Achorbishop is a rank ofChristian clergy belowbishop. The namechorepiscope orchorepiscopus (pluralchorepiscopi) is taken from theGreekχωρεπίσκοπος and means "rural bishop".
Chorepiscopi are first mentioned byEusebius as existing in the second century.[1] In the beginning, it seems the chorepiscopi exercised regular episcopal functions in their rural districts, but from the late third century they were subject to city ormetropolitan bishops. TheSynod of Ancyra (314) specifically forbade them to ordain deacons or priests. TheCouncil of Sardica (343) decreed that no chorepiscopus should be consecrated where a priest would suffice,[1] and so the chorepiscopi in the Byzantine Church gradually disappeared.[2]
The first mentions of chorepiscopi in the Western church are from the 5th or 6th century, where they were found mainly inGermany (especiallyBavaria) and theFrankish lands.[3] In the Western Church, they were treated asauxiliary bishops and operated likearchdeacons or vicars general.[4] They gradually disappeared as an office by the 12th century in the West[4] and were replaced by archdeacons to administer subdivisions of a diocese.
In theprincipality of Kakheti in medievalGeorgia, the title of chorepiscopus (k'orepiskoposi ork'orikozi) became secular and was borne by several princes of that province from the early 9th century into the 11th.[5]
SomeEastern Catholic andOriental Orthodox churches still have chorbishops.
The Churches of theSyriac tradition — namely theSyriac Orthodox Church, theAssyrian Church of the East, theSyriac Catholic Church, theMaronite Church, theChaldean Catholic Church, theSyro-Malankara Catholic Church, theMalankara Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Church, and theMalankara Orthodox Syrian Church — also preserve the office, calling itcorepiscopa orcoorepiscopa. In these churches, the chorbishop vests almost identically to the bishop and often serves as his representative to various liturgical events to add solemnity.[citation needed]
In theMaronite Church, a chorbishop is the highest of the three Median Orders, ranking above the orders ofarchdeacon andperiodeut. Like a bishop, a chorbishop is ordained, and entitled to all vestments proper to a bishop, including themitre (hat) andcrozier (staff).[6] The Synod of Mt. Lebanon (1736) limited only the jurisdiction of a chorbishop, permitting him to ordain to theminor orders (cantor,reader and thesubdiaconate), but not the major orders ofdiaconate,priesthood, orepiscopacy.[7] The manuscript tradition of the Syriac Maronite Church demonstrates that the same text is used for the imposition of hand for both bishops and chorbishops.[8] The title of the ordination for a chorbishop reads, in fact, "Thechirotony by which are completed the chorbishops and themetropolitans and the high orders of priesthood."[9] The role ofprotosyncellus (vicar general) is often filled by a chorbishop.
