church ought to be united, and, on the other hand, the practical
reality that the various leaders of individual congregations often
disagreed with each other. According to this interpretation, it was
only in the late second century, or even the early third, that a
bishop with authority over all Rome’s Christians finally emerged
(Brent 1995; Lampe 2003; Thomassen 2004).
The institution of a clerical hierarchy was important not only
within individual cities. Paul’s letters to various Christian groups
testify to their propensity to divide over issues of faith and prac-
tice. As an itinerant missionary, Paul could not supervise in person
the communities that he established and so was compelled to write
letters to them. Bishops, presbyters, and deacons helped safeguard
against divisions by providing clearly identifiable leadership
figures who could, moreover, endeavour to maintain unity not only
within their own communities, but in the church throughout the
Roman world. As with Paul, correspondence was a key element
to this task, as is shown by some of the earliest post-New Testa-
ment Christian documents, such as the First Epistle of Clement
to the church at Corinth and Ignatius of Antioch’s letters to various
congregations in Asia Minor and at Rome. Christian leaders
also met for discussion. The Acts of the Apostlesdescribes the
apostles and elders (presbuteroi) meeting at Jerusalem to debate
the question of gentile conversion (15.1–3). By the middle of the
second century we begin to glimpse meetings of Christian bishops
that could be called church councils. Eusebius of Caesarea
describes such meetings of bishops to discuss the theological
implications of the teachings of Montanus (see p. 163) and to
debate the correct date for Easter observance (Ecclesiastical
History5.19.3–4; 5.23–4). By the third century, the procedures
for church councils were becoming increasingly formalized, as is
clear from the correspondence of Cyprian of Carthage (Amidon
1983). Such episcopal cooperation extended in some places to
bishops officiating at the consecration of their colleagues, a prac-
tice attested from the mid-third century at Rome (albeit in the
context of a schism) and Carthage (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical
History6.43.8; Cyprian, Letters67.5).ORTHODOXY AND ORGANIZATION IN EARLY CHRISTIANITY
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