Patrick Comerford
I was back in the village of Piskopianó, at the foot of the mountains above Hersonissos, the weekend before last, visiting friends I had not seen for a few years, and catching up on my memories of many happy weeks spent in that part of Crete over the years.
From many vantage points there are spectacular views to the mountains above Piskopianó and below across the olive groves to the northern coast of Crete and out to the sea. For many years, I enjoyed waking early in the morning in Mika Villas simply to enjoy the sun rise from this location.
The name of Piskopianó may describe the location of the village, looking out as a balcony over this stretch of the north coast of Crete. The Ancient Greek σκοπέω (skopéō) means to examine, inspect, look to or into, consider, coming from the word σκοπός (skopós), ‘watcher’, and -έω (-éō), a denominative verbal suffix.
But the name may also hint at its earlier, historical, episcopal importance, of Piskopianó. When coastal raids forced the church to abandon Hersonissos, the see of the diocese was transferred to Piskopianó, and remained there until the ninth century, when the diocese was relocated to Pedialos.
The Greek word ἐπίσκοπος (epískopos), from which the English word bishop is derived, simply means ‘overseer’. The word is found in Ancient Greek and in Greek literature, with ἐπίσκοπος (epískopos) coming from from ἐπί (epí, ‘over’) and σκοπός (skopós, ‘watcher’).
In the early Church, the word epískopos was not always clearly distinguished from πρεσβύτερος (presbýteros), literally ‘old man’, ‘elder’, or ‘senior’. It is from presbýteros that we derive the modern English word priest.
Most scholars agree that the earliest organisation of the Church in Jerusalem was similar to that of Jewish synagogues, but it had a council or college of ordained presbyters (πρεσβύτεροι, elders).
In the Acts of the Apostles, a collegiate system of government in Jerusalem is chaired by Saint James who, according to tradition, was the first Bishop of Jerusalem (see Acts 11: 30, 15: 22), and the Apostle Paul ordains presbyters for the new churches (see In Acts 14: 23). The word presbyter was not yet distinguished from overseer, later used exclusively to mean bishop (see Acts 20: 17, Titus 1: 5-7 and I Peter 5: 1).
In the Pauline writings, a more clearly defined episcopate can be seen in I Timothy and the Epistle to Titus. Both letters record how Saint Paul left Saint Timothy in Ephesus and Saint Titus in Crete to oversee the local church. He urges Saint Titus to ordain presbyters and bishops and to exercise general oversight in Crete.
The earliest writings of the Apostolic Fathers, including the Didache and I Clement, show the two words for bishops and presbyters may have been interchangeable, although the word for deacon (διάκονος) is distinctive and used separately.
The word episcopos is used in the sense of the order or office of bishop, distinct from that of presbyter, in the writings of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, who died ca 110. He provides the earliest clear description of a single bishop over all the churches in a city.
Saint Ignatius of Antioch is often attributed with saying: ‘Where the bishop is, there is the Church.’ But what he says is, ‘Where the bishop is, let the people be present, just as where Jesus Christ is, there is the catholic/universal Church’ (Smyrneans 8). As the Very Revd Dr John Behr, Regius Professor of Humanity at the University of Aberdeen, says in a paper for Public Orthodoxy last week (24 April 2024), ‘It is, by any standard, a mistake to omit Jesus Christ and the people from the equation!’
When Saint Ignatius was writing, the bishop was not in the position we think of the episcopate today. He was the bishop/overseer of a particular household community, as the parish priest is today, not the overseer of a diocese. Over time, as the number of particular communities in a geographical region increased, it was necessary to co-ordinate their activity, first in larger cities then in ever greater geographical areas.
One of the leaders of these communities was entrusted with the task, as ‘the first among equals’ – never ‘the first without equals’, as John Behr points out – of calling together the other leaders of the communities to ensure the peaceful and co-ordinated activity of the churches in the area.
Early Christian communities or local churches may have had a bishop surrounded by a group or college acting as leaders. Eventually, the bishop came to rule more clearly, and all local churches would eventually have one bishop in charge, assisted by the presbyters or priests. As the Church grew, bishops no longer directly served individual congregations. Instead, the metropolitan bishop or bishop in a large city appointed priests to minister to each congregation, acting as the bishop’s delegate. Since then, bishops have come to hold a privileged place as the guardians of the truth and in many places are often identified with the Church.
The word epískopos came into Late Latin as episcopus, to Spanish as obispo, Italian as vescovo, French as évêque, easpag, and esgob in Welsh. The Germanic forms include Old Saxon biscop and Old High German biscof. Further afield it became Lithuanian vyskupas, Albanian upeshk and Finnish piispa.
The Latin episcopus transformed into the Old English biscop, the Middle English bishop and lastly bishop.
The word overseer in English continued to have a secular use. In the world of printing and journalism, church-like terms were used to describe trade and union functions.
In the composing room, the overseer was responsible for a great variety of jobs, and I remember how overseers in The Irish Times, and before that in the Wexford People and Irish Printers, had large, balcony-like desks that allowed them to look across the full process with a very wide and full scope.
Similarly, the Father of the Chapel chaired the local meetings of printers and journalists, and the Clerk of the Chapel was, in effect, the secretary.
After the Reformation, Quakers in particular adapted the term ‘overseer’ to describe people appointed to look after the wellbeing of people in a Quaker meeting, while an elder is a member appointed to look after the spiritual life of the meeting and ensure that ministry or business is conducted in the spirit of Quaker worship.
In the early days of the Society of Friends, Quaker ministers preached, elders cared for Friends’ spiritual condition, and overseers cared for Friends’ physical condition. Those overseers made sure Friends had food, children had schooling, and imprisoned Friends were visited.
But it is worth recalling that the early Quaker use of the word overseer came from the English translation for episkopos in the New Testament. Early Quakers saw themselves as restoring early Christian practice, drawing on Biblical texts such as: Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son (Acts 20:28).
The term overseer was used since 1753 – a time when Quakers could be disowned by their meetings for 'immoral' conduct – to describe Quakers who provide pastoral oversight, support and care. Even then, the word overseer was a literal translation of the Biblical Greek word episkopos, usually translated as ‘ bishop’.
However, in recent years Quakers have reflected on the use of the word ‘overseer’ in other contexts and its associations with slavery and oppression. Quakers in Central Yorkshire raised a concern in 2019 that the term was outdated.
After a consultation with Quaker meetings across Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) in 2020 showed there was general support for changing the term ‘overseer’, meetings were encouraged to adapt different terms, such as ‘Pastoral Care Friend’ or ‘Pastoral Friend.’ The group revising the Quaker book of discipline, Quaker Faith and Practice', is considering how to incorporate this change.
Back in Rethymnon, the Church of the Four Martyrs was packed on Sunday last week for the Eucharist, with Bishop of Rethymnon, Metropolitan Prodromos, presiding at a special service to commemorate the Four Martyrs.
Bishops remain spiritual overseers in Greek Orthodox dioceses, without any ambiguity about their role and title. Indeed, every Greek church has a a bishop’s throne, a reminder that the bishop, technically, is still the focus of unity and the centre of all ministry of word and sacrament through a diocese in the Orthodox church.
The role of bishops in western churches, including the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches, seems diluted compared to the way bishops oversee their dioceses in Greece.
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