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 The Origin of the Episcopate 
 
 An Historical Analysis 
 
 By 
 JOHN HOWARD MELISH 
 
 Church of the Holy Trinity 
 Brooklyn. New York 
 
 ISjSe 
 
 Published by 
 
 The Protestant Episcopal Society for the 
 Promotion of Evangelical Knowledge 
 
 1916
 
 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE EPISCOPATE. 
 
 The birth of all historical institutions 
 is lost in the golden haze of legend. 
 Only by historical criticism have men 
 been able to discriminate between fable 
 and fact, and behold the cradle of the 
 new life. If the nimbus has faded from 
 the head of Romulus no less have the 
 myth of the papacy and the legend of 
 the episcopate dissolved in the clear 
 light of modern scholarship. Institu- 
 tions are born and grow to maturity 
 before they attempt to explain them- 
 selves or justify their existence. Papal 
 infallibility was an accepted belief 
 before Pius IX declared it a dogma 
 necessary to salvation, and a century 
 and more before Cyprian advanced his 
 famous theory of the episcopate, the 
 office of a bishop was established in 
 the Church. 
 
 The Church, according to the Catholic 
 theory, is a society of living men which 
 resembles other societies in that it has 
 rules, officials and observances, but 
 is different from all other societies in 
 that it embodies certain supernatural 
 dogmas and a divinely authorized 
 government. On the sea of the world 
 are many ships but only one is the ark 
 of the new covenant of Jesus Christ, the 
 new Noah, built with his own hands, 
 and manned by an elect crew to rescue 
 the lost and carry them safely through 
 the flood to the shores of eternity. 1 In 
 a general sense the Church is all those 
 within this ark, clerical and lay; but 
 in common usage the Church is the 
 crew of the ark, that is, the sacerdotal 
 and hierarchical order which was 
 divinely established. There are actually 
 two churches in the Church, the one 
 teaching and governing, the other 
 taught and governed. It is the govern- 
 ment of the Church that distinguishes 
 the true society from all other societies. 
 This government is not developed from 
 
 JTertullian. 
 
 below, according to the law which 
 decrees that every collection of indi- 
 viduals shall organize themselves; it 
 is on the contrary, superimposed from 
 above, it is a creation of God. 
 
 When one examines, in the light of 
 history, this imposing claim of the 
 Catholic Church, held in modified forms 
 by the High Churchmen of all denomi- 
 nations, he is driven to the conclusion 
 that the divinely authorized govern- 
 ment is autochthonous. It is possible 
 to-day to trace in outline every stage 
 of the growth of the organization of 
 the Church, and to ascertain some of 
 the forces which were at work trans- 
 forming the community of the Apos- 
 tles into the institution of the bishops. 
 
 Since the discovery in 1873 of the 
 Didache or Teachings of the Twelve 
 Apostles and its first publication in 1883, 
 scholarship has possessed the key which 
 unlocks the understanding of the early 
 Church. In what follows I shall at- 
 tempt to picture the organization of the 
 Church at the transition moments in its 
 early development, when one form was 
 giving way to a subsequent and different 
 form. 
 
 I. 
 
 With the spread of Christianity from 
 Jerusalem into the cities of the Medi- 
 teranean world, a two-fold problem of 
 organization was forced upon the fol- 
 lowers of Jesus. The local community 
 of believers had to be held together, 
 in the one case, and, in the other, the 
 various local communities had to be 
 united. The first picture of the organi- 
 zation which we have shows a two-fold 
 administration ; one, a ministry of the 
 general church and the other a ministry 
 of the local community. 
 
 In the ministry of the church at large 
 were three classes of officials, known
 
 as apostles, prophets and teachers. The 
 common assumption that the office of 
 an apostle was limited to the original 
 twelve disciples, is without foundation. 
 In Matthew, Mark, and John "apostle ' 
 is not a special and distinctive name 
 for the inner circle of the followers of 
 Jesus. 1 St. Paul calls himself an apos- 
 tle of Jesus Christ, and applies the 
 same title to his fellow-missionaries 
 Barnabas and Silvanus, 2 and probably 
 also to Andronicus and Junias. 8 The 
 twelve who were called during the life 
 time of Jesus were considered by St. 
 Paul as the front rank, and he puts his 
 own apostleship in that class, but only 
 twice does he confine the term "apostle" 
 to the twelve. 4 He has a wider concep- 
 tion of the apostolate of which the 
 original twelve were only the nucleus. 
 The literature of the second century 
 shows a tendency to limit the title to 
 the first apostles but it refers to the 
 order itself as continuing to exist. 5 . 
 
