Episcopal polity
Episcopal polity is a form of church gov-
ernance which is hierarchical in structure
with the chief authority over a local Christian
church resting in a bishop (Greek: episco-
pos). This episcopal structure is found most
often in the various churches of Roman Cath-
olic, Eastern Orthodox and other Eastern
Church,
and
Anglican
lineage.
Some
churches founded independently of these lin-
eages also employ this
form of church
governance.
The cathedra of bishops, such as the chair of
the Pope in the Basilica of St. John Lateran,
represent their magisterium (teaching
authority)
It is usually considered that the bishops of
an episcopal polity derive their authority
from an unbroken, personal Apostolic Suc-
cession from the Twelve Apostles of Jesus.
Bishops with such authority are known as the
historical episcopate. Churches with this type
of government usually believe that
the
Church requires episcopal government as de-
scribed in the New Testament[1].
For much of the written history of Chris-
tianity, episcopal government was the only
form known to Christianity
(although a
minority of Baptists claim to descend from a
lineage of small churches which they say ex-
isted in parallel with the main stream of
Catholic Christianity). 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 Roman Catholic
Church precipitated by The Ninety-Five
Theses of Martin Luther. However, the ma-
jority of Christians are still members of the
historic churches of episcopal governance.
There are subtle differences in govern-
mental principles among episcopal churches
at the present time. To some extent the sep-
aration of episcopal churches can be traced
to these differences in ecclesiology, that is,
their theological understanding of church
and church governance. The churches of
Rome and Constantinople (the Catholic a