EPISCOPACY

The office of overlook- ing or overseeing; the office of a bishop, who is to overlook and oversee the concerns of the church. A form of church government by diocesan bishops.

In Ecclesiastical Law. A form of government by diocesan bishops; the office or condition of a bishop. EPISCOPALJA (L. Lat.). In Eccle- siastical Law. Synodals, or payments due the bishop. EPISCOPUS (L. Lat.). In Civil Law. A superintendent; an inspector. Those in each municipality who had the charge and oversight of the bread and other provisions which served the citizens for their daily food were so called. Vicat; Du Cange. A bishop. These bishops, or episcopi, were held to be the successors of the apostles, and have various titles at different times in history and according to their different duties. It was applied generally to those who had authority or were of peculiar sanctity. After the fall of the Roman em- pire they came to have very considerable judicial powers. Du Cange; Vicat; Cal- vinus, Lex. EPISTOLE (Lat.). In Civil Law. Rescripts; opinions given by the emperors in cases submitted to them for decision. Answers of the emperors to petitions. The answers of counsellors (juris-con- sulta), as Ulpian and others, to questioas of law proposed to them, were also called epistola. Opinions written out. The term origin- ally signified the same as litere. Vicat.

- The office of overlooking or overseeing; the office of a bishop who is to overlook and oversee the concerns of the church. A form of church goverment by diocesan bishops.- Wharton. EPISCOPALIA, or ONERA EPISCOPALIA.-Synodals or other customary payments from the clergy to their bishop or diocesan, which were formerly collected by the rural deans, and by them transmitted to the bishop.

Government of the church by bishops; church government by three distinct orders of ministers -- bishops, priests, and deacons -- of whom the bishops have an authority superior and of a different kind.

The office of bishop and the governance of a church (a religious denomination) by bishops. | Bishops collectively: Synonym of episcopate.