bishops

Our lecture today got a bit stuck on the topic of bishops in the early church. These were the leaders of the house churches and their role gradually grew to oversee entire towns, or parishes, and then multiple parishes. It's quite similar to the structure some mainline denominations have today. However, in this time the bishop really held a lot of authority...too much, really. Church couldn't take place without a bishop present. They were ordained and were viewed to have the power to offer forgiveness for wrongdoing, serve communion and baptize.