ANTISTES. — From antistes, etymologically one who stands above others, hence who presides, directs.
In this sense the term is used by Latin writers, both pagan and Christian; sometimes the former use the word to denote those who excelled in some field: rhetoricians, jurists, philosophers. But for the most part the term came to be applied to those in charge of sacred rites. Over time, however, among Christian writers the use of a. to designate the bishop prevailed, and in this sense it is also found in the Theodosian Code (XII, 1, 49; XVI, 2, 42) and Justinian’s Code (I, 3, 18, 22, 25, etc.). In Christian epigraphy it always has the value of bishop: thus in metrical or prose inscriptions from Rome, Porto, Vercelli, Parenzo, Sulci (Sardinia), Gaul, Spain, and Africa, from the 4th to the 9th century.