# Chorbishop > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Chorbishop > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Chorbishop.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorbishop > Source revision: 1341155646 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Rank of Christian clergy}} {{Eastern Orthodox sidebar}} {{Catholic Church Hierarchy}} A '''chorbishop''' is a rank of [Christian clergy](/source/Clergy) below [bishop](/source/bishop). The name '''chorepiscope''' or '''chorepiscopus''' (plural '''chorepiscopi''') is taken from the [Greek](/source/Greek_language) {{lang|grc|χωρεπίσκοπος}} and means "rural bishop". ==History== Chorepiscopi are first mentioned by [Eusebius](/source/Eusebius) as existing in the second century.{{CathEncy|wstitle=Chorepiscopi|last=Ott|first=Michael T.}} 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 or [metropolitan bishop](/source/metropolitan_bishop)s. The [Synod of Ancyra](/source/Synod_of_Ancyra) (314) specifically forbade them to ordain deacons or priests. The [Council of Sardica](/source/Council_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.[https://web.archive.org/web/20160323154857/https://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Sep2005/Wiseman.asp#F3] – AmericanCatholic.org The first mentions of chorepiscopi in the Western church are from the 5th or 6th century, where they were found mainly in [Germany](/source/Germany) (especially [Bavaria](/source/Bavaria)) and the [Frankish](/source/Franks) lands.{{cite encyclopedia | author = Jean Gaudemet | title = Chorepiscopus | encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages | publisher = Routledge | year = 2000 | isbn = 1-57958-282-6 | pages = 294}} In the Western Church, they were treated as [auxiliary bishop](/source/auxiliary_bishop)s and operated like [archdeacon](/source/archdeacon)s or vicars general.{{cite book|last=King|first=Archdale|title=The Rites of Eastern Christendom|date=1948|publisher=Gorgias Press LLC|page=85|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9g6BTkcwXWMC&pg=PA84|edition=2nd|access-date=May 9, 2014|chapter=Syrian Rite|isbn=9781593333911}} They gradually disappeared as an office by the 12th century in the West and were replaced by archdeacons to administer subdivisions of a diocese. In the [principality of Kakheti](/source/principality_of_Kakheti) in medieval [Georgia](/source/Georgia_(country)), the title of chorepiscopus (''k'orepiskoposi'' or ''k'orikozi'') became secular and was borne by several princes of that province from the early 9th century into the 11th.Rapp, Stephen H. (2003), ''Studies in Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts'', p. 397. Peeters Publishers, {{ISBN|90-429-1318-5}} ==Present practice== Some [Eastern Catholic](/source/Eastern_Catholic_Churches) and [Oriental Orthodox](/source/Oriental_Orthodoxy) churches still have chorbishops. The churches of the [Syriac](/source/Syriac_Christians) tradition — namely the [Syriac Orthodox Church](/source/Syriac_Orthodox_Church), the [Assyrian Church of the East](/source/Assyrian_Church_of_the_East), the [Syriac Catholic Church](/source/Syriac_Catholic_Church), the [Maronite Church](/source/Maronite_Church), the [Chaldean Catholic Church](/source/Chaldean_Catholic_Church), the [Syro-Malankara Catholic Church](/source/Syro-Malankara_Catholic_Church), the [Malankara Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Church](/source/Malankara_Jacobite_Syriac_Orthodox_Church), and the [Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church](/source/Malankara_Orthodox_Syrian_Church) — also preserve the office, calling it ''corepiscopa'' or ''coorepiscopa''. 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|date=January 2025}} In the [Maronite Church](/source/Maronite_Church), a chorbishop is the highest of the three Median Orders, ranking above the orders of [archdeacon](/source/archdeacon) and [periodeut](/source/Periodeutes). Like a bishop, a chorbishop is ordained, and entitled to all vestments proper to a bishop, including the [mitre](/source/mitre) (hat) and [crozier](/source/crozier) (staff).[http://www.cdop.org/catholic_post/post_8_5_01/news.cfm Father Elia of St. Sharbel's named a chorbishop] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060524043437/http://www.cdop.org/catholic_post/post_8_5_01/news.cfm |date=2006-05-24 }}. (August 5, 2001) Catholic Post. Accessed 2006-08-20. The [Synod of Mount Lebanon](/source/Synod_of_Mount_Lebanon) (1736) limited only the jurisdiction of a chorbishop, permitting him to ordain to the [minor orders](/source/minor_orders) ([cantor](/source/Cantor_(Christianity)), [reader](/source/reader_(liturgy)) and the [subdiaconate](/source/subdeacon)), but not the major orders of [diaconate](/source/Deacon), [priest](/source/priest)hood, or [episcopacy](/source/Bishop).Coll Lac, Vol. 2, col. 277; Mansi, Vol. 38, cole. 157ff; R. Janin, Les Églises orientales et les rites orienteaux, pp. 459,460. 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.{{Cite book|last=Doueihi, STD|first=Bishop Stephen Hector|title=The Maronite Pontifical|publisher=Saint Maron Publications|year=2008|location=Richmond, VA|pages=376}} The title of the ordination for a chorbishop reads, in fact, "The ''chirotony'' by which are completed the chorbishops and the [metropolitans](/source/Metropolitan_bishop) and the high orders of priesthood."Vat. 309 (75c.) The role of [protosyncellus](/source/protosyncellus) (vicar general) is often filled by a chorbishop. ==See also== *[Synods of Antioch](/source/Synods_of_Antioch) *[Synod of Ancyra](/source/Synod_of_Ancyra) ==References== {{reflist}} ==Books== *Zaplotnik, John Leo (1927). [https://books.google.com/books?id=I61SIQhON50C&pg=PA18 ''De vicariis foraneis.''] "Chapter IV." {{in lang|la}}. Washington: Catholica universitas Americae, 1927. Category:Episcopacy in the Catholic Church Category:Ecclesiastical titles Category:Eastern Christian ecclesiastical offices Category:Oriental Orthodoxy Category:Christian terminology Category:Noble titles of Georgia (country) Category:Catholic ecclesiastical titles --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Chorbishop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorbishop) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorbishop?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.