Editing Episcopus vagans

{{Short description|Christian bishop consecrated irregularly}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2017}}
{{Title language|la}}
{{Confusion|Bishop (Latter Day Saints)#Traveling bishops}}

In [[Christianity]], an '''{{lang|la|episcopus vagans}}''' (plural '''{{lang|la|episcopi vagantes}}'''; [[Latin]] for 'wandering bishops' or 'stray bishops') is a person consecrated, in a "clandestine or irregular way", as a [[bishop]] outside the structures and [[canon law]] of the established churches; a person regularly consecrated but later excommunicated, and not in [[Communion (Christian)|communion]] with any generally recognized [[diocese]]; or a person who has in communion with them small groups that appear to exist solely for the bishop's sake.<ref name="ODCC">{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Oxford dictionary of the Christian Church|title=episcopi vagantes|editor1-first=Frank L.|editor1-last=Cross|editor2-first=Elizabeth A.|editor2-last=Livingstone|edition=3rd rev.|location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0-19-280290-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fUqcAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA558}}</ref><ref name="Brandreth1987" />{{rp|pages=1–2}}

David V. Barrett, in the ''Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements'', specifies that {{lang|la|episcopi vagantes}} are now "those independent bishops who collect several different lines of transmission of [[apostolic succession]], and who will happily (and sometimes [[Simony|for a fee]]) consecrate anyone who requests it".<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|first=David V.|last=Barrett|title=Independent episcopal churches|page=301|editor1-last=Clarke|editor1-first=Peter|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements|year=2006|isbn=9780415267076|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DouBAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA301}}</ref> 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 {{lang|la|[[clerici vagantes]]}}; the general term for those recognising no leader is {{lang|la|[[acephali]]}}.

The ''Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'' mentions as the main lines of succession deriving from {{lang|la|episcopi vagantes}} in the 20th century those founded by [[Arnold Mathew]], [[Joseph René Vilatte]] and [[Leon Chechemian]].<ref name = "ODCC"/>

==History==
According to Buchanan, "the real rise of the problem" happened in the 19th century, in the "wake of the [[Anglo-Catholicism|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".<ref name="Buchanan2006" />

Paul Halsall, on the [[Internet History Sourcebooks Project]], did not list a single church edifice of independent bishops, in a 1996&ndash;1998 New York City building [[architecture]] survey of religious communities, which maintain bishops claiming apostolic succession and claim [[cathedra|cathedral status]] but noted there "are now literally hundreds of these '{{lang|la|episcopi vagantes}}', of lesser or greater spiritual [[wiktionary:probity|probity]]. They seem to have a tendency to call [[living room]] [[sanctuaries]] '[[cathedrals]]';" those buildings were not perceived as cultural symbols and did not meet the survey criteria.<ref>
{{cite web
 |location=New York
 |publisher=Fordham University
 |series=[[Internet History Sourcebooks Project]]
 |work=Medieval New York
 |title=New York City Cathedrals
 |editor-last=Halsall
 |editor-first=Paul
 |year=2007
 |orig-year=building survey conducted 1996&ndash;1998
 |url=https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/medny/halsall2.asp
 |access-date=2022-12-25
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007225008/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/medny/halsall2.asp
 |archive-date=7 October 2011
 |url-status=live
 |quote=A number of Old Catholic bishops ordained 'independent' bishops. There are now literally hundreds of these '{{lang|la|episcopi vagantes}}', of lesser or greater spiritual [[wiktionary:probity|probity]]. They seem to have a tendency to call living room [[sanctuaries]] 'cathedrals'.
 |df=dmy
}}
</ref> [[David V. Barrett]] wrote, in ''A Brief Guide to Secret Religions'', that "one hallmark of such bishops is that they often collect as many lineages as they can to strengthen their Episcopal legitimacy&mdash;at least in their own eyes", and adds that their groups have more clergy than members.<ref name="Barrett2011">
{{cite book|location=Philadelphia|publisher=Running Press|last=Barrett|first=David V|author-link=David V. Barrett|title=A Brief Guide to Secret Religions|year=2011|isbn=9780762441037|chapter=Independent episcopal churches and the apostolic succession|pages=56, 63&ndash;64
|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R_q2-Dbcf68C&q=Episcopal+legitimacy&pg=PA64
|access-date=27 May 2013}}
</ref>