 The apostles were chosen by Christ 
 Himself in the first instance. "He made 
 twelve whom He also named apostles" 
 that they should be with Him, and that 
 He should send ( drroorcAAi?) them to 
 preach and have authority to cast out 
 the demons. In this incident some have 
 seen the institution of an apostolic 
 order, separate from all other members 
 of the church and constituted to act 
 as stewards. 7 Such a view is reached 
 only by reading back into the event the 
 institutions of a subsequent age. An 
 examination of all the passages shows 
 that to the Twelve Jesus assigned two 
 functions; the first, personal nearness 
 to Himself, "that they should be with 
 Him" ; the second, a mission to preach 
 and to heal. This divine commission 
 was for a definite occasion and locality ; 
 and this and other uses of the word lead 
 
 1 Harnack, Expansion of Christianity, Vol. 
 11. 1 Cor. IX: 4 f. and Gal. 11:9. 
 *1 Thes., 11:6. 
 Rom., XVI: 7. 
 Gal.. 1:17; 1 Cor., IX: 5. 
 Didachc, XI: 4-6. 
 
 to the conclusion that the term "apostle" 
 was not intended to describe the habit- 
 ual relation of the twelve to our Lord 
 during the days of His ministry. 
 Discipleship not apostleship, was the 
 primary active function, so to speak, of 
 the Twelve till the Ascension. The 
 Last Supper, when the Twelve were 
 "with Him" completely and separated 
 from all others, is further proof that 
 the twelve were primarily disciples. 
 "If they represented an apostolic order 
 within the Ecclesia, then the Holy 
 Communion must have been intended 
 only for members of that order, and 
 the rest of the Ecclesia had no part in 
 it. But if, as the men of the apostolic 
 age and subsequent ages believed with- 
 out hesitation, the Holy Communion 
 was meant for the Ecclesia at large, 
 then the Twelve sat that evening as 
 representatives of the Ecclesia at large: 
 they were disciples more than they were 
 Apostles." 8 
 
 After the Resurrection the apostolic 
 mission was extended to other nations 
 as well as to the Jews. "Ye shall be 
 my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all 
 Judea and Samaria and unto the utter- 
 most part of the earth." 9 The apostles 
 were also charged with the task of bear- 
 ing witness. When Peter suggested the 
 need of providing a successor to Judas 
 he mentions as the one essential qual- 
 ification the man's ability to witness to 
 the Resurrection. The records of the 
 time between the Resurrection and the 
 Ascension give no other function of the 
 apostles. Their work after the Ascen- 
 sion was not in its essence different 
 from before: they had still to make 
 known the Kingdom of God by words 
 and deeds. It is significant that no new 
 act of appointment analogous to the 
 original designation of the Twelve on 
 1, p. 398 f. cf. p. 404. cf. Hort, Ecclesia, Lect 
 
 i. e. missionaries, men sent John, XIII: 
 
 16 R. V. 
 T Gore, The Church and the Ministry: 
 
 Chap. IV. 
 
 'Hort, Ecclesia : Lect. 11. 
 Acts, 1 : 8.
 
 the mountain inaugurated this new 
 stage. 
 
 As the Twelve were chosen by Christ, 
 so it was God who placed the other 
 apostles. 1 After the Ascension St. 
 Peter suggested that the vacancy in the 
 Twelve should be filled. This sugges- 
 tion was made to the community of 
 believers, who we are expressly told 
 numbered about one hundred and 
 twenty, and "they put forward two". 2 
 The choice was made not by the apos- 
 tles nor by the community but by lot, 
 whidh in their minds was equivalent 
 to a choice by God. "The lot fell upon 
 Matthias; and he was numbered with 
 the eleven apostles." 3 The community 
 is there seen to be both the primary 
 body and the primary authority. 4 As 
 to the method of divine appointment at 
 other times we have a clear picture in 
 Acts XIII. In the church at Antioch 
 certain prophets and teachers (Barn- 
 abas, Simeon, Lucius, Manaen and 
 Saul) after prayer and fasting, received 
 instructions from the Holy Spirit to 
 despatch Barnabas and Saul as mission- 
 aries or apostles. In other cases without 
 doubt the apostles were similarly com- 
 missioned. In the case of the appoint- 
 ment of some other officers of the early 
 church, as we shall see, they were 
 elected by the community. But in the 
 case of the apostles the appointment 
 was by the Spirit. 
 
 Next to the apostles, in our attempt 
 to picture the general ministry of the 
 Church, we come to the prophets. 
 First apostles, secondly prophets, etc, 5 
 In Judaism, at that period, notwith- 
 standing the common notion to the 
 contrary, were many prophets. 6 Like- 
 wise among the Christians prophets 
 were found. In Acts XXI we read that 
 a prophet by the name of Agabus jour- 
 neyed from Jerusalem to Caesarea ii 
 order to deliver to St. Paul a prophetic 
 
 ii Cor., XII: 28. 
 
 'Acts, 1:23. 
 
 8 Acts, 1:26. 
 
 4 Hort, Ecclesia : Lect. XIII. 
 
 message. Prophets similarly migrated 
 from church to church as the Didache 
 shows very clearly. 7 It was the very 
 nature of a prophet that he should have 
 no appointment other than that which 
 came directly from God, and that he 
 should speak that which was revealed 
 to him. The phrase "Apostles and 
 Prophets, 8 upon whom as a foundation 
 the Church is said to be founded, is 
 commonly thought to refer to Old Test- 
 ament prophets. But the context and 
 the references to the prophets in the 
 Acts and Epistles show that it is the 
 New Testament prophet who is held in 
 such honor. Secondly, in the order of 
 importance next to the apostles, were 
 the prophets in the early church. 
 
