ANTISTITE. - From antistes, etymologically one who stands above others, hence one who presides, directs.
In this sense it is used by Latin writers, pagan and Christian alike; at times the former meant by this term those who excelled in some field: rhetoricians, jurists, philosophers. But for the most part the term came to be used for those charged with sacred rites. In time, however, among Christian writers the usage prevailed of designating the bishop by a., and in this sense it is also found in the Theodosian Code (XII, 1, 49; XVI, 2, 42) and the Justinian Code (I, 3, 18, 22, 25, etc.). In Christian epigraphy it always has the meaning 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.