Bishop

Bishop (from the Greek episkopos, meaning overseer or guardian) was a term used in the New Testament for a leader in the early Christian community, equivalent in that period to elder (presbyteros). The two terms appear to be used interchangeably in the apostolic period: Paul addresses the elders (presbyteroi) of Ephesus in Acts 20:17 and describes them as overseers (episkopoi) appointed by the Holy Spirit to care for the flock. Similarly in Titus 1:5-7, he moves seamlessly from speaking of elders to bishops in describing the same role.

The qualifications for the office are set out in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, emphasizing moral integrity, ability to teach, household management, freedom from recent conversion, good reputation among outsiders, sobriety, and hospitality. The bishop was to be the husband of one wife, temperate, self-controlled, and not a lover of money. The subsequent development of the monarchical episcopate—with a single bishop presiding over multiple elders in a region—emerged in the second century, represented in the letters of Ignatius of Antioch, and became the normative form of church governance in most Christian traditions. The New Testament itself presents a more collegial pattern of leadership by a body of bishop-elders in each local church.