Did the apostles serve as the first bishops?

Answer 1

A:

No. The apostles did not serve as bishops, nor did they appoint bishops. It is clear from the New Testament that even St Paul did not appoint bishops and did not have the undisputed authority of a bishop in the communities to which he wrote.

THe Christian Church began to appoint bishops some time during the first half of the second century, long after the time of the apostles. Francis Aloysius Sullivan (From Apostles to Bishops: The Development of the Episcopacy in the Early Church) says that when 1 Clementwas written, in the 90s of the first century, the structure of leadership at Rome did not differ much from that at Corinth. That letter gives us good reason to conclude that there was no bishop in charge of the church of Corinth at the time. The terms used in the letter to describe the leaders of the Corinthian church hegoumenoi, episcopoi, presbuteroi, archontes are all in the plural. The term most frequently used is presbuteroi; Clement calls on those guilty of the schism to "submit to the presbyters," and to allow the "flock of Christ to be at peace with its duly appointed presbyters." It seems inconceivable that, if there had been a bishop in charge of the church of Corinth at that time, Clement would not have said something about the obligation of the guilty parties to submit to their bishop or about his role in restoring good order to his church. On this evidence, neither Corinth nor Rome appears to have yet had a bishop appointed by the end of the first century, and it is equally unlikely that that any other Christian centre had.

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Catholic AnswerCertainly, the apostles were the first bishops, they were personally ordained by Our Blessed Lord, Jesus Christ, at the Last Supper, when He commissioned them to as Bishops, later he entrusted them with the ability to absolve sins. All Bishops and priests in the world have come from those twelve men (that includes St. Paul).