Episcopal polity


An episcopal polity, also known as episcopalianism, is a hierarchical form of church governance in which the chief local authorities are called bishops. The word "bishop" here is derived via the British Latin and Vulgar Latin term *ebiscopus/''*biscopus'',. It is the structure used by many of the major Christian Churches and denominations, such as the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Church of the East, Anabaptist, Lutheran, and Anglican churches or denominations, and other churches founded independently from these lineages. Many Methodist denominations have a form of episcopal polity known as connexionalism.

History

Churches with an episcopal polity are governed by bishops, practising their authorities in the dioceses and conferences or synods. Their leadership is both sacramental and constitutional; as well as performing ordinations, confirmations, and consecrations, the bishop supervises the clergy within a local jurisdiction and is the representative both to secular structures and within the hierarchy of the church.
Bishops are considered to derive their authority from an unbroken, personal apostolic succession from the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Bishops with such authority are said to represent the historical episcopate or historic episcopate. Churches with this type of government usually believe that the Church requires episcopal government as described in the New Testament. In some systems, bishops may be subject in limited ways to bishops holding a higher office. They also meet in councils or synods. These gatherings, subject to presidency by higher ranking bishops, usually make important decisions, though the synod or council may also be purely advisory.
For much of the written history of institutional Christianity, episcopal government was the only known form of church organization. This changed at the Reformation. Many Protestant churches are now organized by either congregational or presbyterian church polities, both descended from the writings of John Calvin, a Protestant reformer working and writing independently following the break with the Catholic Church precipitated by The Ninety-Five Theses of Martin Luther. However, some people have disputed the episcopal polity before the reformation, such as Aerius of Sebaste in the 4th century.

Overview of episcopal churches

The definition of the word episcopal has variation among Christian traditions. There are subtle differences in governmental principles among episcopal churches at the present time. To some extent the separation of episcopal churches can be traced to these differences in ecclesiology, that is, their theological understanding of church and church governance. For some, "episcopal churches" are churches that use a hierarchy of bishops who identify as being in an unbroken, personal apostolic succession.
"Episcopal" is also commonly used to distinguish between the various organizational structures of denominations. For instance, "Presbyterian" is used to describe a church governed by a hierarchy of assemblies of elected elders, referred to as presbyterian polity. Similarly, "episcopal" is used to describe a church governed by bishops. Self-governed local congregations, governed neither by elders nor bishops, are usually described as "congregational".
More specifically, the capitalized appellation "Episcopal" is applied to several churches historically based within Anglicanism, including those still in communion with the Church of England.
Using these definitions, examples of specific episcopal churches include:
Some Lutheran churches practice congregational polity or a form of presbyterian polity. Others, including the Church of Sweden, practice episcopal polity; the Church of Sweden also counts its bishops among the historic episcopate. This is also the case with some American Lutheran churches, such as the Anglo-Lutheran Catholic Church, Lutheran Orthodox Church, Lutheran Church - International, and the Lutheran Episcopal Communion.
Many Methodist churches retain the form and function of episcopal polity, although in a modified form, called connexionalism. Since all trace their ordinations to an Anglican priest, John Wesley, it is generally considered that their bishops do not share in apostolic succession. However, United Methodists affirm that their bishops share in the historic episcopate.

Formation

The Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Philippians, Clement of Rome and the Didache when talking about the ecclesial system of governance, mention “bishops and deacons”, without the word “presbyter”, which has been argued by some to show that there was no presbyter-bishop distinction yet in the first century.
Ignatius of Antioch, writing in already the early second century, makes a clear distinction of bishops and presbyters, meaning that his letters show that an episcopal system was already in existence by his time. However, Bart Erhman sees it as significant that Ignatius never mentioned a bishop in Rome. Later, Tertullian also very clearly distinguishes the presbyters and bishops as a separate office, Irenaeus made lists of the succession of bishops, though such lists made by the early Church Fathers are highly contradictory. By the second century, it appears that the episcopal system had become the majority, universal view among Christians.
Even schismatic sects such as the Novatians and Donatists would also use the episcopal framework, except for Aerius of Sebaste, who contested the system and began his own sect.
Jerome stated that churches were originally governed by a group of presbyters, only later electing bishops to suppress schisms.
File:G.P.A.Healy, Portrait of Pope Pius IX.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Pope Pius IX convened the First Vatican Council that approved the dogma of the pope as the visible head of the church, prime bishop over a hierarchy of clergy and believers.

Catholic Church

The Catholic Church has an episcopate, with the Pope, who is the Bishop of Rome, at the top. The Catholic Church considers juridical oversight over the Church is not a power derived from human beings, but strictly from the authority of Christ, which was given to his twelve apostles. The See of Rome, as the unbroken line of apostolic authority descending from Saint Peter the Apostle, is a visible sign and locus of communion among the College of Bishops, and therefore also of local churches around the world. In communion with these churches and their bishops, the Pope has all legitimate juridical and infallible teaching authority over the whole Church. This authority given by Christ to Saint Peter and the apostles is transmitted from one generation to the next by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the laying on of hands from the Apostles to the bishops, in unbroken succession.

Eastern Orthodox Church

The conciliar idea of episcopal government continues in the Eastern Orthodox Church. In Eastern Orthodoxy, all autocephalous primates are seen as collectively gathering around Christ, with other archbishops and bishops gathering around them, and so forth. There is no single primate with exclusive authority comparable to the Pope in Rome. However, the Patriarch of Constantinople is seen as the primus inter pares, the "first among equals" of the autocephalous churches of Eastern Orthodoxy.

Oriental Orthodox churches

The Oriental Orthodox Churches affirm the ideas of apostolic succession and episcopal government. Within each national Church, the bishops form a holy synod to which even the Patriarch is subject. The Syriac Orthodox Church traces its apostolic succession to St. Peter and recognises Antioch as the original See of St. Peter. The Armenian Apostolic Church traces its lineage to the Apostle Bartholomew. The Indian Orthodox Church traces its lineage to the Apostle Thomas. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church received its lines of succession through the Coptic Orthodox Church in the fifth century.
Both the Greek and Coptic Orthodox Churches each recognise their own Pope of Alexandria, both of whom trace their apostolic succession back to the figure Mark the Evangelist. There are official, ongoing efforts in recent times to heal this ancient breach. Already, the two recognize each other's baptisms, chrismations, and marriages, making intermarriage much easier.

Church of the East

Historically, the Church of the East has traced its episcopal succession to St. Thomas the Apostle. Currently the bishops of the Assyrian Church of the East continue to maintain its apostolic succession.

Lutheran Churches

es, such as the Batak Christian Protestant Church, Church of Sweden and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya, maintain apostolic succession. In countries such as Sweden, Catholic bishops became Lutheran bishops during the Reformation, continuing the ancient lines of apostolic succession.
Through Swedish missionary work and the establishment of Lutheran Churches in various countries, such as in Kenya, apostolic succession was continued in those denominations, such as in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa, Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malaysia, and Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe, among others.
The Lutheran Church - International, a Confessional Lutheran denomination of Evangelical Catholic churchmanship has an episcopal polity, with its clergy being ordained in lines of apostolic succession.