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EPISCOPACY (from Late Lat. episcopatu...

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Originally appearing in Volume V09, Page 701 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EPISCOPACY (from See also:Late See also:Lat. episcopatus, the See also:office of a See also:bishop, episcopas) , the See also:general See also:term technically applied to that See also:system of See also:church organization in which the See also:chief ecclesiastical authority within a defined See also:district, or See also:diocese, is vested in a bishop. As such it is distinguished on the one See also:hand from Presbyterian-ism, See also:government by elders, and See also:Congregationalism, in which the individual church or community of worshippers is autonomous, and on the other from Papalism. The origin and development of episcopacy in the See also:Christian Church, and the functions and attributes of bishops in the various churches, are dealt with elsewhere (see CHURCH See also:HISTORY and Bishop). Under the See also:present heading it is proposed only to discuss briefly the various types of episcopacy actually existing, and the different principles that they represent. The deepest See also:line of cleavage is naturally between the view that episcopacy is a divinely ordained institution essential to the effective existence of a church as a channel of See also:grace, and the view that it is merely a convenient See also:form of church See also:order, evolved as the result of a variety of See also:historical causes, and not necessary to the proper constitution of a church. The first of these views is closely connected with the See also:doctrine of the See also:Apostolical See also:Succession. According to this, See also:Christ committed to his apostles certain See also:powers of order and See also:jurisdiction in the Church, among others that of transmitting these powers to others through " the laying on of hands "; and this See also:power, whatever obscurity may surround the practice of the See also:primitive Church (see APOSTLE, ad fin.) was very See also:early confined to the order of bishops, who by virtue of a See also:special See also:consecration became the successors of the apostles in the See also:function of handing on the powers and See also:graces of the See also:ministry.' A valid episcopate, then, is one derived in an unbroken See also:series of "layings on of hands " by bishops from the See also:time of the apostles (see ORDER, See also:HOLY). This is the See also:Catholic view, See also:common to all the See also:ancient Churches whether of the See also:West or See also:East, and it is one that necessarily excludes from the See also:union of Christendom all those Christian communities which possess no such apostolically derived ministry. Apart altogether, however, from the question of orders, episcopacy represents a very special conception of the Christian Church. In the fully See also:developed episcopal system the bishop sums up in his own See also:person the collective powers of the Church in his diocese, not by delegation of these powers from below, but by divinely bestowed authority from above. " See also:Ecclesia est in episcopo," wrote St See also:Cyprian (Cyp. iv. Ep.

9) ; the bishop, as the successor of the apostles, is the centre of unity in his diocese, the unity of the Church as a whole is maintained by the inter-communion of the bishops, who for this purpose represent their dioceses. The bishops, individually and collectively, are thus the essential ties of Catholic unity; they alone, as the depositories of the apostolic traditions, establish the norm of Catholic orthodoxy in the general See also:

councils of the Church. This high theory of episcopacy which, if certain of the Ignatian letters be genuine, has a very early origin, has, of course, fallen upon evil days. The power of the collective episcopate to maintain Catholic unity was disproved See also:long before it was overshadowed by the centralized authority of See also:Rome; before the See also:Reformation, its last efforts to assert its supremacy in the Western Church, at the councils of See also:Basel and See also:Constance, had broken down; and the religious revolution of the 16th See also:century See also:left it largely discredited and exposed to a See also:double attack, by the papal See also:monarchy on the one hand and the democratic Presbyterian See also:model on the other. Within the See also:Roman Catholic Church the high doctrine of episcopacy continued to be maintained by the Gallicans and Febronians (see See also:GALLICANISM and See also:FEBRONIANISM) as against the claims 1 See Bishop C. See also:Gore, The Church and the Ministry (1887). of the Papacy, and for a while with success; but a system which had failed to preserve the unity of the Church even when the See also:world was See also:united under the Roman See also:empire could not be expected to do so in a world split up into a series of See also:rival states, of which many had already reorganized their churches on a See also:national basis. " Febronius," indeed, was in favour of a See also:frank recognition of this national basis of ecclesiastical organization, and saw in Episcopacy the best means of reuniting the dissidents to the Catholic Church, which was to consist, as it were, of a See also:free federation of episcopal churches under the See also:presidency of the bishop of Rome. The See also:idea had considerable success; for it happened to See also:march with the views of the See also:secular princes. But religious See also:people could hardly be expected to see in the worldly See also:prince-bishops of the Empire, or the wealthy courtier-prelates of See also:France, the trustees of the apostolical tradition. The Revolution intervened; and when, during the religious reaction that followed, men sought for an ultimate authority, they found it in the papal monarch, exalted now by ultramontane zeal into the See also:sole depositary of the apostolical tradition (see See also:ULTRAMONTANIsM). At the Vatican See also:Council of 187o episcopacy made its last stand against papalism, and was vanquished (see VATICAN COUNCIL).

