Episcopal polity
Hierarchical form of church governance / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the form of church governance. For the churches characterized by this form of governance and naming themselves Episcopalian, see Anglicanism.
An episcopal polity is a hierarchical form of church governance ("ecclesiastical polity") 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, from the Ancient Greek ἐπίσκοπος epískopos meaning "overseer".[1][2] 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.[citation needed] Many Methodist denominations have a form of episcopal polity known as connexionalism.
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