The Gospel of the Forty Days: Bishops and Presbyters       Last week we saw that the “gospel of the forty days” after Jesus’ resurrection (Ac 1:2-3) included that the Apostles would appoint their successors, and we discussed the origin of the terms “bishop” and “deacon.” There is a third term from the Greek which the Apostles adopted as a title for an office in the early Church. The Greek OT and the NT refer to “elder” in many different contexts, but the first time it is used as a designation of an office in the Church is in Acts 11:30 where St. Barnabas and St. Paul (Saul) brought famine relief to the Judean “elders.” The Greek term is presbuteros , or in English, “presbyters.” Also in Acts 14:23 Paul and Barnabas appoint presbyters in all the mission churches, and there are presbyters with the Apostles at the council of Jerusalem (Ac 15:2, 4, 6, 22, 23; 16:4; cf., Ac 21:18).       In Paul’s farewell address to the presbyters of Ephesus (Ac 2...