 High value was attached to the 
 prophets since they were thought to be 
 the voice of God. In their preaching 
 and counsels they were recognized as 
 possessing absolute authority. When 
 Ignatius at a subsequent period coun- 
 selled subjection to the bishop as the 
 head of the church, he was speaking as 
 a prophet ; he used the prophetic author- 
 ity to degrade the office of the prophet 
 and enhance that of the bishop. It is 
 not to be thought that in every case 
 the offices of apostle and prophet were 
 filled by different men. On the con- 
 trary, one man might at the same time 
 be both apostle and prophet. It was 
 a difference of function rather than of 
 office which distinguished the prophet 
 from the apostle. An apostle was pri- 
 marily a witness to what had been. 
 The prophet was the living oracle. 
 Women also were numbered among the 
 prophets. Four daughters of Philip 
 the evangelist are called prophetesses 
 in Acts XXI, 9, and an heretical 
 prophetess called Jezebel, is referred to 
 in the Apocalypse. Even after the 
 middle of the second century women 
 are still prominent, not only for their 
 
 "I Cor., XII: 28. 
 
 6 Harnack, Expansion, Vol. 1 : p. 414. 
 
 7 Didache, XI : 3. 
 
 "Ephes., 11:20.
 
 4 
 
 position as widows and deaconesses in 
 the service of the church, but also as 
 prophetesses. 1 From the begining of 
 the Church until their suppression in 
 the conflict with Montanism, the 
 prophets played an important part in 
 the life of the Christian community. 
 They spoke with the authority of im- 
 mediate inspiration, telling what they 
 saw by spiritual insight and knew to be 
 true, even if it had hitherto found no 
 utterance. Theirs was the ministry of 
 the living spirit even as the ministry 
 of the apostles was that of tradition. 
 
 Third in the order of importance in 
 the general organization as distinguish- 
 ed from the local community of the 
 Church came the teachers. "First 
 apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly 
 teachers." 2 The chief credit for the 
 spread of Christianity may be due to 
 the "teachers". 8 After Paul and Peter 
 and John of Ephesus there are no prom- 
 inent names in the roll of apostles or 
 missionaries. The Christian religion 
 was extended by men whose names have 
 not been recorded. The Didache shows 
 that the vocation of a teacher was held 
 in high repute in the second century. 4 
 In the third century there still existed 
 at Alexandria an order of teachers side 
 by side with the bishop, the presbyters 
 and the deacons, as we see in the writ- 
 ings of Origen, who as an independent 
 teacher had the battle of his life with 
 Demetrius, an utterly uneducated 
 bishop. When the hierarchy won and 
 the "laity" were forbidden from giving 
 addresses in the church, in the presence 
 of the bishops, the order of "teachers" 
 was thrust out of the Church. 
 
 The teachers were not elected by the 
 community but became such probably 
 from personal choice. 5 They ascribed 
 their office, however, to a divine com- 
 mand or charism, and were recognized 
 by the Church as possessing the Holy 
 
 1 Harnack, Expansion, Vol. II : p. 228. 
 2 1 Cor., XII : 28. 
 
 3 Harnack, Expansion, Vol. 1 : p. 441. 
 *Didache, XIII: 2; XV: 1-2. 
 
 Spirit. The early teachers were mis- 
 sionaries who sought to set forth Christ- 
 ianity to pagans as to catechumens. It 
 was they, Harnack concludes, who were 
 behind the "catholic" epistles, which 
 hardly less than the Pauline epistles 
 determined the development of Christ- 
 ianity in the primitive stage. 6 The 
 mission of the teacher was to explain 
 difficulties, to meet the problems of the 
 intellect, to impart information. He 
 ministered to the mind as the prophet 
 ministered to the spiritual understand- 
 ing. Such was Apollos. The Epistle 
 to the Hebrews is an illustration of the 
 work of the teacher in interpreting the 
 new religion in terms of the old. 
 Wandering from community to com- 
 munity and received everywhere with 
 the utmost respect, the teacher no less 
 than the apostles and prophets repre- 
 sented Christendom as a whole. 
 
 In the general church of the first 
 century we thus see that the men who 
 held the positions of honor were those 
 who spoke the word of God. They 
 were divided into three groups, the func- 
 tions of which are invaribly kept 
 distinct. First apostles, secondly 
 prophets, thirdly teachers. 7 Those 
 men were not esteemed as officials of 
 an individual community, elected by the 
 people to office or appointed by some 
 unnamed authority above them. They 
 were honored as men who had been 
 commissioned by God for the Church 
 as a whole. There is no evidence what- 
 soever for the theory that their office 
 was transmitted to them through a 
 human channel. The Didache, which 
 fills in the picture which the New Test- 
 ament itself faintly outlines, while con- 
 cerned with testing their validity, falls 
 back upon no such external test; it 
 reaffirms the statement of Jesus, "by 
 their fruits ye shall know them." 
 