The See also:

pope still addresses his See also:fellow-bishops as " See also:venerable See also:brothers "; but from the Roman Catholic Church the fraternal union of coequal authorities, which is of the essence of episcopacy, has vanished; and in its See also:place is set the See also:autocracy of one. The See also:modern Roman Catholic Church is episcopal, for it preserves the bishops, whose potestas ordinis not even the pope can exercise until he has been duly consecrated; but the bishops as such are now but subordinate elements in a system for which "Episcopacy" is certainly no longer an appropriate term. The word Episcopacy has, in fact, since the Reformation, been more especially associated with those churches which, while ceasing to be in communion with Rome, have preserved the episcopal model. Of these by far the most important is the Church of See also:England, which has preserved its ecclesiastical organization essentially unchanged since its See also:foundation by StAugustine, and its daughter churches (see ENGLAND, CHURCH OF, and See also:ANGLICAN COMMUNION). The Church of England since the Reformation has been the chief See also:champion of the principle of Episcopacy against the papal pretensions on the one hand and See also:Presbyterianism and Congregationalism on the other. As to the divine origin of Episcopacy and, consequently, of its universal See also:obligation in the Christian Church, Anglican See also:opinion has been, and still is, considerably divided.' The " High Church " view, now predominant, is practically identical with that of the Gallicans and Febronians, and is based on Catholic practice in those ages of the Church to which, as well as to the See also:Bible, the formularies of the Church of England make See also:appeal. So far as this view, however, is the outcome of the general Catholic See also:movement of the 19th century, it can hardly be taken as typical of Anglican tradition in this See also:matter. Certainly, in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Church of England, while rigorously enforcing the episcopal model at See also:home, and even endeavouring to extend it to Presbyterian See also:Scotland, did not regard See also:foreign non-episcopal Churches otherwise than as See also:sister communions. The whole issue had, in fact, become confused with the confusion of functions of the Church and See also:State. In the view of the Church of England the ultimate governance of the Christian community, in things spiritual Ad temporal, was vested not in the See also:clergy but in the " Christian prince " as the vicegerent of See also:God .2 It was the ' Neither the Articles nor the authoritative Homilies of the Church of England speak of episcopacy as essential to the constitution of a church. The latter make " the three notes or marks by which a true church is known " pure and See also:sound doctrine, the sacraments administered according to Christ's holy institution, and the right use of ecclesiastical discipline." These marks are perhaps ambiguous, but they certainly do not depend on the See also:possession of the Apostolic Succession; for it is further stated that " the bishops of Rome and their adherents are not the true Church of Christ " (See also:Homily " concerning the Holy See also:Ghost," ed. See also:Oxford, 1683, p.

292). " He and his holy apostles likewise, namely See also:

Peter and See also:Paul, did forbid unto all Ecclesiastical Ministers, dominion over the Church of Christ " (Homilies appointed to be read in Churches, " The V. parttransference to the territorial sovereigns of modern See also:Europe of the theocratic See also:character of the Christian heads of the Roman world-empire; with the result that for the reformed Churches the unit of church organization was no longer the diocese, or the See also:group of dioceses, but the Christian state. Thus in England the bishops, while retaining their potestas ordinis in virtue of their consecration as successors of the apostles, came to be regarded not as representing their dioceses in the state, but the state in their dioceses. Forced on their dioceses by the royal See also:Conge d'elire (q.v.), and enthusiastic apostles of the High Church doctrine of non-resistance, the bishops were looked upon as no more than lieutenants of the See also:crown;' and Episcopacy was ultimately resisted by Presbyterians and See also:Independents as an expression and See also:instrument of arbitrary government, " Prelacy " being confounded with " Popery " in a common condemnation. With the constitutional changes of the 18th and 19th centuries, however, a corresponding modification took place in the character of the See also:English episcopate; and a still further See also:change resulted from the multiplication of colonial and missionary See also:sees having no connexion with the state (see ANGLICAN COMMUNION). The consciousness of being in the line of apostolic succession helped the English clergy to revert to the principle Ecclesia est in episcopo, and the See also:great periodical conferences of Anglican bishops from all parts of the world have something of the character, though they do not claim the ecumenical authority, of the general councils of the early Church (see See also:LAMBETH CONFERENCES). Of the reformed Churches of the See also:continent of Europe only the Lutheran Churches of See also:Denmark, See also:Iceland, See also:Norway, See also:Sweden and See also:Finland preserve the episcopal system in anything of its historical sense; and of these only the two last can See also:lay claim to the possession of bishops in the unbroken line of episcopal succession.' The superintendents (variously entitled also See also:arch-priests, deans, provosts, ephors) of the Evangelical (Lutheran) Church, as established in the several states of See also:Germany and in See also:Austria, are not bishops in any canonical sense, though their jurisdictions are known as dioceses and they exercise many episcopal functions. They have no special powers of order, being presbyters, and their legal status is admittedly merely that of officials of the territorial See also:sovereign in his capacity as See also:head of the territorial church (see See also:SUPERINTENDENT). The " bishops " of the Lutheran Church in Transylvania are See also:equivalent to the superintendents. Episcopacy in a stricter sense is the system of the Moravian Brethren (q.v.) and the Methodist Episcopal Church of See also:America (see See also:METHODISM). In the See also:case of the former, claim is laid to the unbroken episcopal succession through the Waldenses, and the question of their eventual intercommunion with the Anglican of the See also:Sermon against Wilful See also:Rebellion," ed. Oxford, 1683, p.

