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(GreekChorepiskopoi = ruralbishops.)
A name originally given in theEastern Church tobishops whosejurisdiction was confined to rural districts. The earliest chorepiscopus of whom we have anyknowledge was Zoticus, whomEusebius designates asbishop of the village Cumana in Phrygia in the latter half of the second century. 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 citybishops. The thirteenth canon of the Synod ofAncyra (314) and the tenth canon of the Synod of Antioch (341) forbade them to ordaindeacons orpriests without the written permission of thebishop; the sixth canon of theSynod of Sardica (343) decreed that no chorepiscopus should beconsecrated where apriest would suffice; and the fifty-seventh canon of the Synod ofLaodicea (380) prescribed that the chorepiscopi should be replaced by periodeutai, i.e.,priests who have no fixed residence and act as organs of the citybishops. Thus the chorepiscopi in theEastern Church gradually disappeared. TheSecond Council of Nicaea (787) is the last to make mention of them. Among theNestorians they existed till the thirteenth century, and they still exist among theMaronites andJacobites. In theWestern Church they are of rare occurrence before the seventh century, and, as a rule, have no fixed territory or see, being mere assistants of thebishops. Their ever-increasing influence during theCarlovingian period led to repeated synodical legislations against them (Synods ofParis in 829, Aachen in 836, Meaux in 845), so that despite such able defenders of their cause asRabanus Maurus ("De chorepiscopis", in P.L., CX., 1195-1206) they gradually disappeared in the tenth and eleventh centuries, and were replaced by thearchdeacons.
BERGERE, Etude historique sur les choreveques (Paris, 1905); GILLMANN, Das Institut der Chorbischofe im Orient (Munich, 1903); PARISOT, Les choreveques in Revue de l'Orient chretien, VI (Paris, 1901), 157-171, 419-443; GRISAR in Civilta Cattolica (Rome, 15 Oct., 1904; 25 Jan., 1905; 18 March, 1905); LECLERCQ, La legislation conciliaire relative aux choreveques in his tr. of HEFELE, Conciliengeschichte, III (Paris, 1908), 1197-1237; WEIZACKER, Der Kampf gegen den Chorepiscopat des frankischen Reichs (Tübingen, 1859).
APA citation.Ott, M.(1914).Chorepiscopi. InThe Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: The Encyclopedia Press.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/16024c.htm
MLA citation.Ott, Michael."Chorepiscopi."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 16 (Index).New York: The Encyclopedia Press,1914.<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/16024c.htm>.
Transcription.This article was transcribed for New Advent by Herman F. Holbrook.Omnes sancti Pontifices et Confessores, orate pro nobis.
Ecclesiastical approbation.Nihil Obstat. March 1, 1914. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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