The Office of the Bishop

The Lord Jesus himself created a hierarchy of ministers for the Church which he established.  He began to do this with the calling of various persons to discipleship.  He chose twelve of these as Apostles, and from the Apostles he chose one -- Simon Peter -- to reign over all in his name.   During the early years of the Church, the Apostles ordained certain men as bishops -- ‘overseers’ -- of the churches they founded.  These men had for their particular concern the offering of Holy Mass and the administration of the sacraments for their church.  When the local church grew, these bishops in turn ordained priests and also deacons to assist him in this work, but this practice evolved only over time.  In the early days, the bishop and the pastor of the parish were the same man.  From the Commentary on 1 Timothy 1,  by St. Thomas Aquinas:

“According to Dionysius [the pseudo Areopagite] there are three orders [of Church offices]: the episcopate, which is put in charge; the priesthood, which enlightens, and the diaconate, which sends forth.  So why does not Paul mention the priests?  I respond that the priests are to be understood with the bishops.  There is no distinction of the orders as to their matter, but as to their titles, because ‘priest’ is the same as ‘elder’ [in Greek, ‘presbyteros’], and is an overseer [in Greek, ‘episcopos’] who keeps watch.  The titles ‘priest’ and ‘bishop’, then, were interchangeable. First, the Apostle treats of the desire of the attainment of the episcopate.  Second, he describes the state of the bishop.  ‘If anyone desires the episcopate’ -- some take up the matter of ambition for the episcopate or prelature from these words, but they do not rightly understand what is said here.  The Apostle wishes to show here what pertains to the episcopate.  Now, the word ‘episcopate’ comes from the Greek words ‘scopos’, which means ‘seeing’, and ‘epi’, which means ‘over’.  ‘Episcopate’, then, means ‘overseeing’.  Two matters should be considered in regards to the bishop: his higher rank, and his good work for the people.  Perhaps some cast their eye at those things that surround him, for the one set in charge is paid honor, and because he has authority.  But anyone who desires the episcopal office because of these things does not know what a bishop is.  For this reason, the Apostle says, in defining the bishop, says that he is someone who desires the episcopate because it is a ‘good work’.  He does not say that he has a good desire, but a ‘good work’ -- that is, for the good of the people.  but is he never allowed to have ambition for himself?  Augustine says no.”