PRESBYTER, the title borne from very early times by certain officers or ministers of the Christian Church intermediate between "bishops" and "deacons." The word is the original form of priest (q.v.). The word is not found in pre-Christian writings except in the Septuagint, though as Deissmann has shown it is found on the Papyri as an official title for the village magistrates of Egypt and the members of the -yEpovala, or senate, of many towns in Asia Minor. The office is, however, closely analogous to, and perhaps founded on, a similar office in the Jewish syna gogue organization among the officials of which were the zekenim, or elders, sometimes identified with the archi-synagogues. In the New Testament the Greek word is used both for the ancient Jewish official and for the Christian elder.
The history of presbyteral government as opposed to episcopacy and pure congregationalism is not known in detail. After the Ref ormation, however, it was adopted by Calvin and his followers,who created that system which has ever since been known as Presbyter ianism (q.v.). During the last quarter of the ist century, a three fold organization is found in the Church: (a) a spiritual organiza tion composed of "apostles, prophets and teachers who had been awakened by the spirit and by the spirit endowed"; (b) an admin istrative organization, "For the care of the poor, for worship, for correspondence, the congregation needed controlling officials. These were the bishop and the deacons, the former for higher, the latter for inferior services"; (c) a patriarchal organization based upon the natural deference of the younger to the older members of the Church. The senior members of the community, by virtue of their age and experience, watched over the conduct and guided the action of the younger and less experienced por tion of the Church, though they held no official position and were not appointed for any particular work like the bishops and deacons. In the 2nd century the patriarchal element in the organi zation was merged in the administrative, and the presbyters be came a definite order in the ministry. The time at which the
change occurred cannot be definitely fixed. Although presbyters are not mentioned in the genuine Epistles of St. Paul, there are hints that similar officers existed in some of the churches founded by the apostle. There is a reference in I Thess. v. 12 to "those who rule over you" and the same word occurs in Rom. xii. 8. The term "governments" in I Cor. xii. 28 obviously refers to men who discharged the same func tions as presbyters. If too, as seems most probable, bishops and presbyters were practically identical, there is of course a specific reference to them in Phil. i. I. The "leaders" who are mentioned three times in Hebrews xiii. were also probably "presbyters" under another name. If the Church at Jerusalem had any officials, it is highly probable that those officials bore the name and took over the functions of the elders of the synagogue. The statement in Acts xiv. 23, that Paul and Barnabas appointed elders in the churches of South Galatia, is more open to objection perhaps, owing to the silence of the Epistle to the Galatians.
The conclusions which we seem to reach are as follows: (I) In the earliest stage (between 3o and ho) there is no uniform organization in the Christian Church. Presbyters are found in Jerusalem from primitive times. In the Pauline churches the name is not found except at Ephesus and possibly in south Gala tia, though there are traces of the office, at any rate in germ, under different titles in other churches. (2) In the second stage (between 6o and mo) there is an increasing tendency towards uniformity. The office is found definitely mentioned in connec tion with the churches of Asia Minor (I Pet. v. I), Corinth (Epistle of Clement) and Crete (Titus). The officials were called by two names, "elders" and "bishops," the former denoting the office, the latter the function (exercising the oversight). The sub stantial identity of the two titles cannot be doubted in the light of such passages as Acts xx. 17, 28; I Pet. v. I, 2; I Tim. Iii. 1-7, v. 17-19 and Titus i. 5-7.