COREPISCOPO. — The c., or bishop of the countryside (from χώρα = district, and ἐπίσωπος = bishop), formerly governed in the East a rural ecclesiastical district, under the authority of the bishop of the city.
I. IN THE EAST
The first mention of the c. is made in can. 13 of the Council of Ancyra in Galatia (ca. 314), which forbids them to ordain priests and deacons, whether from the countryside or, still less, from the city, without the bishop’s prior written authorization. The Council of Neocaesarea in Pontus, held shortly afterward (between 314 and 325), and attended by two c. from Cappadocia (cf. Mansi, II, 548), compares them to the seventy disciples of the Lord (can. 14).The First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea (325), at which no fewer than 14 c. also sat, wishing, in can. 8, to regulate the position of the Cathar bishops who wished to return to Catholic unity, recommends that the local Catholic bishop grant them either the honorary title of bishop alone or, better still, find them a position as c., so that there might not be two bishops in the same city. The opposition to the c., which was already manifest from the beginning of the fourth century, reached its height at the Council of Antioch in Syria, held in 341 or, perhaps, between 330 and 332. Although it granted the c., in can. 8, the power to issue “letters of peace,” or letters of recommendation, in can. 10 it sternly admonished them to remain within the limits of their authority: appointed by the bishop of the city, they were not, under penalty of deposition, to ordain priests or deacons without the bishop’s prior permission, even though they had received episcopal ordination; rather, they were to be content to appoint readers, subdeacons, and exorcists within their district. S. Basil would be even stricter: in a letter to his c. (LIV, ad Chorepiscopos: PG 32, 400-401), he threatened to reduce to the lay state any minor minister whom they had appointed without his consent. The final blow against the c. in the East was dealt by can. 57 of the Council of Laodicea (between 347 and 381), which, making no mention of the c., prescribed that “periodeutes,” a kind of missionary priests directly dependent on the bishop, be appointed in the districts. The decline of the c. began soon afterward. As early as the Council of Seleucia (410), can. 14 no longer admitted more than one c. per diocese. At the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus (431), only two c. subscribed the acts. At the Council of Chalcedon (451), the c. no longer sat except as representatives of their bishops. Their number, which should normally have been at least equal to that of the bishops, diminished ever further. A final mention of them is found in can. 14 of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, Nicaea II (787), where they are still recognized, along with the simple egumens or abbots of monasteries, as having the right to ordain readers, subject to the bishop’s permission. By then, the chorepiscopate was merely an honorary dignity, to such an extent that the celebrated Byzantine canonist of the twelfth century, Theodore Balsamon, considered it pointless to continue speaking of an institution “completely obsolete” (In can. 13 Conc. Ancyr.: PG 137, 1160).
In ancient times there was much debate as to whether the c. were true bishops. Day by day, however, scholars increasingly tended to recognize in them a genuine episcopal character. It may be said that in the East, throughout the entire period in which the institution was in force, the c. enjoyed true episcopal authority, although its exercise was increasingly restricted by the interference of the bishop of the city.
II. IN THE WEST
The first traces of c. are encountered around the middle of the fifth century (the Council of Riez, in 439). These are, however, rare cases, expedients of an exceptional nature that do not seem to have had any connection with the chorepiscopate of the eighth century.Contrary to what occurred in the East, the c. in the West was, from its appearance onward, not a country bishop but an auxiliary of the titular bishop of the diocese. The first c. of this type were those whom Willibrordo, bishop of Utrecht, and Bonifazio, around 735–38, took on as assistants in their missionary work. In 747, Pope Zaccaria, in a letter to Pipino il Breve (MGH, Epist., III, p. 481), mentions them and considers them true bishops, on the basis of the decisions of the Councils of Antioch and Neocaesarea. The golden age of the c. in the West was the ninth century: they were numerous, often governed dioceses on their own, and attended councils with deliberative voting rights. But many assemblies were already attempting to limit their powers. Indeed, the validity of the ordinations they performed began to be called into question. Although Rabano Mauro wrote a treatise, De chorepiscopis (MGH, Epist., V, pp. 431–39), to defend their episcopal character, the councils—principally a Council of Meaux in 845—forbade them to confer Orders without the bishop’s permission and threatened with canonical penalties any bishop who dared to delegate his powers to his c. (MGH, Capitul., II, p. 409). A more violent, if no more scrupulous, struggle against the c. was waged without respite by the pseudo-Isidorian reformers (847–52), with the aim of restoring the prestige of the bishops and, even more, of depriving them of the opportunity to entrust their powers to their c. so that they themselves might devote themselves to the life of great lords. Through interpolations and forgeries, it was asserted that the c. were merely priests. The forged capitularies and false decretals acted in the same direction. Nevertheless, Pope Niccolò I still maintained in 864, in a letter to Rodolfo, archbishop of Bourges, that the c. were true bishops. But the thesis of the false decretals was destined to triumph. In the tenth century the c. were already rare. They continued to exist in Ireland until the thirteenth century. In certain dioceses, such as Treviri and Colonia, the chorepiscopate remained for a long time an honorary title. The institution of the c. underwent particular Salisburgo (v.). Geographically, the chorepiscopate in the West was confined to Germany and the Frankish countries; less frequently, it is also encountered in England and Ireland. It seems to have remained unknown in Italy, Spain, and North Africa.
III. IN THE EASTERN CATHOLIC CHURCHES
In those where the chorepiscopate still exists, the c., whose functions tend to be identified more with those of the vicar general than with those of the Western rural vicar, no longer possess episcopal rank. The Chaldeans preserve the ancient tradition of appointing only one c. for each diocese, while denying him the power to ordain lectors and subdeacons. Among the Maronites, the c., ordained by the patriarch alone or by his mandate, through the imposition of hands, have the power to confirm, to consecrate baptisteries, and to dedicate churches and altars, as well as, with the prior permission of the patriarch, to confer the minor Orders. Among the Catholic Syrians, the c., the sole one in the diocese, is the first dignity among the clergy. Among the Melkites, on the other hand, the chorepiscopate is currently the lowest of the honorary titles.In the dissident Greek Churches, the rectors of certain large parishes and the deans of a group of parishes are honored with the title of c. In Russia, auxiliary bishops were called c. The Greek canonical collection of the two monks Agapios Leonardos and Nicodemos Agiorita, known under the title of II, 82Aov (Athens ed. 1908, p. 140), maliciously observes that “today, the so-called c. have a very lofty name, but no power whatsoever.”