History of Christianity Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ====Church hierarchy==== {{See also|Christianity in the ante-Nicene period}} The Church as an institution began its formation quickly and with some flexibility. The New Testament mentions ''[[bishop]]s'' (or {{Lang|el|[[episkopoi]]}}), as overseers and ''[[presbyter]]s'' as [[Elder (Christianity)|elders]] or [[Priest#Christianity|priests]], with ''[[deacons]]'' as 'servants', sometimes using the terms interchangeably.{{sfn|Carrington|1957|pp=375β376}} According to [[Gerd Theissen]], institutionalization began when itinerant preaching transformed into resident leadership (those living in a particular community over which they exercised leadership).{{sfn|Horrell|1997|p=324}} A fully organized church system had evolved prior to Constantine and the Council of Nicaea in 325.{{sfn|Judge|2010|p=4}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page