episcopalismn.

That theory of church polity which places the supreme authority in the hands of an episcopal or pastoral order; if this authority is in practice exercised by any recognized head of the church it is only as the delegate of this order as a whole, and with their consent. Held in the Church of Rome by the Gallicans (but dogmatically rejected by the Vatican Council), and in various Reformed churches. Distinguished from territorialism, and collegialism n.