It is well known that the promotion of the bishop figure is of primary importance to gallicanism in general, and to Bossuet’s gallicanism in particular. Strongly influenced by Dionysius’concept of hierarch, Bossuet’s conception of episcopate shows some remarkable differences with this heritage: Indeed, Bossuet decreases the importance of the intermediate bodies (such as the priests, and most of all the deacons); he views the hierarchy as an authoritative relationship, and not as a transmission of knowledge; and he tends to emphasize the paradoxical nature of the bishop’s situation, always oscillating between strengh and weakness.