Words: Elder
Harvey Gillman continues his series on the meaning of words
In 1653 the Quaker leader William Dewsbury wrote, in a letter: That in every particular meeting, Friends, there be chosen from among you, one or two who are most grown in the power and life, and in discernment in the truth, to take the care and charge over the flock of God in that place. In the very early days of Friends there was an overlap in the use of the words elder and overseer. These roles reflected the life of the early church. The Greek Presbuteros, giving us ‘presbyter’ and ‘priest’, is used in Christian scripture to refer to elders of particular congregations (presbus meaning an old man). Episkopos gives us the ‘bishop’ and, literally, means overseer. These words originally, however, were not as precise as they later became.
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