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.<ref name="Barrett2011" />{{rp|page=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".<ref name="Buchanan2006" />

==Theological issues==

=== Catholic ===
A [[Latin Church]] or [[Eastern Catholic Churches|Eastern]] Catholic ordained to the episcopacy without a mandate from the [[Pope]] is [[Latae sententiae and ferendae sententiae|automatically]] [[Excommunication in the Catholic Church|excommunicated]] and is thereby forbidden to celebrate the sacraments under [[Catholic canon law]].<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P54.HTM Code of Canon Law, canon 1382] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080327064146/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P54.HTM |date=27 March 2008 }}</ref><ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P4X.HTM Code of Canon Law, canon 1331 §1] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080329021837/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P4X.HTM |date=29 March 2008 }}</ref> However, in light of the [[sacramental character]] of the episcopacy in [[Catholic theology]] and of the doctrine of ''[[ex opere operato]]'' (according to which the efficacy of a sacrament does not depend on the merits of the person who performs or who receives the sacrament) such an ordination is considered "[[Validity and liceity (Catholic Church)|valid but illicit]]". This means that, although excommunicated and forbidden from carrying out any ministry under the authority of the Catholic Church, an individual thus ordained is regarded as having the full sacramental powers of a bishop, including the power to ordain other bishops.<ref>[[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; [[1917 Code of Canon Law|CIC]] 2372."</ref>

On the other hand, the view expressed by the [[International Bishops' Conference]] of the [[Old Catholic Church]] with regard to the ordinations by [[Arnold Mathew]] is that the episcopacy exists for service within a specific Christian church and, therefore, that an ordination ceremony that concerns only the individual himself does not make him truly a bishop.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=rE3HEeoXJNsC&dq=Smit+%22truly+bishops%22&pg=PA197 Peter-Ben Smit, ''Old Catholic and Philippine Independent Ecclesiologies in History''] (BRILL 2011 {{ISBN|978-90-0420647-2}}), p. 197</ref> The [[Holy See|Vatican]] has not commented on whether it concurs with this interpretation, but it has declared with regard to ordinations of this kind carried out, for example, by [[Emmanuel Milingo]] upon [[Peter Paul Brennan]] and others, that the Catholic Church "does not recognize and does not intend to recognize in the future those ordinations or any of the ordinations derived from them and therefore the canonical state of the alleged bishops remains that in which they were before the ordination conferred by Mr Milingo".<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/2010/gennaio%202010.pdf| title = ''Acta Apostolicae Sedis'' CII (2010), p. 58}}</ref>

===Eastern Orthodox===
Vlassios Pheidas, on an official [[Church of Greece]] site, uses the [[Canon law of the Eastern Orthodox Church|canonical]] language of the [[Eastern Orthodox Christian theology|Eastern Orthodox tradition]], to describe the conditions in ecclesial [[praxis (Eastern Orthodoxy)|praxis]] when [[sacraments]], including [[Holy Orders]], are real, valid, and efficacious. He notes language is itself part of the [[ecclesiological]] problem.<ref name="Pheidas">{{cite web
 |publisher=Online Cultural Center of the Church of Greece
 |series=Myriobiblos: The online library of the Church of Greece
 |work=The limits of the church in an orthodox perspective
 |title=Chapter I
 |last=Pheidas
 |first=Vlassios
 |url=http://www.myriobiblos.gr/texts/english/pheidas_limits_1.html
 |access-date=14 May 2013
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051030122810/http://www.myriobiblos.gr/texts/english/pheidas_limits_1.html
 |archive-date=30 October 2005
 |url-status=live
 |df=dmy
}}
{{cite web
 |title=Chapter II
 |url=http://www.myriobiblos.gr/texts/english/pheidas_limits_2.html
 |access-date=14 May 2013
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051030122835/http://www.myriobiblos.gr/texts/english/pheidas_limits_2.html
 |archive-date=30 October 2005
 |url-status=live
 |df=dmy
}}
</ref>{{rp|at=ch. 1}}
{{Blockquote|If […] [[Grace (Christianity)|divine grace]] is granted to all, […] then it stands to reason that it is bestowed also in those believers outside the [Eastern] Orthodox Church, even if such persons belong to a heresy of schism. Thus, the sacraments performed outside the Church are not only real ({{lang|el|υποστατά}}), but also valid ({{lang|el|έγκυρα}}), because they only lack the efficacy ({{lang|el|ενέργεια}}) of the bestowed divine grace, which is operative through the [[Holy Spirit (Christianity)|Holy Spirit]] only within the [Eastern] Orthodox Church.

