How did the order of Bishop’s form in the Early Church?
Since its earliest days, the Church has been led by episcopoi (i.e. “overseers” or leaders) who early on were understood to be the successors of the apostles. Although there is scholarly debate as to whether the apostles actually appointed and consecrated the leaders of the earliest churches, there is general agreement that in the eyes of the early Church these leaders succeeded to the authority and the responsibilities of the apostles. In some of the early churches, the leadership lay in a group of ministers, in Greek “episcopoi”; however, it soon developed that each city would have a single person, an “episcopos,” who would oversee the Christians in that community. As the tradition developed, this episcopos, bishop to use the English, came to be assisted in his ministry by presbyters (elders or as they came to be called, priests) and deacons.