 'James, III : 1 ; Didache, XIII : 2. 
 
 6 Expansion, Vol. 1 : p. 429. 
 7 Expansion, 1 : 420.
 
 II. 
 
 When we turn from the general 
 church to the local community, we find 
 that the picture of its organization 
 varies somewhat with the locality. 
 Among Jewish Christians, especially in 
 the Christian community at Jerusalem, 
 the organization naturally resembled the 
 synagogue. Among Greek Christians, 
 on the other hand, as in Corinth, it is 
 said to resemble the Greek brotherhoods 
 of the period. About the year 57 A. D., 
 the Apostle Paul thus described the 
 organization of the Christian commun- 
 ity at Corinth. 1 "God hath set some in 
 the church, first apostles, secondly 
 prophets, thirdly teachers; after that 
 miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, 
 governments, diversities of tongues." 
 The first three mentioned, as we have 
 seen, are general offices, the others are 
 local. These last are called by the 
 general name of 'helps and govern- 
 ments.' They were doubtless men who 
 kept order, helped in various ways and 
 ministered to certain ends. What is 
 significant in this first glimpse we have 
 of the ministry of the church is the 
 entire absence of any mention of 
 bishops, presbyters or deacons. The 
 community was engaged in a variety 
 of activities but no definite orders 
 monopolized the works of healing and 
 mercy. 
 
 In the next reference to the ministry, 
 written two years later in his letter to 
 the Christians at Rome, we read, 
 "Having gifts according to the grace 
 that was given to us, whether prophecy 
 ( irpo<t>-r)Tfiav) , let us prophesy accord- 
 ing to the proportion of faith; or min- 
 istry ( Sia/conav ) let us give ourselves to 
 our ministry; or he that teacheth 
 (SiSao-Ktov ) to his teaching ; or he that ex- 
 horteth ( irapai<aXS>v ) to his exhorting ; 
 he that giveth ( /ueraSiSov? ) let him do 
 it with liberality ; he that ruleth 
 ( 7jy>o-iora//.vos ) with diligence ; he that 
 
 n Cor., XII: 28. 
 2 Rom., XII : 6 f. 
 
 showeth mercy (eXeoiv) with cheerful- 
 ness." 2 Here again no reference is made 
 to the office of a bishop in the organiza- 
 tion of the Christian community in Rome. 
 The teacher is there, so is the prophet 
 and the helper; there is a general refer- 
 ence to rulers, ( Tr/ao-io-ra/xevoi ) and min- 
 isters (Sia/covta) but here also it is the 
 work rather than the man who per- 
 forms it, that is emphasized. 
 
 It was in 63 A. D., in his letter to 
 the Christian community at Philippi, 
 that the apostle for the first time used 
 the name which has been perpetuated 
 in the Church. "To the Saints in Christ 
 Jesus which are at Philippi with 
 the bishops ( eVwr/coTrois ) and deacons 
 (Sia/coVois )." 3 It is noteworthy that 
 there was in that single community 
 more than one bishop as there was more 
 than one deacon. 
 
 In the earliest authentic records of 
 the Church this then is the picture of 
 the primitive ministry, which, thanks to 
 the Didache, stands out in clear outline. 
 The details are wanting but scholarship 
 has reached an agreement as to the main 
 features of the organization of the 
 Church before the death of St. Paul. 
 The picture shows two classes of min- 
 isters. The one, consisting of apostles, 
 prophets, teachers is an itinerant min- 
 istry, that went from community to 
 community, and was not localized. In 
 one man all three of the functions might 
 be united, as they were in St. Paul 
 himself, who was an apostle, a prophet 
 and a teacher ; or each function might 
 be exercised by an individual. On the 
 other hand we have a picture of a local 
 ministry which is subordinate to the 
 itinerant ministry. In Greek communi- 
 ties these local ministers were called 
 bishops and deacons. It is not on them, 
 however, that the Church is founded 
 but on the apostles and prophets, "Jesus 
 Christ Himself being the chief corner 
 stone." 
 
 il., 1:1.
 
 The year 64 A. D., marks the begin- 
 ing of the second period in the history 
 of the Church. St. Paul, St. Peter and 
 perhaps others of the original apos- 
 tles had passed away and the functions 
 which they performed necessarily fell 
 to other men. In the literature of this 
 period, 1 Peter, 1 James 2 and Epistle to 
 Titus, 8 we see the presence in positions 
 of prominence in the local church of 
 presbyters and elders. Whereas St. 
 Paul in his epistles used the words 
 bishops and deacons to describe the 
 men who were prominent in the local 
 community, the writer of the Acts of 
 the Apostles uses the name "elder" 
 ( 7rpe<r/3vT/xws ). He states* that Paul 
 appointed presbyters in every commun- 
 ity which he founded. It is to be 
 inferred from this that the older men, 
 those who had accepted Christianity in 
 their youth, came to the front in the 
 local churches on the death of the 
 apostles. In Jerusalem this process 
 seems to have taken place during the 
 life of the apostles. Barnabas and Paul, 
 who went to Jerusalem on a question 
 of importance, are said to have been 
 "received of the church, and of the 
 apostles and elders." The inference is 
 that men, not necessarily because of age, 
 were associated with the apostles at 
 Jerusalem in the government of the 
 community. 
 
