BISHOP. — The bishop is the successor of the Apostles in the ordinary governance of individual Churches (see DIOCESE) under the authority of the Roman Pontiff (CIC, can. 329 § 1).
Bishop (ἐπίσκοπος, from ἐπί-σκοπέω = to look over, to watch over) is equivalent to inspector, overseer, guardian, observer, and in this sense is used in common language; in the 1st and 2nd centuries B.C., public officials on the island of Rhodes were called bishops (cf. F. Prat, Evêques, in DThC, V, cols. 1658-59). In the Septuagint, the term is used to denote governors (Judg. 9:28), prefects (Neh. 11:9), magistrates (Isa. 60:17), royal ambassadors (1 Macc. 1:46), and even God Himself (Job 20:20; Wis. 1:6). In the New Testament, the word ἐπίσκοπος appears only five times, four of which refer to the leaders of the Christian community (Acts 20:28; Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:2; Tit. 1:7). It is used once to denote Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 2:25: “episcopus animarum nostrarum”). In patristic literature, from the beginning of the 2nd century onward, the term was reserved exclusively for the head of individual Christian communities.
I. DIVINE ORIGIN OF MONARCHICAL EPISCOPACY
It is historically established that from the beginning of the 2nd century onward, monarchical episcopacy prevailed everywhere as a constitutional norm founded on the will of God (iure divino).1) Monarchical episcopacy. — St. Ignatius of Antioch (d. 107) attests that all the Churches to which he wrote were governed by a single bishop, recognized and revered as their head, whose names he also recalls: Onesimus in the Church of Ephesus (Eph. 1:2), Damas in the Church of Magnesia (Magn. 2:1), Polybus in the Church of Tralles (Trall. 1:1), Polycarp in the Church of Smyrna (Ad Polyc., prologue); the bishop of Philadelphia is mentioned (Philadel. 11, “quem episcopum cognovi”), though his name is not given; Ignatius himself presents himself as the sole bishop of Antioch (Rom. 2:2; 9:1), and indeed he holds that in every part of the world, wherever a Church has been founded, there is a bishop (Eph. 3:2; see ORDER AND ORDINATION). By the mid-2nd century, lists of bishops were compiled, indicating the succession of a single head for each Church. According to the testimony of Hegesippus, reported by Eusebius (Hist. eccl., IV, 22, 1-3; PG 20, 378-79), the Churches of Corinth, Rome, and all others were monarchical, as evidenced by the succession of bishops (“in singulis autem episcoporum successionibus et per singulas urbes eadem manent,” ibid.). At the same time, St. Irenaeus compiled the list of bishops of Rome (Adv. haeres., III, 3, 3; PG 7, 849 ff.), and the monarchical succession of bishops in the Church of Smyrna is attested (ibid., III, 3, 4; PG 7, 851), as well as in all other Churches of the world (ibid., III, 3, 1; PG 7, 848). Shortly afterward, the controversy over the celebration of Easter provides clear evidence of the monarchical constitution of all the Churches involved in the debate (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., V, 23; PG 20, 491-94): Caesarea in Palestine (Theophilus), Jerusalem (Narcissus), Pontus (Palma), Lyons (Irenaeus), Corinth (Bacchilus), Rome (Victor). In a letter to Pope Victor, Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus, recalls various bishops of Asia Minor (each presiding over a Church): Thraseas of Eumenia, Polycarp of Smyrna, Sagaris of Laodicea, Melito of Sardis, and adds that a “generous number of bishops,” among those living at his time, supported the quartodeciman practice of celebrating Easter (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., V, 24; PG 20, 485-86).
That episcopacy is by an unalterable norm monarchical is a universal conviction that emerges from the documents. St. Ignatius, writing to the Romans (ch. 9), states that the Church of Antioch was without a shepherd; he would not have asserted this if he had believed that a Church could be governed collegially by presbyters. The same holy martyr urges the faithful to share in a single Eucharist, not only because there is one Body of Christ and one Blood of Christ, but also because there is one bishop for each Church (Philadelph. 4:1). The same conviction is evident in explicit testimonies from St. Irenaeus (Adv. Haeres., III, 14, 2; PL 7, 914) and Pope St. Cornelius (Ep., 49, 2; Eusebius, Hist. eccl., VI, 43, 11; PG 20, 617: “ergo il Evangelii vindex ignorabat unum episcopum esse”).
(from *Le miniature del Sacramentario d'Ivrea e di altri codici varmondiani*, ed. L. Magnani, Vatican City 1931, pl. 1) Bishop — Consecration of a bishop. The consecrating bishop blesses the newly elected bishop, who bows, assisted by another bishop and the clergy in an attitude of expectation for the ritual laying on of hands. Miniature from the Sacramentary of Warmund, fol. 8 (667-1015). Ivrea, Capitular Library.