The word “bishop” has come through the centuries to denote the highest office in the Church, the highest of the three apostolic clerical orders. The English word “bishop” comes from the Greek word “episkopos” which signifies an overseer, and it is used only four times in the Bible – thrice by Saint Paul and once by Saint Peter. How then did it become so important to the Church? The story is compounded of Scriptural passages pieced together and of steady development from the very earliest days of the Church.

    The earliest top leaders of the Church – whatever they may have been called as to title – were the Apostles, called by Christ during His lifetime or elected by the eleven after His death to fill the place left by the traitor, Judas, (Saint Mathias) or selected by Christ after His ascension (Saint Paul). There can be no doubt from any reading of the Bible or from any common-sense point of view that these thirteen men held a special place with regard to Jesus’ ministry and with regard to the Church He left behind Him on earth. They were specially chosen as overseers, as legatees, as propagators, as protectors of Christ’s earthly body, the Church. His intentions for them are clearly described in one form or another in the four Gospel books. He empowered and commissioned them to preach and teach the Gospel, to baptize, to proclaim repentance and remission of sins, and

    Anglicanism has tended to play up the spiritual role and, especially in its later centuries, to downplay the temporal role. History seems to bear out the theme that when bishops play well their role as shepherds, teachers, teachers, guardians, they have almost no trouble with their flocks. It is inordinate claims of monarchical power which lead to trouble.

    That bishops are central to the Church which Christ left for us cannot be disputed. We must look to them to maintain the purity of the faith, the continuity of the Church, the knowledge of the Gospel. They are the fountainhead of preaching, teaching, worship, ordination, absolution, and pastoral care. When a lay reader, a deacon, or a priest stands at the altar or otherwise functions in a congregation, he does so by the bishop’s commission or ordination. He represents the bishop, whether the latter is absent or present. The bishop is the electron, the neutron, the proton, the very atomic nucleus, as it were, of the diocese and thus of the Church. He is the essential and visible representative of Christ to the diocesan Church. Without the bishop, there is no Church, no Anglicanism. That is not to say that the bishop is the church. The Church is the whole people of God, laity and clergy alike, but the Bishop is their symbol, their shepherd, their “Father in God”. Thus the office of bishop deserves our love and our respect. In spiritual matters the bishop is supreme. In all else, he deserves our respectful consideration and his counsel should be heard. Without him there cannot be worship, or preaching, or forgiveness.