The Episcopate of the Holy Order of the Kinshaya was the ruling council of bishops for the Holy Order of the Kinshaya. The Episcopate imposed their strong orthodoxy upon the worlds and institutions of the Kinshaya, and persecuted those they considered heretical.
Following the Niamlar Massacre on Janalwa, outrage against the Episcopate spread throughout the Order, sparking civil unrest that the fiats of the church were unable to quell. (ST - Typhon Pact eBook: The Struggle Within)
By 2384, the Devotionalists had taken control of the government of the Holy Order, but Kinshaya loyal to the Episcopate still remained. Those loyalists had resources including at least eight Iconoclast-series Kinshaya liberators. The loyalists loathed the Devotionalists, and desired to overthrow them and return to their previous power.
The Episcopate became aware of the Nexus and its likely encroachment into Holy Order space. The Kinshaya had planted an Orion spy aboard the USS Newton under the identity Een Norgadd, who was able to sabotage the vessel. Several liberators attacked the USS Enterprise-E and the Newton, declaring the Nexus holy and sacred, and seeking to defend it against the Starfleet attempts to destabilize the energy ribbon. However, the Enterprise was able to erect a verteron membrane around the Nexus, preventing anyone from accessing its temporal abilities. (TNG eBook: The Stuff of Dreams)