History of the Christian Church, Volume II: Ante-Nicene Christianity. A. D. 100-325

This president was called bishop, at first only by eminence, as primus inter pares; afterwards in the

exclusive sense. In the smaller churches there was, perhaps, from the beginning, only one presbyter,

who of himself formed this centre, like the chorepiscopi or country-bishops in the fourth century.

The dioceses of the bishops in Asia Minor and North Africa, owing to their large number, in the

second and third centuries, can hardly have exceeded the extent of respectable pastoral charges.

James of Jerusalem, on the other hand, and his immediate successors, whose positions in many

respects were altogether peculiar, seem to have been the only bishops in Palestine. Somewhat

similar was the state of things in Egypt, where, down to Demetrius (a.d. 190–232), we find only

the one bishop of Alexandria.

We cannot therefore assume any strict uniformity. But the whole church spirit of the age

tended towards centralization; it everywhere felt a demand for compact, solid unity; and this inward

bent, amidst the surrounding dangers of persecution and heresy, carried the church irresistibly

towards the episcopate. In so critical and stormy a time, the principle, union is strength, division

is weakness, prevailed over all. In fact, the existence of the church at that period may be said to

have depended in a great measure on the preservation and promotion of unity, and that in an outward,

tangible form, suited to the existing grade of culture. Such a unity was offered in the bishop, who

held a monarchical, or more properly a patriarchal relation to the congregation. In the bishop was

found the visible representative of Christ, the great Head of the whole church. In the bishop,

therefore, all sentiments of piety found a centre. In the bishop the whole religious posture of the

people towards God and towards Christ had its outward support and guide. And in proportion as

every church pressed towards a single centre, this central personage must acquire a peculiar

importance and subordinate the other presbyters to itself; though, at the same time, as the language

of Clement and Irenaeus, the state of things in Egypt, and even in North Africa, and the testimony

of Jerome and other fathers, clearly prove, the remembrance of the original equality could not be

entirely blotted out, but continued to show itself in various ways.

Besides this there was also a powerful practical reason for elevating the powers of the

bishop. Every Christian congregation was a charitable society, regarding the care of the widow and

orphan, the poor and the stranger as a sacred trust; and hence the great importance of the bishop as

the administrative officer by whom the charitable funds were received and the alms disbursed. In

Greek communities the title bishop (

         ,    μ      

), was in wide use for financial officers. Their

administrative functions brought them in close relation to the deacons, as their executive aids in

the care of the poor and sick. The archdeacon became the right arm, the "eye" and "heart" of the

bishop. In primitive times every case of poverty or suffering was separately brought to the notice

of the bishop and personally relieved by a deacon. Afterwards institutions were founded for widows

and orphans, poor and infirm, and generally placed under the superintendence of the bishop; but

personal responsibility was diminished by this organized charity, and the deacons lost their original

significance and became subordinate officers of public worship.

187

86

Whatever may be thought, therefore, of the origin and the divine right of the episcopate, no

impartial historian can deny its adaptation to the wants of the church at the time, and its historical

necessity.

187

The philanthropic and financial aspect of episcopacy has been brought out very fully by Hatch, in his Bampton Lectures

on The Organization of the Early Christian Churches, Lect. II.

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Philip Schaff

History of the Christian Church, Volume II: Ante-Nicene

Christianity. A.D. 100-325.

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But then, this primitive catholic episcopal system must by no means be confounded with

the later hierarchy. The dioceses, excepting those of Jerusalem, Ephesus, Alexandria, Antioch, and

Rome, must have long remained very small, if we look at the number of professing Christians. In

the Apocalypse seven such centres of unity are mentioned within a comparatively small compass

in Asia Minor, and at a time when the number of Christians was insignificant. In the year 258,

Cyprian assembled a council of eighty-seven bishops of North Africa. The functions of the bishops

were not yet strictly separated from those of the presbyters, and it was only by degrees that

ordination, and, in the Western church, confirmation also, came to be intrusted exclusively to the

bishops.

§ 45. Development of the Episcopate. Ignatius.

It is matter of fact that the episcopal form of government was universally established in the

Eastern and Western church as early as the middle of the second century. Even the heretical sects,

at least the Ebionites, as we must infer from the commendation of the episcopacy in the

pseudo-Clementine literature, were organized on this plan, as well as the later schismatic parties

of Novatians, Donatists, etc. But it is equally undeniable, that the episcopate reached its complete

form only step by step. In the period before us we must note three stages in this development

connected with the name of Ignatius in Syria (d. 107 or 115), Irenaeus in Gaul (d. 202), and Cyprian

in North Africa (d. 258).

The episcopate first appears, as distinct from the presbyterate, but as a congregational office

only (in distinction from the diocesan idea), and as yet a young institution, greatly needing

commendation, in the famous seven (or three) Epistles of Ignatius of Antioch a disciple of the

apostles, and the second bishop of that see (Evodius being the first, and Hero the third). He is also

the first who uses the term "catholic church," as if episcopacy and catholicity sprung up

simultaneously. The whole story of Ignatius is more legendary than real, and his writings are subject

to grave suspicion of fraudulent interpolation. We have three different versions of the Ignatian

Epistles, but only one of them can be genuine; either the smaller Greek version, or the lately

discovered Syriac.

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87

 In the latter, which contains only three epistles, most of the passages on the

episcopate are wanting, indeed; yet the leading features of the institution appear even here, and we

can recognise ex ungue leonem.

189

88 In any case they reflect the public sentiment before the middle

of the second century.

188

The question of the genuineness will be discussed in §165. Cureton (1845) Bunsen, Lipsius, and others accept the Syriac

version as the original form of the Ignatian epistles, and regard even the short Greek text as corrupt, but yet as dating from the

middle of the second century. Rothe, Hefele, Schaff (first ed.), Düsterdieck, Uhlhorn, Zahn, Harnack, defend the genuineness

of the shorter Greek recension. The larger Greek recension is universally given up as spurious. The origin of the hierarchical

system is obscured by pious frauds. See below, §164 and 165.

189

In the Syriac Ep. to Polycarp, the word bishop occurs four times; in the Syriac Ep. to the Ephesians, God is blessed for

having given them such a bishop as Onesimus. In the shorter Greek Ep. to Polycarp episcopacy is mentioned in the salutation,

and in three of the eight chapters (ch. 5 twice, ch. 6 twice, ch. 8 once). In the 21 chapters of the Greek Ep. to the Ephesians, the

word bishop occurs thirteen times, presbyter three times, and deacon once (in the first six chapters, and ch. 21). In the Greek

Trallians, the bishop appears nine times; in the Magnesians, eleven times; in the Philadelphians, eight times; in the Smynaeans,

nine times. Thus in the three Syriac Epistles the bishop is mentioned but six times; in the seven shorter Greek Epistles about

fifty times; but one of the strongest passages is found in the Syriac Epistle to Polycarp (ch. 5. and 6.).

91

Philip Schaff

History of the Christian Church, Volume II: Ante-Nicene

Christianity. A.D. 100-325.

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