Crosier; Crozier

The history of the use of these words is complicated. In current usage they refer to the crook- shaped staff carried primarily by bishops. The origin of the staff is not clear. Some think it derives from the rod of Roman augurs, but its symbolism is derived from the shepherd's crook. In the Eastern churches, the staff is surmounted by a cross between two serpents. Popular nineteenth-century uses of the words included “one who bears the cross or staff of a bishop or abbot” and “the cross of an archbishop.”