Lecture 11: Institutional Development before Constantine
establishing the order of worship, providing hospitality to
delegates from other assemblies, and carrying out other tasks
required process and oversight.o There was equally a need to conduct communications
between and among churches in order to ensure a “catholic”
(= “universal”) identity that spanned multiple languages
and territories, as letters were sent and received, delegates
and missionaries were commissioned and supplied, synods
and councils were called and attended, and fellowship was
expressed by the sharing of resources.• Administrative offices at the local level became at once more
complex, more centralized, and more infused with religious
significance.
o In the New Testament, the leadership of local communities
appears to be both simple and secular, resembling the basic
structure of Greco-Roman associations and synagogues. The
New Testament assigns no special religious symbolism to such
administration in the local assembly.o A board of elders had a “superintendent” or “supervisor”
(episkopos = “bishop”) at its head and lesser functionaries
(deacons/deaconesses) to do practical chores.o Paul’s letters indicate that such local leadership was responsible
for providing instruction and hospitality, settling disputes, and
administering community welfare, particularly the care of
orphans and widows.• The letters of Ignatius of Antioch (c. 107) indicate that by the
early part of the 2nd century, at least the communities of Syria and
Asia had developed a more complex organization with a more
elaborate rationalization.
o The role of the bishop was now monarchical, and the single
authority of the bishop was compared to the singleness of