Office-holder

Any Christian office-holder, be he pope or bishop, emperor or king, was expected to be totally identified with his office, to enter into a spiritual union with it, and this “matrimonial' relationship was signified by the ring bestowed at ordination or coronation ceremony.

One is the idea of an office-holder 'giving an account' of their actions after the event to a body to which they are answerable or responsible.

Traditionally, it has been taken for granted that the most efficient way to organize people was through a system of legally or rationally accepted rules or procedures, with power residing in the appointed office-holder at different levels in the hierarchy (Weber, 1947, pp 329-41).