Episcopacy

EPISCOPA'LIANISM, (e-pis'ko-pa-se.) [From Gr. episkopos, literally, an overseer-hence, a bishop.] (Eccl.) That form of church govt. which provides for hierarchical degrees of rank and standing in its orders of clergy, as in archbishops being placed over bishops, bishops over priests and deacons, and so on. Episcopalian churches comprise the Roman Catholic, Greek, and Anglican. [s. 335]