Alpha Christianity
Bishops According to ApCon 7:46

The Apostolic Constitutions is a late and eclectic church order document. It includes the Didache in a version assimilated to Pauline theology. It also gives a paragraph listing the bishops of major churches, with the intention of showing that the first of them were Apostolically appointed, and thus continue without a break the earlier Apostolic authority. Some such appointment legends appear in the Deuteropauline letters, where they are already suspect. The ApCon list as a whole does not command much respect, as when it includes mythical and emblematic figures such as Zaccheus or Cornelius. Its chief interest is in its assertion of what we may call Episcopal Continuity, in its idea of the geography of early Christianity, and in some scraps of genuine local tradition which it may preserve.

ApCon 7/46 begins: "Now concerning those bishops which have been ordained in our lifetime, we let you know that they are these:"

and continues with this listing, given in the original order (bishops ordained by Peter are emphasized):

• Jerusalem
  • James, the brother of our Lord, upon whose death the second was
  • Simeon the son of Clopas, after whom the third was
  • Judas the son of James
• Caesarea of Palestine
  • Zacchaeus, who was once a publican [Lk 19:2f]
  • Cornelius [Ac 10:1f]
  • Theophilus [Lk 1:1, Ac 1:1]
• Antioch
  • Euodius, ordained by me Peter
  • Ignatius, by Paul
• Alexandria
  • Annianus was the first, ordained by Mark the Evangelist
  • Avilius by Luke, who was also an evangelist
• Rome
  • Linus the son of Claudia, ordained by Paul [2 Tim 4:21]
  • Clemens, after Linus' death, ordained by me Peter [Php 4:3]
• Ephesus
  • Timotheus, ordained by Paul [1 Tim 1:3]
  • John, by me, John
• Smyrna
  • Aristo [or Aristarchus, Phm 1:24, Col 4:10, Ac 19:29, 20:4, 27:2]
  • Strateas, the son of Lois [2 Tim 1:5]
  • Aristo
• Pergamus
  • Gaius [1 Cor 1:14, 3 John 1]
• Philadelphia
  • Demetrius, by me [Peter] [3 John 12]
• Cenchrea
  • Lucius, by Paul [Rom 16:21, Ac 13:1]
• Crete
  • Titus [Titus 1:5]
• Athens
  • Dionysius [Ac 17:34]
• Tripoli in Phoenicia
  • Marathones
• Laodicea in Phrygia
  • Archippus [Phm 1:2, Col 4:17]
• Colossae
  • Philemon [Phm 10]
• Borea in Macedonia
  • Onesimus, once the servant of Philemon
• The Churches of Galatia
  • Crescens [2 Tim 4:10]
• The Parishes of Asia
  • Aquila [1 Cor 16:19, etc]
  • Nicetas
• Aegina
  • Crispus [1 Cor 1:14, Ac 18:8]

And the chapter concludes; "These are the bishops who are entrusted by us with the parishes in the Lord, whose doctrine keep ye always in mind, and observe our words . . ."

Wholly missing are the important churches of Ethiopia [supposedly evangelized by Matthew], Cyprus [supposedly evangelized by Paul and later by Barnabas and Mark], Corinth, Philippi, Thessalonica, Sinope [birthplace of Marcion, and site of a very early church]. Damascus, Edessa [supposedly evangelized by Thaddaeus], Armenia [ditto],and India [supposedly evangelized by Thomas],The only ordaining authorities are Peter, Paul, John Zebedee for Ephesus, and for Alexandria, Mark and Luke. Alexandrian tradition supports the former (Mark), but takes little notice of the latter (Luke). The imagined association of Luke with Caesarea, though not here explicit, seems to be in the writer's mind (if the implications of the "we" sections of Acts are taken to imply Luke, then he will have spent some time in Ephesus during Paul's final journey to Jerusalem). Besides the fantastical (Caesarea), some of the information is defective (at Rome, the first bishops, or anyway church leaders, were Linus, Anacletus, and Clement). It will also be noticed that, true to the Jerusalemization trajectory displayed by the four Gospels, there are no Galilean churches. Of the seven churches of Revelation, Thyatira and Sardis also do not figure here, unless they are thought to be included in "Asia." Of Aegina (an island not far from Athens), nothing seems to be known or rumored before the Middle Ages..

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12 Jan 2012 / Contact The Project / Exit to Alpha Index Page