RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Organization
14), by Apostles and missionaries (I Tim. v. 22; II Tim. i. 6), or Apostles and communities cooperated together.
As to the position of the Mother Church in Jerusalem toward the Judaistic daughter churches, the records are too meager to admit of a definite conclusion. It is as often associated with as distinguished from subordinate communi- 5. The ties (Gal. i. 22; I Thess. ii. 14; Acts Mother xi. 1, 29, xv. 1). Jerusalem was re- Church; garded as the central point. It was the Deacons, called by Palestinian Christians " the holy city " (Matt. iv. 5, xxvii. 53). It is significant that the Church at Jerusalem sent Barnabas to control the heathen Christian organization at Antioch (Acts xi. 22), that Silas and Judas were sent there (Acts xv. 22-32), that Peter proceeds there (Gal. ii. 11), as well as messengers from James (Gal. ii. 12), that the diaspora was controlled by Jerusalem Christians, and finally that the socalled Council of the Apostles — in reality the community of Jerusalem — took action for all the Jewish communities. Paul's relation to it must also be taken into account; not only his care for sending collections to it, but also his desire to have its recognition. It is remarkable how the Galilean Christians fall into the background. The transition from Capernaum, Chorazin, and Bethsaida to Jerusalem marks a new evolution in the ancient history of the Church, and is undoubtedly connected with the birth of legend, the rise of the Infancy Gospels, and the transference of the appearances of the risen Lord from Galilee to Jerusalem. As to the appointment of the seven deacons and causes given for it in Acts vi., a number of ambiguities arise. The Seven, as their names indicate, were probably Hellenists; but were they appointed solely for the Hellenist widows, or for other widows? Were their economic occupations a novelty? Besides, they disappear from view in a curious way; that is, all with the exception of Stephen, the " miracle worker," and the first martyr. A diaconate, in the later sense, their office was not, for the deacon's was no independent position; they rather resembled bishops than deacons. It is possible to see in them Hellenist rivals of the Twelve. It is remarkable that the persecution directed against Stephen did not involve the Twelve (Acts viii. 1).
According to an old tradition the Twelve remained twelve years in Jerusalem. They scattered on account of the persecution of Herod to which James, the son of Zebedee, fell a victim. This 6. Monar- led to a total change in the Jerusalem chical Epis- community. In place of a government copate Fore- through the Twelve, there came into shadowed, prominence James, the brother of the Lord. Acts does not mark the steps in this development; but it gives him preeminence (xii. 17, xv. 13, xxi. 18). This marks the decline of the pneumatic, Messianic conception; yet during the presence of members of the Twelve at Jerusalem their authority was not impaired (Gal. ii. ; Acts xv., xxi.). The new order has three significant characteristics: (1) The relatives of Jesus came into prominence. After the death of James a cousin of Jesus, Symeon, was chosen his successor (Euse-
bius, Hist.eccl, III., xi.; ANF, 2 ser. i. 146). The early lists of the bishops at Jerusalem are probably lists of the relatives of Jesus. (2) The disappearance of the pneumatic, Messianic element. (3) The influence of distinctly Jewish precedents. The original Twelve may have died, or they may have been engaged in missionary activity, or the relatives of Jesus may have been regarded as their rivals. The prominence of the relatives of Jesus would naturally be due to their position as members of the house of David. The new constitution there with James at its head and twelve (?) presbyters under him seems to give James the position of high priest and to put elders in the place of a sanhedrin. The position of James was peculiar. Heathen Christian tradition names him as the first bishop of Jerusalem, appointed by Christ and by the Apostles. Undoubtedly he and his followers exercised a monarchical power. It is not likely, however, that James used the title of bishop, for it has not a Judaistic origin. In the Clementines the exalted position of James is a later exaggeration. The idea and realization of a monarchical episcopate under the Jewish Christians first comes into existence, then, in the person of James. Perhaps Matt. xvi. 18 is the protest of Palestinian Christians, who did not accept him. The original persecutions allowed the Church to continue in existence at Jerusalem. The first sharp persecution was under Herod, in 42 A.n. No great agitation against Jerusalem Christians took place until the execution of James and the great uprising against Rome. This last changed the situation. The Jewish communities became active against the whole Christian diaspora. Symeon, the successor of James, was a martyr. In the second century, by the second destruction of Jerusalem under Hadrian, Jewish Christianity lost its position of centrality, and existed only as single communities and groups of communities.
II. Gentile Christianity: Turning the attention now to the position of Christianity under the heathen, the complexity of the situation is increased by
the tendency to bring in, in connection
i. Factors with church organization and consti-
Influencing tion, family customs, the social and
Organiza- religious clubs, and school, city and
tion. provincial organizations. All of these
elements must have influenced the development of Christian institutions. The Christian community was built out of elements with definite, previously existing social characteristics. Considerable tension between the parts was to be expected. Thus one might have looked for antagonism between a central and local authority, between spirit and office, between charisma and canon, among individuals, among those claiming spiritual gifts, among those occupying ecclesiastical position, and finally, between the lay and the clerical elements, between an ecclesiastical democracy and an ecclesiastical aristocracy. As initial factors in early organization must be considered, first, the authority of those speaking the Word of God, apostles, prophets, teachers; the authority of the elders over against younger members; the distinction between officials appointed with administrative and with executive
Organization