ABSTRACT
This chapter examines an important duty of bishops towards their kin: support for their nephews. Bishops trace their origins to the apostles, Christ's disciples after the Crucifixion. As the spiritual successors to the apostles, chosen by members of the church, at least in theory, and consecrated by the laying on of hands, bishops have overall responsibility for the spiritual health of Christian believers; the term bishop, which derives from the Greek episkopos or overseer, conveys a sense of this duty. From the fourth century, when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman empire, bishops began to have significant political roles, both in the service of rulers and also locally in their dioceses, in which, for example, they often acted as civic leaders and organisers of defences in the fifth and sixth centuries.