 The Pastoral Epistles reveal a further 
 stage of development of the organiza- 
 tion of the Church than that which we 
 find in the authentic letters of Paul or 
 in the Book of Acts. Here for the first 
 time appear officials rather than un- 
 official leaders. "Presbyters," "bishops" 
 and "deacons" are fixed designations 
 of certain offices. In characterizing 
 the local ministry of this period, Light- 
 foot says, "It is clear that at the close 
 of the apostolic age, the two lower 
 orders of the three-fold ministry were 
 
 J V : 1, 4. 
 2 V: 14. 
 I:5. 
 *Acts, XIV : 23. 
 
 firmly and widely established; but 
 traces of the third and highest order, 
 the episcopate, properly so-called, are 
 few and indistinct." 5 In the general 
 church, as distinguished from the 
 organization of the local community, 
 there was at this period a three-fold 
 ministry, apostles, prophets and teach- 
 ers. It was this ministry that wrote 
 the so-called catholic epistles, of which 
 as Harnack says, there is a genre in 
 literature. 8 These catholic epistles 
 circulated throughout the churches 
 and determined the development of 
 Christianity in the closing decades of 
 the first century, and at the opening of 
 the second hardly less than the Pauline 
 epistles. It is to those writings the 
 Church owed that degree of homoge- 
 neity which the local churches showed. 
 We may now finish this picture of 
 the organization of the Church at the 
 close of the first century with this 
 remark. There is a general ministry 
 and a local ministry. In the collective 
 church are apostles, prophets and 
 teachers. Their function is spiritual: 
 the apostle preaches the word, the 
 prophet speaks by direct inspiration, 
 the teacher explains the truth and in- 
 structs. They received their appoint- 
 ment at the hands of no human author- 
 ity; it was the Spirit that set them 
 apart. Journeying from place to place 
 they were listened to with reverence 
 and were the chains which bound the 
 various communities together in a 
 spiritual brotherhood. The only ap- 
 parent exception to this was St. James 
 at Jerusalem who sat in a seat of 
 authority. It has been frequently in- 
 ferred that there is the monarchical 
 episcopate. 7 The more natural deduc- 
 tion, however, to be drawn from that 
 unique fact is that James was regarded 
 as the leader because he was the blood 
 brother of the Master. Had Jerusalem 
 
 6 Essay, last ed., p. 195. 
 'Expansion, 1 : p. 428. 
 7 Gore, Ministry.
 
 not fallen it is possible that Christianity 
 might have developed in the West a 
 Caliphate similar to Mohammedanism. 1 
 Below this general ministry there was 
 in each community a local ministry. 
 Each church, apparently, had several 
 of its older men, older either in faith 
 or in years, to whom it looked for direc- 
 tion ; they were called elders and admin- 
 istered the affairs of the community. 
 In some cases they had been selected 
 by an apostle; in others they may have 
 been elected by the community; in 
 others still they may have been chosen 
 because it was in their houses the 
 Christians met. Such men were far 
 from being church officials, as we think 
 of ordained ministers. Under the di- 
 rection of those presbyters were other 
 men, sometimes of their number, some- 
 times not, who acted as treasurers or 
 executive secretaries. These men were 
 known as bishops ( CTTLO-KOTTOI ') or over- 
 seers and deacons ( SMKOVOI ) or helpers. 
 In some cases these administrative of- 
 ficers were appointed by the presbyters, 
 in other cases they were selected by an 
 apostle, and in still others they were 
 selected by the community. 
 
 III. 
 
 What wrought the transformation of 
 the ministry in the succeeding century, 
 by which the subordinate and insignifi- 
 cant office of overseer was lifted from the 
 lowest to the topmost rung of the 
 ecclesiastical ladder? During the 
 second century the general ministry of 
 apostles, prophets and teachers dis- 
 appeared, and was succeeded by the 
 local ministry of presbyters, bishops 
 and deacons. Two forces were at work 
 effecting this transposition. One de- 
 preciated the value of the general 
 ministry and the other magnified the 
 importance of the local ministry. 
 Thanks to the Didache we have con- 
 siderable light thrown on this period 
 of transition. 
 
 a Allen, Institutions. 
 2 Did., XI: 3. 
 
