Bishop

== Terminology ==
The English term ''bishop'' derives from the [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] word {{lang-grc|ἐπίσκοπος|epískopos|label=none}}, meaning "overseer"; Greek was the language of the early Christian church.<ref name="ccel_Earl" /> However, the term {{transliteration|grc|epískopos}} did not originate in Christianity. In Greek literature, the term had been used for several centuries before the advent of Christianity. It later transformed into the [[Latin]] {{lang|la|episcopus}}, [[Old English]] {{lang|ang|biscop}}, [[Middle English]] {{lang|enm|bisshop}} and lastly ''bishop''.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kashima|first=Tetsuden|url=http://archive.org/details/buddhisminameric00tets|title=Buddhism in America: the social organization of an ethnic religious institution|date=1977|location=Connecticut |publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=978-0-8371-9534-6|pages=71, 107}}</ref>

In the early Christian era the term was not always clearly distinguished from {{transliteration|grc|[[presbyter|presbýteros]]}} (literally: "elder" or "senior", origin of the modern English word ''priest''), but is used in the sense of the order or office of bishop, distinct from that of presbyter, in the writings attributed to [[Ignatius of Antioch]] (died {{c.|110}}).<ref name="ccel_Earl">{{Cite web | title = Early Christian Fathers | work = Christian Classics Ethereal Library | access-date = 2015-08-25 | url = http://www.ccel.org/ccel/richardson/fathers.vi.ii.iii.i.html }}</ref>