Among authority figures are the ministers of worship, that is to say those who serve the community (to be a “minister” means to “serve”). The first Christian communities had a collective leadership without a true hierarchy, with episcopoi (“overseers”), presbyteroi (“elders”) and diaconoi (“servants”). The episcopoi were responsible for chairing meetings and for arbitrating conflicts. There were also other ministries, for example prophets and prophetesses.
In the 2nd and 3rd centuries, with a different timeline depending on the location, the management of the community steadily became a monarchic one with an episcopos - now called a bishop -, whose powers increased. This monarchical status is clearly shown for the first time in the letters attributed to Ignatius of Antioch in the first half of the 2nd century. The bishop, head of the Christian community, was both an arbitrator of internal conflicts and a theological guide, with a major sacramental role. He also stood as the successor of the apostles. In the 3rd century and beyond, several bishops participated in the theological debates of the time, contributing to the development of some dogmas, of a Canon of Scriptures and of an "orthodoxy" (meaning the “right view”). A hierarchy was established: the bishop was helped in his work by presbyters and by priests (who could give the sacraments), and he was assisted by deacons, who watched over the faithful and managed the common resources of the community.
With communities increasing and the development of the liturgy, there were more and more ministers, and different responsibilities: readers, exorcists, singers, porters, etc. Former functions disappeared, for example prophets and prophetesses after the 3rd century.
Then communities saw the growing importance of bishops, with metropolitan bishops (later called archbishops) and with five patriarchs: the ones of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Rome and Constantinople. The primacy of the Patriarch of Rome was only honorary at first but, from the second half of the 4th century, his primacy became a major one, and he was the only one to get the name of pope (derived from the Latin term "father"), as the successor of the apostle Peter.
This hierarchy was based on the existing territories, mainly following the administrative divisions of the Roman Empire, and contributed to christianize this land.
Over time, two patriarchs gained some prominence over the others: the ones of Rome and Constantinople (see the module: History of Christianity). Each one was the head of a Church, the Latin Church and the Greek Church, that became then the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. While the Catholic Latin world kept a strong hierarchy around its pope, the Orthodox world was plural, with the emergence of several “autocephalous” Churches during the second millennium. For example, in the 15th century, the Russian Church named its own patriarch, the patriarch of Moscow, who became a potential rival of the patriarch of Constantinople, with a rivalry that has been reactivated nowadays.
In both Churches - Catholic and Orthodox -, ministers of religion, deacons, priests and bishops received the sacrament of orders, called the ordination, to distinguish lay people (who didn't receive the sacrament of orders and could receive the sacrament of marriage) from clerics (who received the sacrament of orders and could not receive the sacrament of marriage). However the two Churches differ in some sense: in the Catholic Church, clerics could not get married; in the Orthodox Church, only bishops and monks could not get married, but married men could be ordained to become priests (called “popes”). In both Churches, women could not receive the sacrament of orders; thus they could neither preach nor give the sacraments. However they could have a religious life and lead a religious role, for example as deaconesses, who were present in the earliest communities, or as nuns and Beguines, notably in Germanic Europe from the beginning of the second millennium.
Nowadays, in the Catholic world, while the position of the Church has softened regarding the role of women (versus the role of men), the situation has not evolved to grant women the right for a ministry, despite the fact there are more and more debates about this issue and more and more tasks performed by women in Catholic churches.
In the Protestant Church, the idea of a universal priesthood (anyone can preach as long as he is able to do it and as long as he is recognized by the community as such) led to accept the fact that the ministers of worship can be married, and that the agreement they receive from the church is not a sacrament. Moreover, Lutherans have retained a hierarchy inherited from Roman Catholicism, with pastors, deans and ecclesiastical inspectors. The idea of a universal priesthood potentially led to an opening of the pastoral ministry to women. But this development has long been hampered by the weight of the existing order in mentalities and by the emphasis put on Biblical texts, thus valuing the Pauline discourse stating that man is ontologically and historically superior to woman. However, many women have played a significant role in the Protestant communities since a long time. In the late 19th century, Evangelical churches were the first ones to accept women as pastors, followed by most of the Reformed and Lutheran churches after 1945.