 The Didache, a document first pub- 
 lished in 1883, sets forth the teaching 
 of the Twelve Apostles and was written 
 between 70 and 165 A. D. In its 
 picture of the ministry we still see the 
 apostles, prophets and teachers of the 
 previous period, but at the moment 
 when they are under fire of criticism. 
 The Didache enjoins the apostles and 
 prophets to obey the "ordinance of the 
 Gospel." 2 By that it meant that they 
 were to be penniless, and not to settle 
 down but be ever extending the king- 
 dom of Christ. Here we see that the 
 order of apostles was an order of mis- 
 sionaries. It was in fact due to that 
 heroic order of apostles that Christian- 
 ity was so widely spread at the begin- 
 ing of the second century. So far as 
 historic knowledge can say, only St. 
 Paul and St. Peter, and perhaps St. 
 John, of the original apostles spread the 
 Gospel widely, the world wide service 
 of the other apostles being largely 
 legendary. It is to the order of the 
 larger apostolate that the credit be- 
 longs. 3 In the Didache we see an at- 
 tempt to regulate this apostolate. 
 So high was it in the estimation of the 
 period that men of doubtful motives 
 sought to profit by it. "Let every 
 apostle who comes to you be received 
 as the Lord. But he shall not remain 
 more than one day, or, if need be, two; 
 if he remains for three days, he is a 
 false prophet. But on his departure 
 let the apostle receive nothing but bread, 
 till he finds shelter; if he asks for 
 money, he is a false prophet". 4 Similar 
 warnings are given in regard to teach- 
 ers and prophets. This shows there 
 was a questioning of the regularity of 
 those men and an attempt to safeguard 
 the community against abuses. Along 
 with this regulation there are indica- 
 tions of a tendency to put the primitive 
 apostles in a unique place above all the 
 disciples of succeeding generations. 
 The name apostle, it was thought, 
 
 8 Harnack, Expansion, Vol. 1 : p. 441. 
 Did. f XI: 4-6.
 
 should be reserved only for those men 
 who were the first to spread the Gospel 
 to the nations. 
 
 This depreciation of the contem- 
 porary general ministry magnified the 
 importance of the local ministry which 
 for other reasons also was assuming a 
 clearly defined and vital place in the 
 Christian community. The Didache 1 
 bids every local church to appoint 
 for itself bishops and deacons. Pro- 
 vision is also made for any community 
 which so desires it, to receive a prophet 
 or teacher as a permanent local officer. 
 In that case the teacher may settle down 
 and be entitled, by virtue of his life 
 and teaching, to the support of the 
 community, as in the case of the Jew- 
 ish priesthood, "for they are your high 
 priest." In cases where the local 
 church elects its own bishops and 
 deacons, the Didache declares that these 
 elected officials shall take upon them- 
 selves the functions of prophets and 
 teachers and be honored as such. Here 
 we have a glimpse of the ministry in 
 the period of transition, when the 
 general ministry is breaking down and 
 the local ministry growing up. The 
 interest of the Didache is that it shows 
 the ministry of the apostolic period 
 as it is passing into the catholic 
 ministry of the subsequent period. 
 
 For the advocates of the theory of 
 an original apostolic succession, the 
 period of the Didache is a bar which 
 divides the harbor from the sea and on 
 which many ships run aground. Even 
 so skillful a pilot as the present 
 Bishop of Oxford (Gore) has wrecked 
 his ship at that point. It is admitted 
 that the theory of an original con- 
 tinuous succession of the bishops from 
 the apostles has broken down. 2 The 
 liberalized restatement of the theory 
 has attempted to show that the bishops 
 received their authority, if not from 
 
 foundations, p. 383. 
 8 Idem. Note. 
 
 apostles then from apostolic men, that b, 
 from the itinerant "prophets and teach- 
 ers." Such men, however, as we have 
 seen, received their commission not from 
 the original apostles or any other human 
 agency. Their authority came from the 
 Spirit without any intermediary and, so 
 far as our information goes, the principle 
 of their ordination is not to be differ- 
 entiated, for example, from the Irvingite 
 "apostles" of modern times. 8 
 
 Why, let us now inquire, should 
 the functions of the general ministry 
 have fallen upon the bishops rather 
 than upon the presbyters? In the 
 absence of information it was inferred 
 that the bishop (episcopos) or superin- 
 tendent* was a name conferred upon 
 those who succeeded the apostles in the 
 work of supervising the local churches. 
 Now, however, it has been established 
 that the bishop (episcopos) was the de- 
 signation of a subordinate officer in the 
 local community. The bishop was origi- 
 nally the responsible financial officer of 
 the local church. St. Paul salutes the 
 bishops and deacons in his letter to the 
 Philippians because he is writing to ac- 
 knowledge a gift of money. Justin 
 Martyr describes the bishop as the man 
 with whom money or goods are de- 
 posited at the time of the Eucharist, 
 and who succored the orphans and 
 widows and took care of all who were 
 in need. 5 The early Church considered 
 itself especially sent to minister to the 
 poor and its membership chiefly con- 
 sisted of the poor. Widows and or- 
 phans were found in those early com- 
 munities from the beginning. They fed 
 their members who were imprisoned, 
 ransomed them, when sold into captivity. 
 Strangers who bore the Christian name 
 visited the communities as they passed 
 along the great routes of commerce in 
 both East and West, either in the 
 pursuit of business or driven by per- 
 