[...]

Through such a teaching […] one finds himself face to face with the […] principle of "{{lang|la|[[Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus|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 ({{lang|el|υποστατόν}}) of sacraments performed outside herself, it questions their validity ({{lang|el|έγκυρον}}) and certainly rejects their efficacy ({{lang|el|ενεργόν}}). It is already well-known that in the ecclesial praxis, the Orthodox Church moves, according to the specific circumstances, between canonical "[[akribeia|acribeia]]" and ecclesial [[economy (religion)|economy]], recognising by economy the validity ({{lang|el|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 ({{lang|el|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 [[Canon law of the Eastern Orthodox Church|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.<ref name="Pheidas" />{{rp|at=ch. 2}}}}

This applies to the validity and efficacy of the ordination of bishops and the other sacraments, not only of the [[Independent Catholic Churches|Independent Catholic churches]], but also of all other Christian churches, including the Roman Catholic Church, [[Oriental Orthodoxy]] and the [[Assyrian Church of the East]]. Through strict adherence to the law superseding economy by their Cyprian understanding, in this instance, there may be questionably valid sacraments outside of the Eastern Orthodox Church, yet they lack any efficacy. However, some mainstream Eastern Orthodox bodies recognize Roman Catholic orders and don't conditionally ordain clergy as each autocephalous church determines the validity and efficacy of another's ordination.<ref name="Pheidas" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Validity of Roman Catholic Orders - Questions & Answers |url=https://www.oca.org/questions/romancatholicism/validity-of-roman-catholic-orders |access-date=2023-08-11 |website=Orthodox Church in America}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=23 July 2011 |title=Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs {{!}} Ordination Joint Committee of Orthodox and Catholic Bishops, 1988 |url=http://www.usccb.org/seia/ordinati.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723002517/http://www.usccb.org/seia/ordinati.shtml |archive-date=23 July 2011}}</ref> There have also been several canonically disputed or independent Eastern Orthodox clergy received into the mainstream or canonical Eastern Orthodox Church in certain instances—also without conditional ordination, whose predecessors were either once part of or remained outside of canonical Eastern Orthodoxy—in contrast with Pheidas' statement on economy.<ref name="Anson2006">{{Cite book |last=Anson |first=Peter F |author-link=Peter Anson |url={{GBurl|lTD_PAAACAAJ}} |title=Bishops at large |publisher=Apocryphile Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-977146-18-5 |edition=1st Apocryphile |series=Independent Catholic Heritage |location=[[Berkeley, California]] |pages=504–506 |oclc=72443681 |orig-year=1964 |lang=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=History of the Western Rite Vicariate |url=https://www.orthodoxwest.com/history-wr-anderson |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250307180758/https://www.orthodoxwest.com/history-wr-anderson |archive-date=2025-03-07 |access-date=2025-03-07 |website=theorthodoxwest |language=en |quote=The Western Rite Vicariate of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America was founded in 1958 by Metropolitan Antony Bashir (1896–1966) with the Right Reverend Alexander Turner (1906–1971), and the Very Reverend Paul W. S. Schneirla. The Western Rite Vicariate (WRV) oversees parishes and missions within the Archdiocese that worship according to traditional Western Christian liturgical forms, derived either from the Latin-speaking Churches of the first millennium, or from certain later (post-schismatic) usages which are not contrary to the Orthodox Faith.}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Namee |first=Matthew |date=2011-03-15 |title=Bishop Joseph Zuk: A brief biographical overview |url=https://www.orthodoxhistory.org/2011/03/15/bishop-joseph-zuk-a-brief-biographical-overview/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250307181036/https://www.orthodoxhistory.org/2011/03/15/bishop-joseph-zuk-a-brief-biographical-overview/ |archive-date=2025-03-07 |access-date=2025-03-07 |website=Orthodox History |language=en-US}}</ref>

