self. Decius must have
regarded the Roman bishop as a somewhat formidable personage when he
declared that he would sooner tolerate a rival candidate for the throne,
and when he proclaimed his determination to annihilate the very office.
[591:2]

It was not strange that dignitaries who affected so much state soon
contrived to surround themselves with a whole host of new officials.
Within little more than a century after the rise of Prelacy the number
of grades of ecclesiastics was nearly trebled. In addition to the
bishop, the presbyters, and the deacons, there were also, in A.D. 251,
in the Church of Rome lectors, sub-deacons, acolyths, exorcists, and
janitors. [592:1] The lectors, who read the Scriptures to the
congregation [592:2] and who had charge of the sacred manuscripts,
attract our attention as distinct office-bearers about the close of the
second century. The sub-deacons are said to have had the care of the
sacramental cups; the acolyths attended to the lamps of the sacred
edifice; the exorcists [592:3] professed by their prayers to expel evil
spirits out of the bodies of those about to be baptized; and the
janitors performed the more humble duties of porters or door-keepers. At
a subsequent period each of these functionaries was initiated into
office by a special form of ordination or investiture. It was laid down
as a principle that no one could regularly become a bishop who had not
previously passed through all these inferior orders; [592:4] but when
the multitude wished all at once to elevate a layman to the rank of a
bishop or a presbyter, ecclesiastical routine was compelled to yield to
the pressure of popular enthusiasm. [592:5]

The great city in which Prelacy originated appears to have been the
place where these new offices made their first appearance. Rome, true to
her mission as "the mother of the Catholic Church," conceived and
brought forth nearly all the peculiarities of the Catholic system. The
lady seated on the seven hills was already regarded with great
admiration, and surrounding Churches silently copied the arrangements of
their Imperial parent. In the East, at least one of the orders now
instituted by the great Western prelate, that is, the order of acolyths,
was not adopted for centuries afterwards. [593:1]

The city bishops were well aware of the vast accession of influence they
acquired in consequence of their election by the people, and did not
fail to insist upon the circumstance wh