Bishop

=== Apostolic Fathers ===
{{Original research|section|date=March 2013}}

Around the end of the [[Christianity in the 1st century|1st century]], the church's organization became clearer in historical documents.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}} In the works of the Apostolic Fathers, and Ignatius of Antioch in particular, the role of the episkopos, or bishop, became more important or, rather, already was very important and being clearly defined. While Ignatius of Antioch offers the earliest clear description of monarchial bishops (a single bishop over all [[house church]]es in a city){{efn|{{quote|Blessed be God, who has granted unto you, who are yourselves so excellent, to obtain such an excellent bishop.|Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians 1:1<ref name="ccel_NN">{{Cite web | title = Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus| work = Christian Classics Ethereal Library | access-date = 2019-03-30 | url = https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.v.ii.i.html }}</ref>}}}} he is an advocate of monepiscopal structure rather than describing an accepted reality. To the bishops and house churches to which he writes, he offers strategies on how to pressure house churches who do not recognize the bishop into compliance. Other contemporary Christian writers do not describe monarchial bishops, either continuing to equate them with the presbyters or speaking of {{transliteration|grc|episkopoi}} (bishops, plural) in a city.

[[File:Byzantine - Saint Ignatius of Antioch - Walters 4820867.jpg|thumb|Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, student of [[John the Apostle]]]]

As the Church continued to expand, new churches in important cities gained their own bishop. Churches in the regions outside an important city were served by [[Chorbishop]], an official rank of bishops. However, soon, presbyters and deacons were sent from the bishop of a city church. Gradually, priests replaced the chorbishops. Thus, in time, the bishop changed from being the leader of a single church confined to an urban area to being the leader of the churches of a given geographical area.

[[Clement of Alexandria]] (end of the 2nd century) writes about the ordination of a certain Zachæus as bishop by the imposition of [[Saint Peter|Simon Peter Bar-Jonah's]] hands. The words bishop and ordination are used in their technical meaning by the same Clement of Alexandria.<ref>Clement, "Hom.", III, lxxii; cfr. ''[[Stromata]]'', VI, xiii, cvi; cf. "Const. Apost.", II, viii, 36</ref> The bishops in the 2nd century are defined also as the only clergy to whom the ordination to priesthood ([[presbyterate]]) and diaconate is entrusted: "a priest (presbyter) [[Laying on of hands|lays on hands]], but does not [[ordain]]." ({{transliteration|grc|cheirothetei ou cheirotonei}}).<ref>"Didascalia Syr.", IV; III, 10, 11, 20; Cornelius, "Ad Fabianum" in Eusebius, ''[[Church History (Eusebius)|Historia Ecclesiastica]]'', VI, xliii.</ref>

At the beginning of the 3rd century, [[Hippolytus of Rome]] describes another feature of the ministry of a bishop, which is that of the {{lang|la|"Spiritum primatus sacerdotii habere potestatem dimittere peccata"}}: the primate of sacrificial priesthood and the power to forgive sins.<ref name="web._Whyt">{{Cite web
| title = Why the New Rite of Episcopal Consecration is Valid
| author = Fr. Pierre-Marie, O.P.
| work = The Angelus
| date = January 2006
| access-date = 2014-09-07
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061115005951/http://www.sspx.ca/Angelus/2006_January/New_Rite_Episcopal_Consecration_Pt2.htm
|url=http://www.sspx.ca/Angelus/2006_January/New_Rite_Episcopal_Consecration_Pt2.htm
|archive-date=2006-11-15
|volume=XXVIX
|issue=1
}}</ref>