Imagine telling a Christian in the year 110 that the Church does not need bishops.

He would probably look at you the way you would look at someone who said a family does not need parents.

Confused.

A little worried about you.

Because for the first Christians, the bishop was at the center of church life.

Wait… Weren’t Bishops Invented Later?

A lot of Christians believe:

“The early Church was run by elders or by the congregation. Bishops with real authority came later, when the Church became an institution.”

And at first that sounds possible.

In the New Testament, the words for “bishop” (episkopos) and “elder” (presbyteros) sometimes overlap.

But then you read the letters of the first Christians, and you have to stop for a second.

Because the bishops were already there.

In the New Testament

Paul writes to Timothy:

“A faithful saying: if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.”
— 1 Timothy 3:1

An office.

With qualifications.

Paul left Titus in Crete to “ordain priests in every city” (Titus 1:5).

Timothy and Titus were not elders of a single congregation.

They oversaw whole regions, appointed others, and corrected false teachers.

That is what bishops do.

And the Apostles filled Judas’ office as their first act: “his bishopric let another take” (Acts 1:20).

(See What Apostolic Succession Means.)

Clement of Rome (c. A.D. 96)

Clement, the bishop of Rome, wrote to the church in Corinth after it threw out its leaders.

He explained that the Apostles appointed bishops and deacons in the churches they founded.

Then, knowing there would be strife over the office of bishop, they gave instructions that when those men died, other approved men should succeed them.

So removing them, Clement said, was a serious sin.

This was written while the Apostle John was likely still alive.

Ignatius of Antioch (c. A.D. 107)

Ignatius was bishop of Antioch, the city where believers were first called Christians.

In his letters, he wrote:

Follow the bishop, as Jesus Christ follows the Father.

Follow the priests as you would the Apostles.

Respect the deacons.

Without these three, it cannot be called a church.

Let no one do anything that concerns the Church without the bishop.

Wherever the bishop appears, there let the people be, just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.

Ignatius wrote to six different churches.

Every one of them had a bishop.

He even named some of them: Onesimus at Ephesus, Damas at Magnesia, Polybius at Tralles, Polycarp at Smyrna.

Polycarp of Smyrna (c. A.D. 155)

Polycarp was taught by the Apostle John.

Irenaeus says the Apostles themselves appointed him bishop of Smyrna.

When he was arrested at 86 years old and told to curse Christ, he answered:

“Eighty-six years I have served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?”

The account of his martyrdom calls him bishop of the Catholic Church in Smyrna.

Irenaeus (c. A.D. 180)

Irenaeus was fighting groups who claimed secret teachings from the Apostles.

His answer was the bishops.

He said we can list the bishops the Apostles appointed in the churches, and their successors down to our own day.

Then he did it for Rome, from Peter and Paul through Linus, Anacletus, Clement, and onward to Eleutherius, the twelfth bishop in his own time.

Around the same time, a Christian historian named Hegesippus traveled to many churches and made lists of their bishops too.

Why It Mattered to Them

For the early Christians, the bishop was not a manager.

He was the link to the Apostles.

He guarded the true teaching.

He celebrated the Eucharist, or appointed priests to do it.

Ignatius said a valid Eucharist is one under the bishop or someone he appoints.

And when false teachers appeared, Christians could ask a simple question:

“Who is your bishop, and who appointed him?”

So What Is the Catholic Claim?

Here it is in simple terms.

The New Testament describes the office of bishop and the Apostles handing on authority.

Clement says the Apostles appointed bishops and arranged for successors.

Ignatius shows every church he wrote to with a bishop, priests, and deacons.

Polycarp was a bishop appointed by the Apostles.

Irenaeus could list the bishops of Rome by name back to Peter.

The Catholic Church teaches that bishops are the successors of the Apostles (CCC 861–862).

So the real question is not:

“When did Christians invent bishops?”

The better question is:

“When did the Church ever exist without them?”

Because the first Christians did not have to be told to follow their bishop.

They were willing to die beside him.

Keep reading: Was the Early Church Catholic?, or browse more questions in Catholicism Explained.

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Catholic Sources

Scripture (Douay-Rheims): Acts 1:20–26; Acts 14:22; Acts 20:28; 1 Timothy 3:1–7; 1 Timothy 5:17–22; Titus 1:5–9.

Catechism of the Catholic Church: CCC 861–862 (apostolic succession); CCC 1554–1555 (the office of bishop).

Early Christian writers: Pope St. Clement of Rome, Letter to the Corinthians 42–44 (c. A.D. 96); St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letters to the Ephesians, Magnesians, Trallians, and Smyrnaeans (c. A.D. 107); The Martyrdom of Polycarp 9, 16 (c. A.D. 155); St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.3 (c. A.D. 180); Eusebius, Church History 4.22 (on Hegesippus).

Church documents: Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium 20–21.

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