Episcopus vagans
In
David V. Barrett, in the Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements, specifies that now episcopi vagantes are "those independent bishops who collect several different lines of transmission of apostolic succession, and who will happily (and sometimes for a fee) consecrate anyone who requests it".[3] Those described as wandering bishops often see the term as pejorative. The general term for "wandering" clerics, as were common in the Middle Ages, is clerici vagantes; the general term for those recognising no leader is acephali.
The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church mentions as the main lines of succession deriving from episcopi vagantes in the 20th century those founded by
History
According to Buchanan, "the real rise of the problem" happened in the 19th century, in the "wake of the Anglo-Catholic movement", "through mischievous activities of a tiny number of independently acting bishops". They exist worldwide, he writes, "mostly without congregations", and "many in different stages of delusion and fantasy, not least in the Episcopal titles they confer on themselves"; "the distinguishing mark" to "specifically identif[y]" an episcopus vagans is "the lack of a true see or the lack of a real church life to oversee".[4]
Paul Halsall, on the
Barrett wrote that leaders "of some esoteric movements, are also priests or bishops in small non-mainstream Christian Churches"; he explains, this type of "independent or autocephalous" group has "little in common with the Church it developed from, the Old Catholic Church, and even less in common with the Roman Catholic Church" but still claims its authority from apostolic succession.[6]: 56
Buchanan writes that based the criteria of having "a true see" or having "a real church life to oversee", the bishops of most forms of the Continuing Anglican movement are not necessarily classified as vagantes, but "are always in danger of becoming such".[4]
Theological issues
Catholic
A
According to a theological view affirmed, for instance, by the
Eastern Orthodox
Vlassios Pheidas, on an official
If […]
Holy Spiritonly within the [Eastern] Orthodox Church.[...]
Through such a teaching […] one finds himself face to face with the […] principle of "extra Ecclesia nulla salus", which strictly determines the canonical limits of the Church. Thus, the [Eastern] Orthodox Church, while accepting the canonical possibility of recognising the existence (υποστατόν) of sacraments performed outside herself, it questions their validity (έγκυρον) and certainly rejects their efficacy (ενεργόν). It is already well-known that in the ecclesial praxis, the Orthodox Church moves, according to the specific circumstances, between canonical "acribeia" and ecclesial economy, recognising by economy the validity (κύρος) of the sacraments of those ecclesiastical bodies. Yet, such a practice of economy does not overthrow the canonical "acribeia", which also remains in force and expresses the exclusive character of orthodox ecclesiology.
This observation is really important, because it reveals that the canonical recognition (αναγνώρισις) of the validity of sacraments performed outside the [Eastern] Orthodox Church: (a) is done by economy, (b) covers only specific cases in certain given instances, and (c) refers to the validity of the sacraments only of those who join the [Eastern] Orthodox Church, and not of the ecclesiastical bodies to which belong those who join the [Eastern] Orthodox Church. There is, […] a variety of opinions or reservations concerning this question. No one, […] could propose or support the view that the mutual recognition of the validity of sacraments among the Churches is an ecclesiastical act consistent with orthodox ecclesiology, or an act which is not rejected by the orthodox canonical tradition. […]
[…]
[…] the mutual recognition of the validity of certain sacraments, […] is for an [Eastern] Orthodox an act of inconsistency, when it is assessed with orthodox ecclesiological principles. These ecclesiological principles manifest in a strict fashion the organic unity of the orthodox ecclesial body and differentiate those who do not belong to its body as either schismatics or heretics.
The relation of schismatics or heretics to the body of the [Eastern] Orthodox Church is strictly defined by the canonical tradition. However, orthodox canonical tradition and praxis appraises and classifies these ecclesiastical bodies into various categories, […] in which some form of ecclesiality is recognised. This type of ecclesiality is not easily determined, because the orthodox tradition […] does not recognise the efficacy of the divine grace outside the canonical boundaries of the [Eastern] Orthodox Church.[14]: ch. 2
This applies to the validity and efficacy of the ordination of bishops and the other sacraments, not only of the
Anglican
Anglican bishop Colin Buchanan, in the Historical Dictionary of Anglicanism, says that the Anglican Communion has held an Augustinian view of orders, by which "the validity of Episcopal ordinations (to whichever order) is based solely upon the historic succession in which the ordaining bishop stands, irrespective of their contemporary ecclesial context".
He describes the circumstances of Archbishop
Particular consecrations
Arnold Mathew, according to Buchanan, "lapsed into the vagaries of an episcopus vagans".
In 1912, D. J. Scannell O'Neill wrote in The Fortnightly Review that London "seems to have more than her due share of bishops" and enumerates what he refers to as "these hireling shepherds". He also announces that one of them, Mathew, revived the OCR and published The Torch, a monthly review, advocating the reconstruction of Western Christianity and reunion with
Notes and references
Notes
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3.
- ^ a b
Brandreth, Henry R. T. (1987) [First published in 1947]. Episcopi Vagantes and the Anglican Church. San Bernardino, CA: Borgo Press. OCLC 17258289.
- ISBN 9780415267076.
