What is the historic episcopate anyway?
The historic episcopate is the orderly transmission of the office of bishop or overseer, with its roots in the time of the early church. It is a symbolic succession pointing back to the centrality of Christ and the teaching of the apostles. It also looks forward to the carrying out of the mission of the Gospel in the church of today. The historic episcopate existed for centuries prior to the Reformation of the 16th century, long before the rise of either Lutheranism or Anglicanism.