The [[Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople]] likewise teaches that through "extreme oikonomia [economy]", those who are [[Baptism|baptized]] in the [[Oriental Orthodox]], Roman Catholic, [[Lutheran]], [[Old Catholic]], [[Moravian Church|Moravian]], [[Anglican]], [[Methodist]], [[Reformed tradition|Reformed]], [[Presbyterian]], [[Church of the Brethren]], [[Assemblies of God]], or [[Baptists|Baptist]] traditions can be received into the Eastern Orthodox Church through the sacrament of [[Chrismation]] and not through [[re-baptism]].<ref name="Isaiah2000">{{cite web |author=Metropolitan Isaiah |date=9 May 2000 |title=Protocols 2000 |url=http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/encyclicals/goarch/isaiah/isaiah_protocols_2000.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101127075030/http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/encyclicals/goarch/isaiah/isaiah_protocols_2000.htm |archive-date=2010-11-27 |publisher=Orthodox Research Institute |language=English}}</ref>

The predominant view, however, continues to reject those raised to the episcopacy outside of the mainstream or canonical Eastern Orthodox Church as valid bishops in holy orders.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Damick |first=Fr Andrew Stephen |date=2013-03-05 |title=Media Discovers Episcopus Vagans at Vatican, Film at 11 |url=https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/orthodoxyandheterodoxy/2013/03/05/media-discovers-episcopus-vagans-at-vatican-film-at-11/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250308021841/https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/orthodoxyandheterodoxy/2013/03/05/media-discovers-episcopus-vagans-at-vatican-film-at-11/ |archive-date=2025-03-08 |access-date=2025-03-08 |website=Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Lutheran===
The ''Concordia Theological Monthly'' stated that ''episcopi vagantes'' are a concern in [[Lutheranism]].<ref name="Piepkorn1963">{{cite journal |last1=Piepkorn |first1=Arthur Carl |title=Episcopi Vagantes and the Anglican Church |journal=Concordia Theological Monthly |date=1963 |volume=XXXIV |issue=4 |page=253}}</ref> The Lutheran priest Arthur Carl Piepkorn wrote that Gustavus Adolphus Glinz and Friedrich Heiler were consecrated bishops in 1930 by Pierre Gaston Vigué.<ref name="Piepkorn1963"/> Heiler then ordained several men as priests who sent on to serve in Lutheran parishes.<ref name="Piepkorn1963"/> ''Episcopi vagantes'', according to Piepkorn, approach clergy with a claim to be aligned with Lutheran doctrine and the promise of "incontestably valid and apostolic" priestly ordination or episcopal consecration.<ref name="Piepkorn1963"/>

===Anglican===
Anglican bishop [[Colin Buchanan (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 [[Matthew Parker]]'s consecration as one of the reasons why this theory is "generally held".<ref name="Buchanan2006">
{{cite encyclopedia|location=Lanham, MD|publisher=The Scarecrow Press|series=Historical Dictionaries of Religions, Philosophies, and Movements|volume=62|encyclopedia=Historical Dictionary of Anglicanism|year=2006|isbn=0810853272|last=Buchanan|first=Colin O|author-link=Colin Buchanan (bishop)|title=Episcopus Vagans|pages=166&ndash;167|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G5Ig4SDJFgkC&q=Episcopus+Vagans&pg=PA166|access-date=24 May 2013}} {{cite encyclopedia|title=Old Catholics|page=335|isbn=9780810865068|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G5Ig4SDJFgkC&q=Arnold+Mathew&pg=PA335|access-date=24 May 2013|last1=Buchanan|first1=Colin|date=27 February 2006|publisher=Scarecrow Press }}
</ref> Parker was chosen by [[Queen regnant|Queen]] [[Elizabeth I of England]] to be the first [[Church of England]] [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] after the death of the previous office holder, [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal]] [[Reginald Pole]], the last Roman Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury.<ref name="Smith1907">{{catholic|inline=1|volume=1|last=Smith|first=Sydney|wstitle=Anglican Orders}}</ref> Buchanan notes the Roman Catholic Church also focuses on issues of intention and not just breaks in historical succession.<ref name="Buchanan2006" /> He does not explain whether intention has an ecclesiological role, for Anglicans, in conferring or receiving sacraments.

