Chorbishop
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A chorbishop is a rank of Christian clergy below bishop. The name chorepiscope or chorepiscopus (pl chorepiscopi) is taken from the Greek Χωρεπίσκοπος and means country bishop.
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[edit] History
Chorepiscopi are first mentioned by Eusebius in the second century.[1] In the beginning the chorepiscopi seem to have exercised all episcopal functions in their rural districts, but from the second half of the third century they were subject to the city or metropolitan bishops. The Synod of Ancyra (314) specifically forbade them to ordain deacons or priests. The Synod of Sardica (343) decreed that no chorepiscopus should be consecrated where a priest would suffice, and so the chorepiscopi in the Byzantine Church gradually disappeared.[2] In the Western Church they were treated as an auxiliary bishop, as a rule having no fixed territory or see of their own. They gradually disappeared as an office and were replaced by archdeacons to administer subdivisions of a diocese.
[edit] Present practice
Both Catholic and Orthodox Eastern Churches still have chorbishops. In some Eastern Orthodox Churches, "chorbishop" is an alternate name for an auxiliary bishop. For the Melkite Greek Catholic Church[2] and other Eastern Catholic Churches, chorbishop is an honorific similar to monsignor.
The Churches of the Syriac tradition, namely the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Assyrian Church of the East, the Syrian Catholic Church, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Indian Orthodox Church, the Syro-Malabar Church, the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, the Malankara Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Church also preserve the office, calling it corepiscopa or coorepiscopa. In these churches, the corepiscopa vests almost identically to the bishop and often serves as his representative to various liturgical events to add solemnity.
In the Maronite Church, a chorbishop is similar to but not identical to an auxiliary bishop. Like a bishop, a chorbishop is ordained, and may wear a bishop's vestments including the mitre (hat) and crozier (staff).[3] A Maronite chorbishop has the power to confer minor orders (reader and the subdiaconate), but not the diaconate or priesthood.[4] The role of protosyncellus (vicar general) is often filled by a chorbishop.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Ott, Michael T. (1913). "Chorepiscopi". Catholic Encyclopedia.
- ^ a b Chorbishop? Bishop - AmericanCatholic.org
- ^ Catholic Post August 5, 2001
- ^ Denver Catholic Register February 5, 2003