- ^ a b c d e
ISBN 9780810865068. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
- ^
Halsall, Paul, ed. (2007) [building survey conducted 1996–1998]. "New York City Cathedrals". Medieval New York. sanctuaries'cathedrals'.
- ^ a b
ISBN 9780762441037. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
- ^ Code of Canon Law, canon 1382 Archived 27 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Code of Canon Law, canon 1331 §1 Archived 29 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Ludwig Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, 1952, p. 456. "Every validly consecrated bishop, including heretical, schismatic, simonistic, or excommunicated bishops, can validly dispense the Sacrament of Order, provided that he has the requisite intention, and follows the essential external rite (set. Certa). Cf. D 855, 860; CIC 2372."
- JSTOR 30066826.
The Council of Trent decrees, that "in the Sacrament of Order . . . a 'character' is impressed which can neither be blotter out nor taken away:" and condemns all who affirm that "persons once rightly ordained can again be laics." (Sess. xxiii., ch. 4) "If any one shall have said, that by sacred ordination . . . . a character is not impressed or that he who was once a priest can again become a laic, let him be accursed." (Sess. xxiii., ch. 4) . . . . Where the mark is stamped on the soul, there there is "order;" and where that mark is not stamped on the soul, there is not order (according to the Church of Rome). And the Council of Trent declares that mark or "character" to be "indelible;" that is to say, once impressed on the soul, it can never be rubbed out or lost, or taken away.
- ^ "If a priest leaves the priesthood, is he still able to perform the sacraments?". Catholic Straight Answers. 21 May 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
So what happens when a priest leaves the priesthood? Since Holy Orders is a character sacrament, once it has been validly received, it never is invalidated for any reason whatsoever. Granted, a cleric– deacon, priest, or bishop– may be freed from the clerical state and dispensed from the promise of celibacy by the proper authority. He may no longer have the obligations or the privileges to function as a cleric, but nevertheless he remains a cleric. Commonly, this practice is called laicization, meaning "returned to the state of the laity." (Code of Canon Law, #290-293.) Even though the cleric has been laicized and no longer functions as a deacon, priest, or bishop, he still has the sacramental character of Holy Orders. Technically, if he were to perform a sacrament in accord with the norms of the Church, that sacrament would indeed be valid. However, the sacrament would be illicit, meaning he violated Church law and would be culpable for this infraction since he no longer has the faculties to function as a priest.
- ISBN 978-90-0420647-2), p. 197
- ^ "Acta Apostolicae Sedis CII (2010), p. 58" (PDF).
- ^ a b c Pheidas, Vlassios. "Chapter I". The limits of the church in an orthodox perspective. Myriobiblos: The online library of the Church of Greece. Online Cultural Center of the Church of Greece. Archived from the original on 30 October 2005. Retrieved 14 May 2013. "Chapter II". Archived from the original on 30 October 2005. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
- ^ "Validity of Roman Catholic Orders - Questions & Answers". Orthodox Church in America. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
- ^ "Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs | Ordination Joint Committee of Orthodox and Catholic Bishops, 1988". 23 July 2011. Archived from the original on 23 July 2011.
- ^ Metropolitan Isaiah (9 May 2000). "Protocols 2000". Orthodox Research Institute. Archived from the original on 27 November 2010.
- ^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, Sydney (1907). "Anglican Orders". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^ a b c d
Edmonds, Stephen (2013) [2012]. "Mathew, Arnold Harris (1852–1919)". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/103378. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ Pope Pius X (11 February 1911). "Sacerdotes Arnoldus Harris Mathew, Herbertus Ignatius Beale et Arthurus Guilelmus Howarth nominatim excommunicantur" (PDF). Acta Apostolicae Sedis (motu proprio type apostolic letter) (in Latin). 3 (2). Rome: Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis (published 15 February 1911): 53–54. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 March 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
- ^
Holden, Colin (1997). Ritualist on a Tricycle: Frederick Goldsmith, Church, Nationalism and Society in Western Australia, 1880-1920. Staples South West Region publication series. Nedlands, W.A.: University of Western Australia Press. p. 272. ISSN 1030-3359. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
- ^
OCLC 185544754. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
- ^ a b
O'Neill, D. J. Scannell (September 1912). LCCN 15001974. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
- ISBN 91-85734-07-1.
- ^
"The Revived Order of Corporate Reunion [constructed title]". The Torch, A Monthly Review, Advocating the Reconstruction of the Church of the West and Reunion with the Holy Orthodox Church of the East. London: [s.n.] 19 June 1912. OCLC 504100502.
Further reading
- Episcopi Vagantes in Church History. A.J. Macdonald. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1945. Project Canterbury
- Episcopi Vagantes and the Anglican Church (1947, 1961) Project Canterbury
- Bishops at Large. Peter Anson. New York City: October House Publishing, 1963.
- Independent Bishops: An International Directory, edited by Gary L. Ward, Bertil Persson, and Alan Bain. Apogee Books, 1990
- The Priesthood Renewed: The Personal Journey of a Married Priest, by Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, HSA Publications, New York, 2005.