==Particular consecrations==

=== Old Catholics and Old Roman Catholics ===
Arnold Mathew, according to Buchanan, "lapsed into the vagaries of an ''{{lang|la|episcopus vagans}}''".<ref name="Buchanan2006" />{{rp|page=335}} Stephen Edmonds, in the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', wrote that in 1910 Mathew's wife separated from him; that same year, he declared himself and his church [[seceded]] from the [[Union of Utrecht (Old Catholic)|Union of Utrecht]].<ref name="=Edmonds2013">
{{cite ODNB|year=2013|orig-year=2012|last=Edmonds|first=Stephen|title=Mathew, Arnold Harris (1852–1919)|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/103378}}
</ref> Within a few months, on 2 November 1911, he was excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church.<ref>
{{cite journal
 |location         = Rome
 |publisher        = Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis
 |journal          = [[Acta Apostolicae Sedis]]
 |volume           = 3
 |issue            = 2
 |date             = 11 February 1911
 |publication-date = 15 February 1911
 |author           = Pope Pius X
 |author-link       = Pope Pius X
 |title            = Sacerdotes Arnoldus Harris Mathew, Herbertus Ignatius Beale et Arthurus Guilelmus Howarth nominatim excommunicantur
 |type             = [[motu proprio]] type [[Ecclesiastical letter#Letters of the popes in modern times|apostolic letter]]
 |language         = la
 |pages            = 53&ndash;54
 |url              = https://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS%2003%20&#91;1911&#93;%20-%20ocr.pdf
 |access-date       = 11 May 2013
 |archive-url       = https://web.archive.org/web/20130303051043/https://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS%2003%20[1911]%20-%20ocr.pdf
 |archive-date      = 3 March 2013
 |url-status          = live
 |df               = dmy
}}
</ref> He later sued ''[[The Times]]'' for [[libel]] based on the words "pseudo-bishop" used to describe him in the newspaper's translation from the Latin text "''{{lang|la|pseudo-episcopus}}''", and, lost his case in 1913.<ref name="=Edmonds2013" />

[[Henry R.T. Brandreth]] wrote, in ''Episcopi Vagantes and the Anglican Church'', "[o]ne of the most regrettable features of Mathew's episcopate was the founding of the [[Order of Corporate Reunion]] (OCR) in 1908. This claimed to be a revival of [[Frederick George Lee]]'s movement, but was in fact unconnected with it". Brandreth thought it "seems still to exist in a shadowy underground way" in 1947, but disconnected.<ref name="Brandreth1987">
{{cite book|location=San Bernardino, CA|publisher=Borgo Press|last=Brandreth|first=Henry R. T.
|title=Episcopi Vagantes and the Anglican Church|year=1987|orig-year=First published in 1947|isbn=0893705586|oclc=17258289}}
</ref>{{rp|page=18}} Colin Holden, in ''Ritualist on a Tricycle'', places Mathew and his {{abbr|OCR|Order of Corporate Reunion}} into perspective, he wrote Mathew was an ''{{lang|la|episcopus vagans}}'', lived in a cottage provided for him, and performed his conditional {{abbr|OCR|Order of Corporate Reunion}} acts, sometimes called according to Holden "bedroom ordinations", in his cottage.<ref>
{{cite book|location=Nedlands, W.A.|publisher=University of Western Australia Press|series=Staples South West Region publication series|issn=1030-3359|last=Holden|first=Colin|title=Ritualist on a Tricycle: Frederick Goldsmith, Church, Nationalism and Society in Western Australia, 1880-1920|year=1997|isbn=187556098X|page=272|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=INLXz6614cUC&pg=PA272|access-date=10 May 2013}}
</ref> Mathew questioned the validity of Anglican ordinations and became involved with the OCR, in 1911 according to Edmonds, and he openly advertised his offer to [[Conditional sacrament|reordain]] Anglican clergy who requested it. This angered the Church of England.<ref name="=Edmonds2013" />

