Bishop's names capitalization?

[AMM]

Why do we put the name of a bishop in all capital letters? For example, I see it written "Metropolitan JOSEPH" or "Bishop BASIL" instead of "Metropolitan Joseph" and "Bishop Basil". Why is this the case? Is this customary in all rites (in my limited experience, it seems as though it is) and in all countries/languages? Thanks.

 

[dzheremi]

It cannot be customary all languages, as many scripts are not bicameral (they lack a distinction between capital and lower case letters). Arabic, for instance, does not have an upper/lowercase distinction, so the Antiochian Orthodox would not be able to do so in their native language. I have read (but cannot verify, since I don't know enough about the language) that the same is true of Georgian. Here's the Georgian-language Wikipedia page for Met. Ananias of Manglisi, so that you can judge for yourself. It doesn't appear as though his name is larger than anything else in the body of the text, though I suppose it is nice that they put it in bold, that way even us non-Georgians can know where it is.

 

[ArmyMatt]

it's a sign of respect. I have seen it both ways.