Ai oi 1 1 4i 61 n 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. 000014611 Lansing ft Broa, 283 Main St.. Poughkeepsie, N. Y.