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 [[Eastern Christianity]]. ''The Torch'' stated "that the ordinations of the Church of England are not recognized by any church claiming to be Catholic" so the promoters involved Mathew to [[Conditional sacrament|conditionally ordain]] group members who are "clergy of the [[Established Church]]" and "sign a profession of the Catholic Faith". It stipulated Mathew's services were not a system of [[simony]] and given without [[wiktionary:simoniac|simoniac]] expectations. The group sought to enroll "earnest-minded Catholics who sincerely desire to help forward the work of [c]orporate [r]eunion with the Holy See". [[Nigel Yates]], in ''Anglican Ritualism in Victorian Britain, 1830-1910'', described it as "an even more bizarre scheme to promote a Catholic Uniate Church in Britain" than Lee and [[Ambrose Lisle March Phillipps de Lisle]]'s [[Association for the Promotion of the Unity of Christendom]].<ref name="Yates1999">
{{cite book|publisher=Oxford University Press|last=Yates|first=Nigel|author-link=Nigel Yates|title=Anglican Ritualism in Victorian Britain, 1830-1910|year=1999|isbn=0198269897|oclc=185544754|pages=298&ndash;300|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=55aaZGqqh6oC&pg=PA298|access-date=10 May 2013}}
</ref> It was editorialized by O'Neill that the "most charitable construction to be placed on this latest move of Mathew is that he is not mentally sound. Being an Irishman, it is strange that he has not sufficient humor to see the absurdity of falling away from the Catholic Church in order to assist others to unite with the Holy See".<ref name="ONeill1912">
{{cite journal|location=Techny, IL|publisher=Arthur Preuss
|journal=The Fortnightly Review|lccn=15001974
|volume=19|issue=18|date=September 1912|editor-last=Preuss|editor-first=Arthur|editor-link=Arthur Preuss|title=The Revised Order of Corporate Re-Union|last=O'Neill|first=D. J. Scannell|pages=515&ndash;516|hdl=2027/nyp.33433068283641?urlappend=%3Bseq=187
|url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433068283641?urlappend=%3Bseq=187|access-date=12 May 2013}}
</ref>{{efn|''The Torch'', no date or page cited by O'Neill.<ref name="ONeill1912" /> Date given as 19 June 1912 by Persson, but cited without page number or article title.<ref name="Persson 2000">{{cite book |last1=Persson |first1=Bertil |title=The order of corporate reunion |date=2000 |publisher=St. Ephrem's Institute |location=Solna, Sweden |isbn=91-85734-07-1 |pages=24–25}}</ref><ref>
{{cite journal|title=The Revived Order of Corporate Reunion [constructed title] |date=19 June 1912 |location=London|publisher=[s.n.]|journal=The Torch, A Monthly Review, Advocating the Reconstruction of the Church of the West and Reunion with the Holy Orthodox Church of the East|oclc=504100502}}
</ref>}} Edmonds reports that "anything between 4 and 265 was suggested" as to how many took up his offer of reordination.<ref name="=Edmonds2013" />

