EPISCOPACY 



Episcopacy (Gr. episkopos, over- 

 seer). Government by bishops. It 

 is thus a particular type of Church 

 government, as are Presbyteri- 

 anism, Congregationalism or In- 

 dependency, and Papalism. Any 

 organized society must have a seat 

 and organ of its authority over its 

 members, and these the Christian 

 Church began from the first to 

 develop. The New Testament, 

 however, by its reticence and am- 

 biguities on the subject, indicates 

 that constitutional questions were 

 not of primary importance in the 

 1st century. The system of author- 

 ity was, naturally, first modelled 

 on that of the Jewish synagogue, 

 with its board of elders. Later it 

 conformed increasingly to the lines 

 of Greco-Roman institutions, polit- 

 ical and social, in which responsi- 

 bility tended to settle in the hands 

 of one representative official. 



Bishops and elders appear con- 

 currently in the New Testament, 

 and, though the former title begins 

 to attach to the presiding elder 

 only, the whole board is at least 

 once (Phil, i, 1) referred to as 

 bishops. The position of Timothy 

 and Titus appears to be excep- 

 tional, corresponding to that of 

 Paul himself ; among the func- 

 tions of each is the appointment of 

 bishops over local churches. 



Early in the 2nd century the 

 growing need of a centre of unity 

 and source of discipline in each 

 church led Ignatius to emphasise 

 the local bishop as such, and so the 

 importance of the presbytery, over 

 which he presided, lessened. From 

 the middle of that century the 

 bishop is the representative and 

 spokesman of each local church, 

 and the appeal of Irenaeus, in his 

 arguments with heretical sects and 

 groups, to episcopal consensus, and 

 to the continuity of the Christian 

 tradition from bishop to bishop in 

 certain churches, shows the devel- 

 opment towards the monarchical 

 episcopate. It remains, however, on 

 a thoroughly democratic basis. 

 Consent of the Laity 



The bishop was chosen by the 

 church, and his powers as ruler were 

 limited by the concurrent rights of 

 his presbyters, in the appointment 

 of whom the laity also had a de- 

 cisive influence. The nominee of 

 the local church had then to be 

 recognized and "consecrated" by 

 the bishops of the surrounding 

 churches or dioceses, which gradu- 

 ally formed themselves into pro- 

 vinces under metropolitan bishops ; 

 and thus the system acquired that 

 catholic, or world-wide, quality 

 and range to which nc rival sys- 

 tem has ever attained. 



To this day no bishop of the 

 Church of England can ordain a 



Eriest without the consent of the 

 ilty and cooperation of the other 

 priests, i.e. presbyters, present, 

 who all join in the laying on of 

 hands ; and the pope still addresses 

 the bishops of his obedience as 

 Venerable Brethren, though, since 

 the Vatican Council of 1870, all 

 idea of joint authority is gone. 



The naturalness and convenience 

 of the episcopal system are empha- 

 sised by the way in which some of 

 the non-episcopal churches are 

 developing a virtual episcopate ; 

 and the system prevailing in the 

 Lutheran Churches of Germany 

 and Scandinavia, the Moravian 

 Church, and the Methodist Epis- 

 copal Church of America. 



The historic episcopate may 

 only imply that, in point of histori- 

 cal fact, the succession of bishops 

 in a particular church goes back 

 unbroken to the first bishops of all, 

 or it may be pushed further to 

 cover the claim that the whole 

 value of episcopacy lies in this un- 

 broken continuity, so that, where 

 that is broken, even episcopal 

 government does not produce real 

 membership in the Catholic Church. 

 Apostolic Succession 



The latter view rests on the as- 

 sumption that the earliest bishops 

 were the successors of the Apostles, 

 and, like them, an order divinely 

 appointed and apart, deriving their 

 authority, not by delegation from 

 the presbyters or the congregation, 

 but from above, in the sense of from 

 their predecessors. On this showing, 

 valid consecration is crucial, and 

 can only be performed by one who 

 is himself in the Apostolic Succes- 

 sion, and therefore a recognition of 

 non-episcopal bodies as churches 

 endangers the chief powers and 

 possessions, especially the valid 

 sacraments, committed by Christ 

 to the Apostles for the Church. 



This view, however, is not that 

 of the Church of England, nor yet 

 is it that of modern scholarship. 

 Lightfoot's assertion that " the 

 Episcopate was formed, not out of 

 the apostolic order by localisa- 

 tion, but out of the presbyteral by 

 elevation," is endorsed by J. 

 Armitage Robinson, in an authori- 

 tative volume, in which also 

 C. H. Turner shows that the 

 supposed connexion between the 

 Apostolic Succession and the 

 validity of sacraments only emerges 

 in the 3rd century. What the his- 

 toric episcopate really stands for, 

 and helps to secure, is the unity and 

 cohesion of the Church through- 

 out time and space from the 1st 

 century onward, and across all six 

 continents. The exclusive claims 

 associated with the phrase tend 

 to counteract the inclusive and 

 reconciling influence of the ideal. 



EPISTAXIS 



But such a document as the Re- 

 port of the Lambeth Conference of 

 1920 marked a great advance on 

 the part of the Church of England 

 towards the broader and more 

 ancient view. See Anglicanism; 

 Church of England; consult also 

 Essays on the Early History of 

 the Church, ed. H. B. Swete, 1918. 



E, A. Burroughs 



Episcopius, SIMON (1583-1643). 

 Dutch theologian whose family 

 name was Bischop. He was born 

 at Amsterdam, Jan. 1, 1583, and 

 educated at Leiden, where he 

 came under the influence of Ar- 

 minius (q.v.). In 1612 he was ap- 

 pointed to a chair at Leiden 

 University, and became recognized 

 as the leader of the Arminians 

 against the Calvinists. He took a 

 prominent part in the synod of 

 Dort in 1618, with the result that 

 he was deprived of office and had 

 to live for a time in France. About 

 1626 he returned to Holland, and 

 became rector of the Remonstrant 

 College at Amsterdam, where he 

 died April 4, 1643. His Confessio, 

 Apologia pro Confessione and In- 

 stitutiones Theologicae are the 

 standard works on Arminianism. 



Episode (Gr. epi, on, in addi- 

 tion ; eisodios, coming in). (1) In 

 ancient Greek tragedy, that part of 

 the dialogue which comes between 

 the choric songs. (2) In music, part 

 of a composition in which some 

 departure is made from the main 

 theme, or form, for the sake of 

 variety. In the fugue form, the 

 episodes allow the use of fragments 

 of the subject matter, varied treat- 

 ment of the subject, entries at 

 irregular intervals of time and pitch, 

 and free changes of key. In sonata 

 and rondo forms, episodes are of 

 the nature of second subjects, but 

 of less importance than the true 

 second subject which appears again 

 fully in the recapitulation section. 

 (See Rondo ; Sonata. ) (3) In liter- 

 ary composition, a minor event or 

 incident introduced to give variety 

 to a narrative, or to illustrate a 

 character or event. A story, for 

 instance, is said to be episodical 

 when it consists of loosely knit 

 incidents, or where the incidents 

 do not merge together in a natural 

 succession to the making of a har- 

 monious whole. 



Epistaxis (Gr. epi, on ; stazein, 

 to drip). Bleeding from the nose. 

 It may arise from injury, ulceration 

 of the mucous membrane, tumour 

 in the nose, rupture of a varicose 

 vein, the presence of a foreign body, 

 or cerebral congestion. Epistaxis 

 may also be a symptom of enteric 

 fever, influenza, and other dis- 

 orders, or may occur in chronic 

 Bright's disease. As a rule, the 

 haemorrhage can readily be stopped 



