The episcopate is among those structural elements in the Church which go back to Christ. Nevertheless its precise shape and function were left to be worked out by the Church in the course of time. From the point of view of emphasis we can distinguish three major periods in that process, of which the earlier periods point to the problems of the later and vice versa.

1. Material and formal development of the episcopal office (1st to 9th century). At first both forms of Church government found in the NT exist side by side. 1 Clem…