gradually restricted to his high office. After the death of the Apostles more duties devolved upon the president of the council, and it was in the course of things that the special word bishop, i. e., overseer or superintendent, should be applied to him. By the second century, at least, if not indeed before, the differentiation had begun and from that time on it can be plainly traced in the Church Fathers. Jerome states that at Alexandria until the middle of the third century the presbyters elected one of their number as president and called him bishop.[61:1] Hilarius says: "Every bishop is a presbyter, but not every presbyter a bishop; for he only is bishop who is the primate among the presbyters."[61:2] Examples, secular and ecclesiastical, were not lacking to warrant the change: (a) the Old Testament priesthood, (b) Christ and his Apostles, (c) the Apostles and their appointees, (d) the Emperor and his officials. The bishop soon professed to occupy the place of an Apostle instead of Christ as earlier, hence arose the idea of an "Apostolic seat" and "Apostolic succession."[61:3] He represented Christian unity of doctrine and discipline, and ruled over a recognised territory—first a single church, then a city, then a province. From the bishop it was only another step to the archbishop, the metropolitan, the patriarch, and the Pope.
3. The position of the presbyter changes, likewise, from that of the highest officer in the Church to one subordinate (a) to the board of elders and then (b) to the bishop. This distinction once made between bishop and presbyter, there was a
tendency for the bishops to usurp more and more power, while the presbyters opposed it. The third century is full of these quarrels.[62:1] Here began the conflict between the principles of monarchy and aristocracy in the Church. Soon, from acting as a member of a council, the presbyter came to act alone under the bishop—i. e., the presbyter became a priest, just as the president became a bishop. Presbyters also assumed new functions: (a) "ministry of the word" and (b) "ministry of the sacraments." New detached communities were ruled not infrequently by single presbyters under the city bishop. Indeed it seems that from the outset the smaller and weaker Christian communities were ruled by single elders.
4. The status and functions of the deacon likewise were altered. At first he visited the sick and unfortunate, collected and disbursed alms, and reported on discipline. Stephen taught; Philip baptised. With the growth of Christian civilisation, however, institutions of relief—hospitals, orphanages, infant asylums, almshouses, poorhouses, guest-houses, etc.—took the place of the earlier personal ministrations of the deacons. Each institution had its own head, not necessarily a deacon. From being distributors of alms, therefore, the deacon first became an assistant of the bishop,[62:2] and later the chief helper of the priest in the administration of the sacraments. With the multiplication of the duties of this office came the archdeacons and subdeacons.
5. The many duties incident to a complex organisation gradually produced a new set of subordinate officials—the minor orders: (a) lectors to read the
Scriptures in public and to keep the books, (b) acolytes to assist the bishops, (c) exorcists to pray for those possessed of evil spirits, (d) janitors to care for the buildings and preserve order, (e) precentors to conduct public praise service, (f) catechists to instruct the catechumens, (g) interpreters to translate the Scripture lesson.[63:1]
6. The clergy came to be distinct from the laity—a sacerdotal class was developed. In the early Church the priesthood was universal, i. e., laymen as well as Church officers could preach, baptise, administer the sacraments, and exercise discipline. The relation of clergy to laity was merely that of leadership as in non-Christian organisations. "Ordination" simply meant appointment, and was used in civic installations, while "laying on of hands" was only a symbol of prayer and even used by the Jews for secular affairs.
Gradually, however, the tendency to put the Church officials above the laity grew stronger until something akin to the Old Testament idea of the priesthood was revived. By the fourth century the Church officers had lost their primitive character and had become a separate class mediating between God and man. The causes of this separation are not difficult to see, namely: (a) the peculiar duties of the Church officials tended to give them a distinct character; (b) the persecutions to which the Roman government subjected them threw them into conspicuous relief; (c) the legalisation of Christianity bestowed upon them a distinct civil status, made them immune from public burdens like taxes and military service, exempted them from civil courts, and permitted them to acquire property; and (d) the rise
of asceticism forced the clergy to observe a code of morals different from that of the laity, demanded celibacy, originated the badge of the tonsure, and created clergy-houses.
The laity were early organised in congregations. Membership in the Church was open to all believers in Jesus. The election of officers was, for the most part, democratic. The life of each congregation was socialistic and communistic. All possessions were sold for the common good and to create a common fund for the needy.[64:1] The members enjoyed a common evening meal and their common love-feast which was to them the highest act of worship.[64:2] Disobedience, or infidelity, might be punished by private admonition, public correction, and in stubborn cases excommunication.[64:3] But after the first century these communistic-democratic societies were gradually replaced by a hierarchical organisation with new or modified institutions. The monarchio-episcopal principle of church government was gradually evolved but, nevertheless, much of the primitive democracy remained. This evolution in the government of the Church may be clearly seen by the end of the second century.