BETWEEN THE THIRD and the sixth century AD, the Christian church experienced a momentous transition from persecuted cult to state religion. The consequences of this transition were legion. Basilicas began to dominate the cityscape.Christian feasts-Easter, Christmas and other celebrationspunctuated the calendar year, while the celebration of the liturgy on Sundays established a weekly rhythm. Christian rituals marked the pivotal moments in people’s lives, from birth and baptism to death and burial. The favors showered by Constantine and his successors on the Christian church contributed to make the new religion attractive to prospective converts. As the church attracted new members, it faced new administrative challenges. Individual churches acquired property and income through regular contributions and pious bequests. Ecclesiastical finances were put to use for providing charity to the needy and for the creation of a permanent ecclesiastical infrastructure, including building projects. Proportionate to this enlarged scope of church membership and Christian activities, the clergy attached to large sees grew in number. In the mid-third century, the church in Rome counted 46 priests, seven deacons, seven subdeacons, 42 acolytes, a combined total of 52 exorcists, readers and doorkeepers, and over 1,500 individuals on its poor roll. Three centuries later, under Justinian, the staff attached to the Great Church in the Eastern capital of Constantinople was fixed at 60 priests, 100 deacons, 40 deaconesses, 90 subdeacons, 110 readers, 25 singers, and 100 doorkeepers.

While the numerical increase in ecclesiastical officeholders is well documented, the actual interpretation of this phenomenon, its origin and motivation, continues to be a matter of debate. This is especially true for the highest echelon of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, the bishops. What was the correlation between the ecclesiastical élite status and the social élite status of bishops? How was the élite status of bishops manifest within their cities? What connection, if any, was there between the “rise of the episcopate” , and the “decline of the curiales“? And to what extent did the emperor Constantine contribute to the privileging of bishops? Was the emergence of the episcopate as a “new élite” the result of incentives from above or of motivation from below? These are the underlying issues that will inform the following pages.