Editing Bishop (section)

== Etymology and terminology ==
The English word ''bishop'' derives, via [[Latin]] {{lang|la|episcopus}}, [[Old English]] {{lang|ang|biscop}}, and [[Middle English]] {{lang|enm|bisshop}},  from the [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] word {{langx|grc|ἐπίσκοπος|epískopos|label=none}}, meaning "overseer" or "supervisor".<ref name="BIA">{{Cite book|last=Kashima|first=Tetsuden|url=http://archive.org/details/buddhisminameric00tets|title=Buddhism in America: the social organization of an ethnic religious institution|date=1977|location=Connecticut |publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=978-0-8371-9534-6|pages=71}}</ref> Greek was the language of the early Christian church,<ref name="ccel_Earl" /> but the term {{transliteration|grc|epískopos}} did not originate in Christianity: it had been used in Greek for several centuries before the advent of Christianity.<ref name="BIA">{{Cite book|last=Kashima|first=Tetsuden|url=http://archive.org/details/buddhisminameric00tets|title=Buddhism in America: the social organization of an ethnic religious institution|date=1977|location=Connecticut |publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=978-0-8371-9534-6|pages=71}}</ref>

The English words ''priest'' and ''presbyter'' both derive, via Latin, from the Greek word {{langx|grc|πρεσβύτερος|presbýteros|label=none}}, meaning "elder" or "senior", and not originally referring to priesthood.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://isvbible.com/catacombs/elders.htm|title=Elders|author=[[International Standard Version]]|access-date=January 6, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111105095216/http://isv.org/catacombs/elders.htm|archive-date=November 5, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In the early Christian era the two terms were not always clearly distinguished, but {{transliteration|grc|epískopos}} is used in the sense of the order or office of bishop, distinct from that of {{transliteration|grc|presbýteros}}, in the writings attributed to [[Ignatius of Antioch]] in the second century.<ref name="ccel_Earl">{{Cite web | title = Early Christian Fathers | work = Christian Classics Ethereal Library | access-date = 2015-08-25 | url = http://www.ccel.org/ccel/richardson/fathers.vi.ii.iii.i.html }}</ref>