meant in the sense of individual people overseeing groups of churches (that is, “bishops” in the sense that would come to predominate) or groups of overseers presiding over individual churches (that is, the sense of “elder,” and perhaps also the original sense of episcopos). Second-century writings from the Persian world11 make no mention of bishops, and it is perhaps likely that early Persian Christianity revolved around the city of Edessa itself as a hub for preachers/teachers, missionaries, and