noun.
A system of church government in which bishops are the chief clerics.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
noun.
Government of the church by bishops; that form of church government in which there are three distinct orders of ministers—bishops, priests or presbyters, and deacons.
noun.
The state of being a bishop; episcopal rank or office.
the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
noun.
Government of the church by bishops; church government by three distinct orders of ministers -- bishops, priests, and deacons -- of whom the bishops have an authority superior and of a different kind.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
noun.
the collective body of bishops
Word Usage
"That the Southern Baptist Convention has in the last few decades morphed into a quasi-episcopacy is only one of the many cruel ironies of the history of populism in this country. bullfighter Says:"