378). Princes are " God's lieutenants, God's presidents, God's See also:

officers, God's commissioners, God's See also:judges . God's vicegerents " (" The II. See also:part of the Sermon of Obedience," ib. p. 64). 3 Juridically they were, of course, never this in the strict sense in which the term could be used of the Lutheran superintendents (see below). They were never See also:mere royal officials, but peers of See also:parliament, holding their temporalities as baronies under the crown. 4 During the crisis of the Reformation all the See also:Swedish sees be-came vacant but two, and the bishops of these two soon left the See also:kingdom. The episcopate, however, was preserved by Peter Magnusson, who, when residing as See also:warden of the Swedish See also:hospital of St See also:Bridget in Rome, had been duly elected bishop of the see of Westeraes, and consecrated, c. 1524. No See also:official See also:record of his consecration can be discovered, but there is no sufficient See also:reason to doubt the fact ; and it is certain that during his lifetime he was acknowledged as a canonical bishop both by Roman Catholics and by Protestants. In 1528 Magnusson consecrated bishops to fill the vacant sees, and, assisted by one of these, See also:Magnus Sommar, bishop of Strengness, he afterwards consecrated the Reformer, See also:Lawrence Peterson, as See also:archbishop of See also:Upsala, See also:Sept. 22, 1531.

Some doubt has been raised as to the validity of the consecration of Peterson's successor, also named Lawrence Peterson, in 1575, from the insufficiency of the documentary See also:

evidence of the consecration of his consecrator, Paul See also:Justin, bishop of See also:Abo. The integrity of the succession has, however, been accepted after searching investigation by men of such learning as See also:Grabe and See also:Routh, and has been formally recognized by the See also:convention of the See also:American Episcopal Church. The succession to the daughter church of Finland, now See also:independent, stands or falls with that of Sweden. Church was accordingly mooted at the Lambeth See also:Conference of 1908. The bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, on the other hand, derive their orders from See also:Thomas See also:Coke, a See also:presbyter of the Church of England, who in 1784 was ordained by See also:John See also:Wesley, assisted by two other presbyters, " superintendent " of the Methodist Society in America. Methodist episcopacy is therefore based on the denial of any special potestas ordinis in the degree of bishop, and is fundamentally distinct from that of the Catholic Church—using this term in its narrow sense as applied to the ancient churches of the East and West. In all of these ancient churches episcopacy is regarded as of divine origin; and in those of them which reject the papal supremacy the bishops are still regarded as the guardians of the tradition of apostolic orthodoxy and the stewards of the gifts of the Holy Ghost to men (see ORTHODOX EASTERN CHURCH; ARMENIAN CHURCH; See also:COPTS: Coptic Church, &c.). In the West, Gallican and Febronian Episcopacy are represented by two ecclesiastical bodies: the Jansenist Church under the archbishop of See also:Utrecht (see See also:JANSENISM and UTRECHT), and the Old Catholics (q.v.). Of these the latter, who separated from the Roman communion after the promulgation of the See also:dogma of papal See also:infallibility, represent a pure revolt of the system of Episcopacy against that of Papalism. (W. A.

End of Article: EPISCOPACY (from Late Lat. episcopatus, the office of a bishop, episcopas)

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