 4 Episcopos (literally overseer or super- 
 intendent). See Acts, XX : 28, A. V. 
 and R. V. 
 
 5 Apol., IX, VII.
 
 secution. And they were given hospital- 
 ity. Now it was the bishop upon whom 
 was placed by the community the duty 
 of caring for all such members. He 
 had to distinguish between the worthy 
 and the unworthy applicants for help, 
 for the early Church had its frauds 
 'and rounders.' To secure against im- 
 posture certificates of good standing 
 were issued, and it was the bishop who 
 signed them. The bishop (episcopos) was 
 treasurer and secretary of the local 
 church and as such became the pivot and 
 centre of its administration. 1 Later 
 thought saw in these important 
 positions a hierarchy, but to their con- 
 temporaries, Timothy and Titus, Igna- 
 tius and Polycarp were able executive 
 secretaries of their respective associa- 
 tions. 
 
 Not only was the overseer (episcopos) 
 the responsible financial officer of the 
 local community but he presided at the 
 celebration of the Lord's Supper. That 
 function was closely affiliated with his 
 treasurership, since the offering of money 
 or alms was made at the moment when 
 the service or worship of the Eucharist 
 was to be rendered. "The Christian 
 festival", says Lightfoot, "both in the 
 hour of the day and in the arrange- 
 ment of the meal, was substantially a 
 reproduction of Christ's last supper 
 with his disciples. Hence, it was called 
 the 'Lord's Supper', a name originally 
 applied to the combined Eucharist and 
 agape, 2 but afterward applied to the 
 former when the latter had been sep- 
 arated or abolished." 3 While it was 
 still an agape, or evening meal, the 
 congregation sat at the table and one 
 presided. When the congregation be- 
 came too numerous for this a few were 
 chosen, the elders' and others, to sit 
 with the superintendent (episcopos) at 
 the table. A dramatization of the last 
 supper was held in place of the reality. 
 
 1 Hatch, Organization of the Early Church, 
 Lect. 11. 
 
 i love-feast. 
 Lightfoot, Apos. Fathers, Part II, Vol. 
 1 : p. 400. 
 
 In that representation the bishop (epis- 
 copos) symbolized Christ and the elders 
 His apostles. As the Lord's Supper 
 grew in the reverence of the Church, 
 eventually the office of the overseer rose 
 to supremacy. 
 
 In these three facts, his place as 
 financial officer, as distributor of relief, 
 as director of the worship, we find 
 sufficient explanation of the elevation 
 of the overseer (episcopos) . In the early 
 age of the Church men explained the ori- 
 gin of the office of the bishop, by refer- 
 ring to the Apostle John. "The order of 
 the bishops, when traced back to the 
 origin, will be found to rest upon John 
 as its author." 4 There was, however, 
 another tradition which held that the 
 bishops and presbyters were of equal 
 authority in the beginning of Christ's 
 religion, and that the placing of the 
 bishop above the presbyter was an ec- 
 clesiastical arrangement which was made 
 in consequence of schisms and other dis- 
 orders in the churches. 5 
 
 This latter theory, first set forth by St. 
 Jerome (420) has been advocated in 
 recent times by Bishop Lightfoot. "The 
 episcopate was formed not out of the 
 Apostolic Order by localization, but out 
 of the presbyterial by elevation, and 
 the title, which originally was common 
 to all, came at length to be appropriated 
 to the chief among them." Later 
 scholarship agrees with Lightfoot that 
 "it is not to the apostle that we must 
 look for the prototype of the bishop," 
 but it finds the origin of the office in 
 the financial officer of the local com- 
 munity. Historical research has shown 
 that the government of the Church, in 
 stead of being superimposed from 
 above, has like every institution, de- 
 veloped from below. This theory, which 
 the Pope has singled out and condemned 
 as the very synthesis of all heresies, 8 
 
 4 Tertullian, Adv. Marc. IV : 5. 
 5 Allen, Institutions, p. 7. 
 6 Tuby 1907 Lamentable decree of Pope 
 Pius X.
 
 10 
 
 has won its way into favor of historians 
 both Catholic and Protestant. 
 