=== Eastern Orthodox ===
Within the Eastern Orthodox Church, [[Aftimios Ofiesh]] was consecrated by Archbishop Evodkim Meschersky.{{refn|{{Cite book |last=Кострюков |first=Андрей Александрович |url={{GBurl|id=MU1LtwAACAAJ}} |title=Russkaya Zarubezhnaya Tserkov' v 1925-1938 gg. Yurisdiktsionnyye konflikty i otnosheniya s moskovskoy tserkovnoy vlast'yu |date=2011 |publisher=Издательство ПСТГУ. |isbn=978-5-7429-0639-1 |location=[[Moscow]] |language=ru |script-title=ru:Русская Зарубежная Церковь в 1925-1938 гг. Юрисдикционные конфликты и отношения с московской церковной властью |trans-title=The Russian Church Abroad in 1925-1938. Jurisdictional conflicts and relations with the Moscow Church authorities |lccn=2012384641 |oclc=793887486 |ol=25357333M |access-date=2022-05-19}}}} He later, with [[Platon Rozhdestvensky|Metropolitan Platon]] of the present-day [[Orthodox Church in America]], established the [[American Orthodox Catholic Church]]. Through Ofiesh and the American Orthodox Catholic Church, men such as Sophronios Beshara, Ignatius Nichols (considered also an Independent Old Catholic wandering bishop), and [[Joseph Žuk|Joseph Zuk]] were consecrated.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Herbel |first=Fr Oliver |date=2012-01-19 |title=HEOCACNA and Bishop Sophronios(us) |url=https://www.orthodoxhistory.org/2012/01/19/heocacna-and-bishop-sophroniosus/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250307181228/https://www.orthodoxhistory.org/2012/01/19/heocacna-and-bishop-sophroniosus/ |archive-date=2025-03-07 |access-date=2025-03-07 |website=Orthodox History |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Damick |first=Fr Andrew Stephen |date=2009-08-10 |title=The First Second Convert Orthodox Bishop in America |url=https://www.orthodoxhistory.org/2009/08/10/the-first-convert-bishop/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250307181357/https://www.orthodoxhistory.org/2009/08/10/the-first-convert-bishop/ |archive-date=2025-03-07 |access-date=2025-03-07 |website=Orthodox History |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":1" />

Beshara continued to lead the American Orthodox Catholic Church—whose canonical status was disputed and rejected&mdash;and Nichols was deposed, continuing to work with Independent Catholics and consecrating others.<ref name=":2" /> Notably, one of the many men consecrated by Nichols was Bishop Alexander Turner, who was received into the [[Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch]] after an eight-year probationary period.<ref name="Anson2006" /> He would be one of the principal founders of the [[Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate]].<ref name=":0" /> Zuk would later become a bishop of the [[Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA]], which would later join under the Ecumenical Patriarchate.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://www.uocofusa.org/history |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250307181610/https://www.uocofusa.org/history |archive-date=2025-03-07 |access-date=2025-03-07 |website=Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA |quote=In 1928 a second group of Ukrainian Orthodox faithful in the USA initiated a movement toward Orthodoxy. Because of the questions surrounding the status of Archbishop John, the group hesitated in affiliating itself with his already established jurisdiction even though it was thriving. The first Sobor of this group met in Allentown, PA in the spring of 1929 and established itself as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in America. Rev. Dr. Joseph Zuk was elected as administrator to organize the diocese and at its second Sobor of 1931 in New York City he was elected as its first Bishop. Two hierarchs of the Syrian Orthodox Church in the USA consecrated Bishop Zuk in 1932 at St. Volodymyr Cathedral, on 14th Street in New York City. Unfortunately, Bishop Joseph lived less than two years following his consecration.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Hierarch |url=https://www.uocofusa.org/hierarchs1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250307182000/https://www.uocofusa.org/hierarchs1 |archive-date=2025-03-07 |access-date=2025-03-07 |website=Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA}}</ref> [[Christopher Contogeorge]], consecrated by Beshara in the American Orthodox Catholic Church, would also serve in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and as exarch for the [[Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Damick |first=Fr Andrew Stephen |date=2009-07-18 |title=From Aftimios Ofiesh to The Satan Seller |url=https://www.orthodoxhistory.org/2009/07/17/from-aftimios-ofiesh-to-the-satan-seller/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250308020702/https://www.orthodoxhistory.org/2009/07/17/from-aftimios-ofiesh-to-the-satan-seller/ |archive-date=2025-03-08 |access-date=2025-03-08 |website=Orthodox History |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Notes and references==
===Notes===
{{Reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

===References===
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Further reading ==
* ''[http://anglicanhistory.org/england/ajmacdonald/vagantes1945.pdf Episcopi Vagantes in Church History]''. A.J. Macdonald.  London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1945. [[Project Canterbury]] 
* ''[http://anglicanhistory.org/england/hrtbrandreth/vagantes1947.pdf 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.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Episcopi Vagantes}}
[[Category:Bishops by type]]
[[Category:Episcopacy in the Catholic Church]]