of presbyters, as [Greek: proistamenoi tes
ekklesias], a kind of senate of the community.[295] Moreover, the idea
of the chosen bishops and deacons as the antitypes of the Priests and
Levites, had been formed at an early period in connection with the idea
of the new sacrifice. But we find also the idea, which is probably the
earlier of the two, that the prophets and teachers, as the commissioned
preachers of the word, are the priests. The hesitancy in applying this
important allegory must have been brought to an end by the disappearance
of the latter view. But it must have been still more important that the
bishops, or bishop, in taking over the functions of the old [Greek:
lalountes ton logon], who were not Church officials, took over also the
profound veneration with which they were regarded as the special organs
of the Spirit. But the condition of the organisation in the communities
about the year 140, seems to have been a very diverse one. Here and
there, no doubt, the convenient arrangement of appointing only one
bishop was carried out, while his functions had not perhaps been
essentially increased, and the prophets and teachers were still the
great spokesmen. Conversely, there may still have been in other
communities a number of bishops, while the prophets and teachers no
longer played regularly an important role. A fixed organisation was
reached, and the Apostolic episcopal constitution established, only in
consequence of the so-called Gnostic crisis, which was epoch-making in
every respect. One of its most important presuppositions, and one that
has struck very deep into the development of doctrine must, however, be
borne in mind here. As the Churches traced back all the laws according
to which they lived, and all the blessings they held sacred, to the
tradition of the twelve Apostles, because they regarded them as
Christian only on that presupposition, they also in like manner, as far
as we can discover, traced back their organisation of presbyters, i.e.,
of bishops and deacons, to Apostolic appointment. The notion which
followed quite naturally, was that the Apostles themselves had appointed
the first church officials.[296] That idea may have found support in
some actual cases of the kind, but this does not need to be considered
here; for these cases would not have led to the setting up of a theory.
But the point in question here is a theory, which is nothing else than
an integral part of the general theory, tha