 This then is the picture of the organi- 
 zation of the church in the first century, 
 the details of which are wanting, but the 
 outline of which is definitely determined. 
 There are ranks of ministers ; in the first 
 were those who preached the word. 
 God hath appointed first, apostles, 
 secondly prophets, thirdly teachers. 
 In the second rank were those who ad- 
 ministered the affairs of the local com- 
 munity. The names of these officers 
 were for a time not fixed, but three 
 titles eventually became permanent. 
 These titles, bishops, presbytefrs, and 
 deacons stood from the first for dis- 
 tinct functions. Moral instruction and 
 guidance of the young fell to the presby- 
 ters; superintendence of the worship 
 and care of the funds and service to 
 the poor were the responsiblity of the 
 bishops; assistance to the bishops in 
 all such matters was the task of the 
 deacons. In some instances a presbyter 
 may have performed the functions of 
 the bishop, and then again the bishop 
 may have fulfilled the duties of a pres- 
 byter. The change came with the 
 growth of the Christian communities, 
 and the new tasks which were forced 
 upon them from without and within. 
 Gradually the local ministry assumed 
 the functions of the general ministry; 
 bishops and presbyters became clothed 
 with the character of apostles, prophets 
 and teachers. The needs of the time 
 called for administration and efficiency 
 rather than for charismatic service. 
 All collective life ordinarily tends to 
 emphasize organization and external 
 discipline. By the close of the second 
 century the transition was complete. 
 Apostles, prophets, teachers had disap- 
 peared, and in the places of supreme 
 authority were the administrators of 
 the church. Every step in the develop- 
 ment of the organization throughout 
 the second century is known. The 
 century opens with the bishop repre- 
 
 Institutions, p, 208. 
 
 sented by St. Ignatius as the successor 
 of Christ. It closes with the bishop 
 recognized as the successor of the 
 apostle. In a space of time a little 
 longer than the entire history of the 
 Uuited States, the organization of the 
 Church saw the rise of the office of 
 bishop from the simple treasurer of the 
 local community to the monarchical 
 episcopate of Cyprian. 
 
 IV. 
 
 The new light which historical criti- 
 cism has thrown on the origin of the 
 Church's organization illuminates sev- 
 eral age-long controversies, and at least 
 one vital modern problem. There is an 
 ancient quarrel between Presbyterians 
 and Episcopalians as to which order of 
 ministers, presbyters, or bishops, were 
 declared by Christ and His Apostles to 
 constitute the ministry. But now, as 
 Dean Stanley says, "that which was once 
 the Gordian knot of theologians has 
 been untied, not by the sword of perse- 
 cution but by the patient unravelment of 
 scholarship." "It is as sure that noth- 
 ing like modern Episcopacy existed be- 
 fore the close of the first century as it is 
 that nothing like modern Presbyterian- 
 ism existed after the beginning of the 
 second." 1 
 
 In the fierce controversy between Pro- 
 testants and the Papacy scholarship 
 has intervened with the proof which is 
 beyond dispute or refutation, that in the 
 early Church St. Peter held no official 
 position of greater importance than that 
 held by the other Apostles; that the 
 "head of the Church," if any one can be 
 so designated, was St. James; and he 
 can be so designated because he was the 
 blood brother of Jesus. Every step of 
 the growth of the See of Rome has been 
 traced and is today known. "The Pope 
 is the ghost of the deceased Roman Em- 
 pire, sitting crowned upon the grave 
 thereof." 2 
 
 It is Congregationalism, more than 
 any other ecclesiastical polity, which re- 
 
 2 Hobbes.
 
 11 
 
 ceives controversal advantage from the 
 result of historical criticism. Each com- 
 munity of early Christians was self- 
 governing; each was bound to other 
 communities not by official ties but by 
 bonds of loyalty to common leaders, 
 common ideas and community of inter- 
 est. The itinerant apostles, prophets, 
 teachers of the early Church, however, 
 gave a unity to the general Church 
 which Congregationalism has not yet 
 attained. 
 
 The problem of Christian Unity will 
 be met only as the light of historical 
 criticism illuminates all the people and 
 Churches interested in solving it. Those 
 who now assert that their particular 
 polity is "God-made," that is, was insti- 
 tuted by Christ Himself, and must there- 
 fore be submitted to by all the "man- 
 made," ministries, have no authority 
 other than their own unsupported and 
 unhistorical dogmas. It is only when 
 they have been liberated from the thrall 
 of their preconceived theories that they 
 will be able to join with the men of 
 other churches in solving the problem of 
 the unity of the followers of Jesus. "No 
 
 permanent order of ministers appears in 
 that spiritual kingdom of which He 
 spoke on the hills of Galilee or on the 
 slope of Olivet." What the Church has 
 become, it grew to be, and what the 
 Church once made, it can unmake, and 
 in its place produce some order which 
 will more effectively represent the unity 
 of Christendom. Congregationalism 
 was succeeded by Presbyterianism, Pres- 
 byterianism by Episcopalianism and 
 Episcopalianism by the Papacy. Or, 
 putting it in another way, democracy 
 was succeeded by aristocracy, and aris- 
 tocracy by monarchy, and monarchy by 
 imperialism in the administration of the 
 Church. Such, roughly speaking, was 
 the development of Church organization. 
 May it not be that the Church of the fu- 
 ture, instead of choosing any one of 
 these conflicting orders, will choose 
 them all, and then unite them, by means 
 of the principle of federalism, in some 
 splendid and organic whole, which 
 while it secures Unity at the centre does 
 not destroy the liberty of the Parts. 
 John Howard Melish.
 
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 Lansing ft Broa, 
 
 283 Main St.. 
 Poughkeepsie, N. Y.