THE CATHEDRAL OR EPISCOPAL SCHOOLS. The first churches throughout the Empire were in the cities, and made their early converts there. [23] Gradually these important cities evolved into the residences of a supervising priest or bishop, the territory became known as a _bishopric_, and the church as a _cathedral church_. In time, also, some of the outlying territory was organized into parishes, and churches were established in these. These were made tributary to and placed under the direction of the bishop of the large central city. To supply clergy for these outlying parishes came to be one of the functions of the bishop, and, to insure properly trained clergy and to provide for promotions in the clerical ranks, schools of a rudimentary type were established in connection with the cathedral churches. These came to be known as _cathedral_, or _episcopal schools_. At first they were probably under the immediate charge of the bishop, but later, as his functions increased, the school was placed under a special teacher, known as a _Scholasticus_, or _Magister Scholarum_, who directed the cathedral school, assisted the bishop, and trained the future clergy. As the pagan secondary schools died out, these cathedral schools, together with the monastic schools which were later founded, gradually replaced the pagan schools as the important educational institutions of the western world. In these two types of schools the religious leaders of the early Middle Ages were trained.
THE MONASTIC ORGANIZATION. In the early days of Christianity, it will be remembered (p. 87), the Christian convert held himself apart from the wicked world all about him, and had little to do with the society or the government of his time. He regarded the Church as having no relationship to the State. As the Church grew stronger, however, and became a State within a State, the Christian took a larger and larger part in the world around him, and in time came to be distinguished from other men by his profession of the Christian religion rather than by any other mark. Many of the early bishops were men of great political sagacity, fully capable of realizing to the full the political opportunities, afforded by their position, to strengthen the power of the Church. It was the work of men of this type that created the temporal power of the Church, and made of it an institution capable of commanding respect and enforcing its decisions.