are the prelates, or first classes of the clergy, in the Russian Church (q.v.). This name includes the whole episcopal order, who are distinguished by the titles of metropolitans, archbishops, and bishops titles, however, which are not attached to the see, as in England, but are merely personal distinctions conferred by the sovereign, and give the possessors no additional powers, for every bishop is independent in his own diocese, or dependent only on the synod. They are obliged to live rigid and recluse lives, to abstain from animal food, and they are not permitted to marry. (See ARCHIEREUS).