EPISCOPACY The episcopal18 (or prelatic) 19 form of church government may be found today in the Roman Catholic Church, the Greek Orthodox and Russian Orthodox Churches, the Church of England, the Episcopalian Church in the United States, and the United Methodist Church in the United States. This form of church government calls for a distinct category of church officers, generally known as a priesthood, comprised of archbishops, bishops, and rectors (or vicars), to govern the church and to have