Editing Crozier (section)

== Official use ==
[[Image:Anonymous Abbess Eufemia Szaniawska.jpg|thumb|''Eufemia Szaniawska, [[Abbess]] of the Benedictine Monastery in [[Nesvizh|Nieśwież]] with a crozier'', {{circa|1768}}, [[National Museum, Warsaw|National Museum]] in [[Warsaw]]]]
The crozier is the symbol of the governing office of a [[bishop]], [[abbot]], or [[Apostle]].

=== Western Christianity ===
In [[Western Christianity]], the crozier (known as the pastoral staff, from the Latin ''pastor'', shepherd) is shaped like a [[shepherd's crook]]. A bishop or church head bears this staff as "shepherd of the flock of God", particularly the community under his canonical jurisdiction, but any bishop, whether or not assigned to a functional diocese, may also use a crozier when conferring [[sacrament]]s and presiding at [[liturgy|liturgies]]. The Catholic [[Caeremoniale Episcoporum]]<ref>Caeremoniale Episcoporum (Vatican Polyglott Press, 1985), 59</ref> says that, as a sign of his pastoral function, a bishop uses a crozier within his territory, but any bishop celebrating the liturgy solemnly with the consent of the local bishop may also use it. It adds that, when several bishops join in a single celebration, only the one presiding uses a crozier.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}

A bishop usually holds his crozier with his left hand, leaving his right hand free to bestow [[blessing]]s. The Caeremoniale Episcoporum states that the bishop holds the crozier with the open side of the crook forward, or towards the people. It also states that a bishop usually holds the crozier during a [[procession]] and when listening to the reading of the Gospel, giving a homily, accepting vows, solemn promises or a profession of faith, and when blessing people, unless he must lay his hands on them. When the bishop is not holding the crozier, it is put in the care of an [[altar server]], known as the "crozier bearer", who may wear around their shoulders a shawl-like [[veil]] called a [[vimpa]], so as to hold the crozier without touching it with their bare hands. Another altar server, likewise wearing a vimpa, holds the [[mitre]] when the bishop is not wearing it. In the [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] tradition, the crozier may be carried by someone else walking before the bishop in a procession.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}

The crozier is conferred upon a bishop during his [[ordination]] to the [[episcopacy]]. It is also presented to an [[abbot]] at his blessing, an ancient custom symbolizing his shepherding of the [[monastic community]]. Although there is no provision for the presentation of a crozier in the liturgy associated with the blessing of an [[abbess]], by long-standing custom an abbess may bear one when leading her community of [[nun]]s.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}

The traditional explanation of the crozier's form is that, as a shepherd's staff, it includes a hook at one end to pull back to the flock any straying sheep, a pointed finial at the other tip to goad the reluctant and the lazy, and a rod in between as a strong support.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}}

The crozier is used in [[ecclesiastical heraldry]] to represent pastoral authority in the [[coats of arms]] of [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinals]], bishops, abbots and abbesses. It was suppressed in most personal arms in the Catholic Church in 1969, and is since found on arms of abbots and abbesses, diocesan coats of arms and other corporate arms.

In the [[Church of God in Christ]], the largest [[Pentecostal]] church in the United States, the [[presiding bishop]] bears a crozier as a sign of his role as positional and functional leader of the Church.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}} In some [[Jurisdictional conferences (United Methodist Church)|jurisdictions]] of the [[United Methodist Church]], [[bishop (Methodism)|bishops]] make use of croziers at ceremonial events.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Bishop's Staff |url=https://www.moumethodist.org/newsdetail/the-bishops-staff-6366011 |website=www.moumethodist.org |publisher=Missouri Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church |date=October 20, 2016 |access-date=July 25, 2022}}</ref>

==== Papal usage ====
[[File:PapaJCruz Brazil.jpg|thumb|[[Pope John Paul II]] holding the Papal ferula, not a crozier, 5 October 1997]]
[[Pope]]s no longer carry a crozier and instead carry the [[papal ferula]]. In the first centuries of the church, popes did carry a crozier but this practice was phased out and disappeared by the time of [[Pope Innocent III]] in the thirteenth century. In the Middle Ages, much as bishops carried a crozier, popes carried a [[papal cross]] with three bars, one more than the two bars found on croziers carried before archbishops in processions (see [[archiepiscopal cross]]). This too was phased out. [[Pope Paul VI]] introduced the modern papal pastoral staff, the papal ferula, in 1965. He and his successors have carried a few versions of this staff, but never a crozier.

=== Eastern Christianity ===
[[File:Mar George Alencherry at Kothamangalam Cathedral.jpg|thumb|[[Syro-Malabar]] Major Archbishop Mar [[George Alencherry]] with his crozier.]]
In [[Eastern Christianity]] ([[Oriental Orthodox]]y, [[Eastern Orthodox]]y and [[Eastern Catholic]]ism), bishops use a similar pastoral staff. When a bishop is [[consecration|consecrated]], the crozier ({{langx|el|italic=yes|paterissa}}, [[Church Slavonic|Slavonic]]: ''pósokh'') is presented to him by the chief consecrator following the dismissal at the [[Divine Liturgy]].

The [[Archbishop of Cyprus]] has the unique [[Privilege (canon law)|privilege in canon law]] of carrying a ''paterissa'' shaped like an imperial [[sceptre]]. This is one of the ''Three Privileges'' granted to the [[Orthodox Church of Cyprus]] by Byzantine Emperor [[Zeno (emperor)|Zeno]] (the other two being to sign his name in [[cinnabar]], i.e., ink coloured [[vermilion]] by the addition of the mineral cinnabar, and to wear purple instead of black [[cassock]]s under his vestments).{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}

An Eastern [[archimandrite]] (high-ranking abbot), [[hegumen]] (abbot) or hegumenia (abbess) who leads a monastic community also bears a crozier. It is conferred on them by the bishop during the Divine Liturgy for the elevation of the candidate. When he is not vested for worship, a bishop, archimandrite or abbot uses a [[Staff of office#Ecclesiastical use|staff of office]] topped with a silver pommel.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}

==== Oriental Orthodoxy ====
[[File:Crozier armenia.jpg|thumb|A crozier of the [[Vardapet]], [[Armenian Apostolic Church]], 19th century]]

In the [[Oriental Orthodox]] churches, croziers are used as pastoral staffs held by bishops. The [[Armenian Apostolic Church]] uses both Eastern- and Western-style croziers, while the [[Syriac Orthodox Church]],[[Indian Orthodox Church]] and [[Marthoma Syrian Church]] have croziers that are thicker than their Eastern counterparts. Clerics of the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]] and the [[Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church]] use croziers that look exactly like the Greek ones.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}

In the [[Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria]], croziers are sometimes somewhat longer and are always decorated with a blood-[[red]] cloth around the top cross and the serpents. This symbolizes the bishop's responsibility for the blood of his flock.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}