Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. At the same time the writer is far from wishing to imply that the last word has been said as to the origin and early development of Christian organization. The study of primitive Christianity is only in its infancy: and the function of awork like the present is rather to stimulate enquiry, and to point out the lines along which enquiry must proceed, than to assume that its ‘media axiomata’ are the final inductions which competent scholars will be able to make when the evidence has been fully collected and adequately discussed.