bishops. The office and work of a bishop has evolved from that of the apostles in the New Testament church. That church recognized two differing forms of ministry, that which was local and settled (pastors and teachers) and the itinerant ministry of apostles, prophets, and evangelists. The scope of the apostolic ministry is clearly revealed in the work of Paul as founder of churches, arbiter in matters of doctrine, faith, and discipline, and in his appointment of elders to supervise individual Christian communities. The word episcopus (bishop), literally ‘overseer’, well defines this apostolic ministry. The letters of Ignatius of Antioch (c. ad 100) show that by that date the work of the bishop as chief pastor, preacher, and liturgical president was becoming established, and by the time of Irenaeus of Lyons (c. ad 170) the office of bishop was widely recognized and accepted.

The jurisdiction of a bishop, within which he exercises his ministry, is a diocese, a word taken from a territorial administrative unit of the Roman empire. There were certainly Christians in the British Isles by the beginning of the 3rd cent. ad (they were mentioned by Tertullian c.208) and several bishops in the country by 314, when three of them attended the Council of Arles. The churches in Wales, Ireland, and Scotland remained episcopal during the period Christianity was forced underground in England after the withdrawal of the Romans.

The gradual re-establishment of the Christian church in England and revival of episcopal government followed the mission of Augustine (597), but early Anglo-Saxon dioceses could be vast in extent and often conterminous with the kingdom in which their see was placed. After the Norman conquest, the sees of a number of bishops were transferred to larger towns (e.g. Sherborne to Salisbury, Selsey to Chichester), thus creating the diocesan map which endured until the Reformation. The reformed Church of England retained bishops and Henry VIII established five new dioceses (Bristol, Chester, Gloucester, Oxford, and, briefly, Westminster). With the development of major conurbations in the 19th cent. further dioceses were founded (Ripon 1836, Manchester 1848, St Albans and Truro 1877, Liverpool 1880, Newcastle 1882, Southwell 1884, and Wakefield 1888), a process which continued into the 20th (Birmingham and Southwark 1905, Chelmsford, Bury St Edmunds, and Sheffield 1914, Bradford 1920, Blackburn 1926, Derby, Guildford, Leicester, and Portsmouth 1927).

Revd Dr John R. Guy