Life in the Early Church

The 3 ordained ministries of bishop, presbyter and deacon appeared early in the Church’s history. The successor of Saint Peter today is the Bishop of Rome – otherwise known as the Pope. In the early church, those who wanted to be converted into Christianity went through a process of initiation and stages of initiation. From the beginning baptism, Eucharist and the forgiving of sins – or reconciliation – were celebrated within the church.
The 3 main leaders in the early church were the people in the positions of ordained leadership: bishop, presbyter and deacon. These positions appeared a hundred years after the Church developed and spread its own structure.
Bishops
Each community was able to choose one of its members to be leader. This person was called the Bishop, the Greek word for supervisor. The bishop was responsible for leading the community’s worship. In the early church, communities were small and needed only one bishop to celebrate the Eucharist.

Presbyters
Due to the growing amount of people in Christian communities, the role of Presbyter was developed. With the growing amount of Christians, the bishops found it harder to lead the Eucharist on his own. The presbyter led the Eucharist when the bishop was absent and took charge of financial and disciplinary matters.
Deacons
Deacons (the Greek word for “servant”) and deaconesses helped the bishop. They looked after the poor and needy people in the community, but had to support themselves with a job of their own.

The Bishop of Rome
In the early Church, the Bishop of Jerusalem was the most important of bishops. But as time passed, the Bishop of Rome took over the leadership role. This was because Rome was the capital city of the Roman Empire and the place where Peter was martyred. If there was an important issue that the bishops on other cities couldn’t settle between themselves they would turn to the successor of Peter in Rome for a decision on the matter.