aspects of the episcopal office. It calls down upon the new bishop the Holy Ghost whom God has delivered to Christ, who in turn passed it on to the apostles, thus asserting the continuity of the ecclesiastical tradition. In his new role as pastor of his flock and as archpriest, the bishop must minister to his community, and he must represent them to God through his prayers. He holds the same authority as the apostles to forgive sins. And he ought to lead a life pleasing to God, excelling in meekness and purity of heart. After the ordination, the new bishop receives the kiss of peace from all who are present and then celebrates the eucharist.26
In paying close attention to the process of ordination, the Apostolic Tradition gives voice to an idea that will become a powerful undercurrent to all later reflections on the episcopate: the bishop is a successor of the apostles and partakes of the same Spirit as they had. It is the apostolic succession of the bishop that bestows on him the Holy Spirit. As a consequence, spiritual authority can reside not just in the person of the bishop, but also in the episcopal office per se. According to the Apostolic Tradition, the Spirit is conferred on the bishop-elect by other bishops through the imposition of hands and the prayer of ordination. The apostolic succession is an external source of the Holy Spirit that is attached to the episcopal office. The institutional spiritual authority inherent in the episcopate is distinct from the personal spiritual authority held by the bishop and displayed in his conduct. Ideally, the former is bestowed as a confirmation of the latter. The relation of personal spiritual authority to spiritual authority acquired ex officio would remain a major concern, especially as the bishops grew in number and gained greater importance in civic life.
The Didascalia, a detailed church order that was composed in northern Syria, also dates from the first half of the third century. It was originally written in Greek but now survives only in a complete Syriac translation and in Latin fragments. The Didascalia purports to contain the teaching of the twelve apostles on the organization of Christian churches. It furnishes ample information on the preconditions for appointment to episcopal office, the duties of a bishop, and the personal traits required of a bishop to fulfill his role.27 The Didascalia reflects a new stage in the structural development of the Christian communities, competently mapped out in a recent book by Georg Schöllgen.28 By the time of the Didascalia, what had started as voluntary and spontaneous donations by the congregation to the communal chest had evolved into regular and fixed contributions, which were used in part to provide the clergy with salaries according to their rank. This development had several important consequences: it set the clergy apart from the laity, it transformed the members of the clergy from volunteering servants into salaried officials, and it created the economic conditions for treating ecclesiastical ministry as a career like any other. It is perhaps for this reason that the Didascalia takes great care to remind the lay members of the congregation of the spiritual and ascetic authority of the bishop, from which all other positive aspects of his administration will flow.
In appointing a bishop, the Didascalia notes, it is important to choose a candidate who enjoys a good reputation and who has no physical handicaps. The minimum age requirement is set at fifty years, although more important than the criterion of age is the candidate’s moral qualification. His character must correspond to the description given in Paul’s First Letter to Timothy, and special emphasis is placed on his ability to maintain his own household in order. Even if he is illiterate, he ought to be able to give religious instruction to his flock. The constitutive act that turns the candidate who has the support and consensus of all into a bishop is the imposition of hands, presumably in a manner comparable to that described in the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus.29
The desirable traits of character of a bishop are set out in the Didascalia in conjunction with his tasks and duties. The bishop should prepare for his task as interpreter of scripture through constant reading.30 As the administrator of ecclesiastical charity to widows and orphans, to the poor and to strangers, the bishop should be charitable and generous. He should also be able to use his own good judgment in determining each individual’s needs, so as to avoid favoritism and jealousy.31
The most prominent role ascribed to the bishop in the Didascalia, next to the administration of charity, is his authority to impose penance by excluding unworthy members from the community until their sincere repentance has made them worthy of readmission. The act of readmission consists in the imposition of hands by the bishop while the whole congregation prays over the penitent.32 In order to fulfill this responsibility of administering the different degrees of penance, the bishop must be immune to bribery, impartial in his judgment even of rich or influential people,33 and merciful and compassionate toward the sincerely penitent.34 Ideally, though, the bishop should exercise constant admonition and care for his flock so that they will abstain from sin and he will have to exercise his penitential authority only in exceptional circumstances.35 He can be effective in his admonition only if he himself leads an impeccable life. He should be restrained in his diet and shun all other luxuries as well.36 He should, in sum, be the embodiment of all virtues: “And whatever of good there be that is found in men, let the same be in the bishop.”37 He should model himself after Christ and through his own example invite his congregation to imitate him.38 Such impeccable conduct of the bishop brings many benefits: his admonition will be convincing, and his judgment will be accepted by all; moreover, the congregation will have no excuse for slackening in their own lives.39 In short, the Didascalia regards the exemplary conduct of the bishop as indispensable for all the duties with which his office is charged: the distribution of charity, the admonition of sinners, and preaching.
The Didascalia sees the relation between the bishop and his congregation as reciprocal. The bishop’s paternal love is like that of a bird who “keeps them warm with loving care, as eggs from which young birds are to come; or broods over them and cherishes them as young birds, for the rearing up of winged fowl.”40 In turn, it is the duty of the congregation to honor the bishop with the same respect that is due to a father.41 The congregation is explicitly instructed about the role of their bishop:
He is minister of the word and mediator; but to you a teacher, and your father after God, who begot you through the water [of baptism]. This is your chief and your leader, and he is your mighty king. He rules in the place of the Almighty: but let him be honoured by you as God, for the bishop sits for you in the place of God Almighty.42
The Didascalia is the earliest church order to address the penitential authority of the bishop. The bishop not only represents Christ to his community; he also personally represents his community, including their sins, before God. Since he received his office from God, he is also personally accountable to God for their moral and spiritual welfare:43 “For a layman has the care of himself alone, but thou carriest the burden of all.”44 In this regard too the bishop should imitate Christ and bear the sins of the people entrusted to him.45 The Didascalia is insistent on the nexus between the bishop’s personal conduct and his authority to bind and loose: “As therefore thou hast authority to loose, know thyself and thy manners and thy conversation in this life, that they be worthy of thy place.”46 With its inclusion of the power to bind and loose and of the ability to bear the burdens of others among the bishop’s prerogatives, the Didascalia points to a connection between penitential authority and personal holiness that will concern us again later.
The last and most comprehensive church order is the Apostolic Constitutions. By the time this work was composed in the region of Antioch, around the year 380, the Christian church had enjoyed almost seven decades of peace and prosperity since the reign of Constantine. Within a few years, its triumph would be complete through the anti-pagan legislation of the emperor Theodosius. The Apostolic Constitutions is a compilation that draws heavily on earlier church orders. It may therefore be considered a repository of information that was considered of value at the time, rather than an accurate reflection of the internal conditions in late fourth-century communities in Syria. The passages in book 2 on the character and duties of a bishop derive from the Didascalia, and those on the election
