A retired Episcopal Church bishop in Florida said on Tuesday he has not been told who filed a Church complaint against him and six other bishops for submitting a secular court brief arguing that the Episcopal Church is not "hierarchical" beyond the level of the diocese.

The complaint, which was revealed online last week, has not been officially divulged by the Episcopal Church. A Church public affairs officer told the Episcopal News Service on Monday that "disciplinary matters are confidential at this stage."

The "friend of the court" brief was filed in April in the Texas Supreme court related to a dispute between Bishop Jack Iker, the departing "Diocese of Fort Worth" and the Episcopal Church.

Bishop Iker, the former bishop of the diocese and much of the diocesan leadership left the church in 2008 but continued to call themselves "the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth" and have since realigned themselves with the Anglican Church of North America. A dispute over ownership of property is currently ongoing in state and federal courts.

"I am at a complete loss to know how the filing of this brief could constitute an offense for which any of us could be charged!" wrote retired Bishop John W. Howe in a statement posted on the website of the Central Florida Diocese website.

"At this point, formal "charges" have not been filed. A "complaint" has been submitted, but we have not been told who filed it," he wrote.

Rev. Howe said he asked Bishop Clayton Mathews, the head of the church's Office of Pastoral Development, and the designated "intake officer" which receives complaints alleging offenses, why he foresees "disciplinary process" for the filing of the court brief.

"I look forward to hearing more fully from you," Rev. Howe wrote in a message to Bishop Matthews.

Rev. Howe, along with other signatories to the document, said they submitted the brief "solely because they disagree with the characterization of the governance of The Episcopal Church as submitted in support of the motion for summary judgment that the trial court granted in this case."

The document states that the bishops and the Anglican Communion Institute oppose the decision of the Diocese of Fort Worth to leave the Episcopal Church.

"They have no intention of withdrawing from the Church, but it is precisely because they intend to remain in the Church that they are concerned that the trial court ruling has misunderstood, and thereby damaged, the constitutional structure of The Episcopal Church," the document states.