the Orientsl dioccie. {tf erly so called; 2, the diocese of Egypt; 8,tW£o(* of Asia ; 4, the diocese of Pontns ; 6, Ae daet»i Thrace. II. Prafectus Pnetorio per lOyicm: m two dioceses were committed to his supenattBdo* namely, 1, the diocese of Macedonia ; 2, the fioeo*' Dacia. III. Pnefectus Pratorio lUJia: ttaw* ceses were subject to the jurisdiction of tiiis gw** namely, 1, theidiocese of Italy ; 2, the diocese d^ ria ; 8, the diocese of AfHca. IV. Pmfectn Pr^ GalUairvm: he had the command of thne diia*, namely, 1, the diocese of Spain; 2, the fi«**"f Gaul;*8, the diocese of Britain. Thedioc»erf» ain included five provinces, namely, 1, MixiatC* reensis; 2,yalentia; 8, Britannia Prims; 4, W* niaSecunda; 5, Flavia Cnsareenals. Ortkv
Diooiax or Bbitahi. Exabcb or Tob. -^
Provinees. Mttng^^
1. Maxima CeBareeii8is,Le. at first,) all from the Thames to.the north- V Ebofacon (T«L era bordeni )
2. Flavin CnBareenris, taken oat of \ the former, and oontainfnK aHV from the Thames to the Uiunber)
DIOCLESIAN 805
ilentia, beyond the Picta* wall. . KborBCum.
L^ham, Orig, Ecclet. bk. ix, ch. i, where the subject rj- fully treated.)
I^<:Iesi€ui%cal DioeueM. — " Some suppose the divi- of a church into dioceses to be the natural conse- ce of the institution of the office of bishop, and that ise of the system of diocesan division of a church be found in the New Testament. But this is ey- tXy a mistake. In the times of the apostles a dio- and a church appear to have been the same ; there therefore, no division of any church into dioceses. be said that the Church, i.e. the Catholic Church, thus divided, this too is a mistake. What is di- d must have first existed as a tokoie. Now the lolic Church never existed as a wholes i. e. as one plete community on earth, from the time that stianity passed the bounds of Jerusalem. Thence- ard there was not cZtpjnbn, but addiHom of fresh -ches" (Eden, Churchman's Dictionary, s. v.). Af- bbe order of bishops had fiilly established itself, the state had become Christian, the Church took model of ecclesiastical territorial division from that ie state. About the latter end of the fourth cen- ' the Church appears to have been divided in a ihu: manner with the empire, having an exarch or iarch in each of the thirteen great dioceses, and a ropolitan or primate in every province. The less- iocese, used as the word is now, included the epis- il city itself; and all the region round about it, with numerous congregations under the bishop's juris- ion ; hence it was called the bishop's Trapoucia, ch, in its original application, meant the bishop's >le diocese, though the word parish, or a single con- gation, has flowed flx>m it in later days. At a later tod the word diocese was transferred to the bishop's 1 of jurisdiction, and the word patriarchate covered t of the ancient diocese.