Episcopi vagantes

Episcopi vagantes (Latin for "wandering bishops") are persons who have been ordained as bishops in some irregular fashion, especially those claiming to have valid Roman Catholic orders although their ordinations were not authorized by the Roman Catholic Church.

The Vatican considers some such ordinations "valid" but "unlawful," but the Orthodox Church considers them to simply not be ordinations and thus also considers persons so ordained not to be bishops at all. This is because unlike the Vatican, it considers apostolic succession to exist only in bishops who are regularily ordained by bishops that are neither themselves defrocked, nor teach heretical teachings. Holy Orders are not regarded by the Orthodox as "indelible," thus if a bishop breaks from the Church, his episcopacy (and thus his ability to ordain) does not follow him.

Many of these claim succession from the see of Utrecht, or from Orthodox or Eastern Rite Catholic churches; others from Roman Catholic bishops that have ordained their own bishops after disputes with the Vatican. Such lines continue to persist because of the more mechanistic understanding of apostolic succession which the Roman Catholic Church has—that is, if a "valid" bishop ordains a man, then he is "valid" as well, even if neither has any living connection to the Church. The Orthodox understanding, however, necessarily presupposes the impossibility of episcopi that are vagantes, for the ministry of the episcopacy resides only within the Church.

Many episcopi vagantes will style their churches variously as Orthodox, Catholic, Apostolic, or any of the other historical names used by the Church.

In modern times, some of the major lines of episcopi vagantes trace their succession to A. H. Mathew (deposed from the Old Catholics), J. R. Vilatte (variously Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, and with an alleged line from a non-Chalcedonian Syrian bishop), and Aftimios Ofiesh, a 20th century Syrian bishop serving under the auspices of the Church of Russia in America, who was deposed for marrying a woman under his care.

Other issues

• Many people have claimed ordinations as bishops where it is questionable whether the ordination ever actually took place, which is a separate issue.

• Further, bishops belonging to groups which are in schism (i.e., out of full communion) or have suspended concelebrations are not episcopi vagantes inasmuch as their consecrations as bishops were clearly within the Church and the break in communion may well only be temporary.

Sources

• Wikipedia:Episcopi vagantes
• The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd ed., pp. 555, 1054, 1698