Recent studies on the development of early Christianity emphasize the fragmentation of the late ancient world while paying less attention to a distinctive feature of the Christianity of this time which is its inter-connectivity. Both local and trans-regional networks of interaction contributed to the expansion of Christianity in this age of fragmentation. This volume investigates a specific aspect of this inter-connectivity in the area of the Mediterranean by focusing on the formation and operation of episcopal networks. The rise of the bishop as a major figure of authority resulted in an increase in long-distance communication among church elites coming from different geographical areas and belonging to distinct ecclesiastical and theological traditions. Locally, the bishops in their roles as teachers, defenders of faith, patrons etc. were expected to interact with individuals of diverse social background who formed their congregations and with secular authorities. Consequently, this volume explores the nature and quality of various types of episcopal relationships in Late Antiquity attempting to understand how they were established, cultivated and put to use across cultural, linguistic, social and geographical boundaries.

In this book the author examines how two bishops in the Theban region contributed to the rise of a new, anti-Chalcedonian church hierarchy, which became the forerunner of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Abraham of Hermonthis (ca. 590-621) and Pesynthius of Koptos (599-632) are exceptional, since a large number of their professional documents (mostly in Coptic) is preserved. By applying Social Network Analysis to these documents, the author reconstructed their individual social networks and linked them to a wider regional network that was centered on monastic communities in Western Thebes (west of modern Luxor), but also included a large number of civil officials, clergymen and lay men and women. In addition, a social model of episcopal authority was adopted, in order to evaluate how the bishops used their authority and to explain what made Pesynthius so extraordinary that he is still remembered as a saint by the Coptic Orthodox Church.

The present volume contributes to a reassessment of the phenomenon of episcopal elections from the broadest possible perspective, examining the varied combination of factors, personalities, rules and habits that played a role in the process that eventually resulted in one specific candidate becoming the new bishop, and not another. The importance of episcopal elections hardly needs stating: With the bishop emerging as one of the key figures of late antique society, his election was a defining moment for the local community, and an occasion when local, ecclesiastical, and secular tensions were played out. Building on the state of the art regarding late antique bishops and episcopal election, this volume of collected studies by leading scholars offers fresh perspectives by focussing on specific case-studies and opening up new approaches. Covering much of the Later Roman Empire between 250–600 AD, the contributions will be of interest to scholars interested in Late Antique Christianity across disciplines as diverse as patristics, ancient history, canon law and oriental studies.

The election of a new bishop was a defining moment for local Christian communities in Late Antiquity. This volume contributes to a reassessment of the phenomenon of episcopal elections from the broadest possible perspective, examining the varied combination of factors, personalities, rules and habits that played a role in the process. Building on the state of the art regarding late antique bishops and episcopal election, this interdisciplinary volume of collected studies by leading scholars offers fresh perspectives by focussing on specific case-studies and opening up new approaches.

Peter Norton covers a topic of great relevance to students of early Church history and late antiquity alike. He challenges the conventional view that after the adoption of Christianity by the Roman empire the local community lost its voice in the appointment of bishops, and argues that this right remained in theory and practice for longer than is normally assumed. Given that bishops became important to the running of the empire at the local level, a proper understanding of how they came into office is essential for our understanding of the later empire.

The late antique and the early medieval periods witnessed the flourishing of bishops in the West as the main articulators of social life. This influential position exposed them to several threats, both political and religious. Researchers have generally addressed violence, rebellions or conflicts to study the dynamics related to secular powers during these periods. They haven’t paid similar attention, however, to those analogous contexts that had bishops as protagonists. This book proposes an approach to bishops as threatened subjects in the late antique and early medieval West. In particular, the volume pursues three main goals. Firstly, it aims to identify the different types of threats that bishops had to deal with. Then it sets out to frame these situations of adversity in their own contexts. Finally, it will address the episcopal strategies deployed to deal with such contexts of adversity. In sum, we aim to underline the impact that these contexts had as a dynamiting factor of episcopal action. Thus the episcopal threats may become a useful approach to study the bishops’ relationships with other agents of power, the motivations behind their actions and – last but not least – for understanding the episcopal rising power

Investigates crisis management as conducted by the increasingly important episcopal class in the 5th and 6th centuries. This title draws on the neglected corpus of bishops' letters in Greek and Latin, the letter being the most significant mode of communication and information-transfer in the period from 410 to 590 CE.

The election of a new bishop was a defining moment for local Christian communities in Late Antiquity. This volume contributes to a reassessment of the phenomenon of episcopal elections from the broadest possible perspective, examining the varied combination of factors, personalities, rules and habits that played a role in the process. Building on the state of the art regarding late antique bishops and episcopal election, this interdisciplinary volume of collected studies by leading scholars offers fresh perspectives by focussing on specific case-studies and opening up new approaches.

Late Antiquity witnessed a major transformation in the authority and power of the Episcopate within the Church, with the result that bishops came to embody the essence of Christianity and increasingly overshadow the leading Christian laity. The rise of Episcopal power came in a period in which drastic political changes produced long and significant conflicts both within and outside the Church. This book examines these problems in depth, looking at bishops' varied roles in both causing and resolving these disputes, including those internal to the church, those which began within the church but had major effects on wider society, and those of a secular nature.

The essays in this volume examine the bishop of Rome in late antiquity from the time of Constantine in the fourth century to the death of Gregory the Great in the seventh. The volume canvasses a wide range of opinions about the nature of papal power by concentrating on how the holders of the office exercised their episcopal responsibilities and prerogatives within the city or in relation to both civic administration and churches in other areas.