Were early Christian communities well organized?

They considered the bishop to be appointed by God, representing the Lord Christ and thus worthy of obedience. When St. Ignatius of Antioch was arrested and about to be martyred, bishops, priests, and laity met him at every port to laud him, ask for his blessing, and pray with him.

The scholar Origen refers to at least three methods used to appoint bishops: the previous bishop chose his successor; election by the congregation; or election by the priests.⁹⁰⁸

Although the Church was a carefully managed and well-organized community, she remained intent on continuing to be the leaven hidden within the world and fermenting it, refusing to isolate herself from the world. The Church is not a state within a state. Christians do not aspire to establish a separate state for themselves, but belong to one universal (catholic) Church, where they have a new nature in the spiritual life.

The scholar Tertullian says, “We are not Indian Brahmins or Gymnosophists, who dwell in woods and exile themselves from ordinary human life … We sail with you, and fight with you, and till the ground with you; and in like manner we unite with you in your trafficking — even in the various arts we make public property of our works for your benefit.”⁹⁰⁹

In the Epistle to Diognetus (written around the beginning of the second century) we read, “The difference between Christians and the rest of mankind is not a matter of nationality, or language, or customs. Christians do not live apart in separate cities of their own, speak any special dialect, nor practise any eccentric way of life. The doctrine they profess is not the invention of busy human minds and brains, nor are they, like some, adherents of this or that school of human thought. They pass their lives in whatever township — Greek or foreign — each man’s lot has determined; and conform to ordinary local usage in their clothing, diet, and other habits. Nevertheless, the organization of their community does exhibit some features that are remarkable, and even surprising. For instance, though they are residents at home in their own countries, their behaviour there is more like that of transients; they take their full part as citizens, but they also submit to anything and everything as if they were aliens. For them, any foreign country is a motherland, and any motherland is a foreign country.”⁹¹⁰

908 Cf. Everett Ferguson, “Origin and the Election of Bishops” in Church History 43, no. 1 (1974) 26–33.

909 Tertullian, Apology 42 (ANF 3:49).

910 “Epistle to Diognetus,” in Staniforth, Maxwell, and Andrew Louth, eds. Early Christian Writings (Penguin Classics, 1987) 5: pp. 144–145.