William Shakespeare - Peter Medawar - Blackadder II TV - Sydney Smith - John Wesley - John Fane - Timothy 3:1-7 - Titus 1:7-9 - Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnans 8:1 - Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnans 9:1 - Monty Python’s Flying Circus TV - Raymond Chandler -
But now the Bishop
Turns insurrection to religion.
Supposed sincere and holy in his thoughts,
He’s followed both with body and with mind ...
Derives from heaven his quarrel and his cause. William Shakespeare, II Henry IV I i 199-202 & 205, Morton to Lord Bardolph
A bishop wrote gravely to The Times invited all nations to destroy ‘the formula’ of the atomic bomb. There is no simple remedy for ignorance so abysmal. Peter Medawar, The Hope of Progress, 1972
I am the baby-eating Bishop of Bath & Wells! Blackadder II: Money, Bishop to Blackadder, BBC 1986
No form of sexual depravity is too low for me. ibid. Bishop of Bath & Wells to Blackadder, with Baldrick
You fiend. Never have I encountered such corrupt and foul-minded perversity. Have you ever considered a career in the church? ibid.
How can a bishop marry? How can he flirt? The most he can say is, ‘I will see you in the vestry after service.’ Sydney Smith
Men may call me a knave or a fool, a rascal, a scoundrel, and I am content; but they shall never by my consent call me a Bishop! John Wesley
Merit, indeed! ... We are come to a pretty pass if they talk of merit for a bishopric. John Fane, 1759-1841
This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
(For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.
Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. Timothy 3:1-7
For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;
Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. Titus 1:7-9
Follow your bishop, as Jesus Christ followed the Father, and the presbytery as the Apostles; and to the deacons pay respect, as to God’s commandment. Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnans 8:1
He that honoureth the bishop is honoured of God; he that doeth aught without the knowledge of the bishop rendereth service to the devil. Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnans 9:1
There’s a dead bishop in the lobby, sir. Monty Python’s Flying Circus s1e13: Intermission, waiter to head waiter, BBC 1970
I am the Bishop of East Anglia. Monty Python’s Flying Circus s2e6: It’s a Living
It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window. Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely