6. The clergy came to be distinct from the laity--a sacerdotal class was developed. In the early Church the priesthood was universal, _i. e._, laymen as well as Church officers could preach, baptise, administer the sacraments, and exercise discipline. The relation of clergy to laity was merely that of leadership as in non-Christian organisations. "Ordination" simply meant appointment, and was used in civic installations, while "laying on of hands" was only a symbol of prayer and even used by the Jews for secular affairs.
Gradually, however, the tendency to put the Church officials above the laity grew stronger until something akin to the Old Testament idea of the priesthood was revived. By the fourth century the Church officers had lost their primitive character and had become a separate class mediating between God and man. The causes of this separation are not difficult to see, namely: (a) the peculiar duties of the Church officials tended to give them a distinct character; (b) the persecutions to which the Roman government subjected them threw them into conspicuous relief; (c) the legalisation of Christianity bestowed upon them a distinct civil status, made them immune from public burdens like taxes and military service, exempted them from civil courts, and permitted them to acquire property; and (d) the rise of asceticism forced the clergy to observe a code of morals different from that of the laity, demanded celibacy, originated the badge of the tonsure, and created clergy-houses.
The laity were early organised in congregations. Membership in the Church was open to all believers in Jesus. The election of officers was, for the most part, democratic. The life of each congregation was socialistic and communistic. All possessions were sold for the common good and to create a common fund for the needy.[64:1] The members enjoyed a common evening meal and their common love-feast which was to them the highest act of worship.[64:2] Disobedience, or infidelity, might be punished by private admonition, public correction, and in stubborn cases excommunication.[64:3] But after the first century these communistic-democratic societies were gradually replaced by a hierarchical organisation with new or modified institutions. The monarchio-episcopal principle of church government was gradually evolved but, nevertheless, much of the primitive democracy remained. This evolution in the government of the Church may be clearly seen by the end of the second century.