Holy Orders

Holy Orders in the modern Roman Catholic Church and in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, Assyrian, Old Catholic, and Independent Catholic Churches, includes three degrees: bishop, priest, and deacon. While Anglicans are divided on the question, the other Churches mentioned regard ordination as a sacrament. Other Protestant denominations have varied conceptions of the church offices, but none of them considers ordination a sacrament, and some would not consider their ministries in terms of holy orders at all.

Episcopal concept of ordination

The episcopal (from the Greek episkopos, meaning "overseer" and from which we get the word "bishop") form of church government is followed by the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Churches, and the Anglican Churches and centers around the hierarchy of bishops.

Related Topics:
Episcopal - Greek

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Meaning of priesthood

The word "priest" either derives ultimately from the Greek presbuteros meaning "elder" or the Latin praepositus meaning "superintendent." The Catholic church sees the priesthood as both a reflection of the ancient temple priesthood of the Jews and the person of Jesus. The liturgy of ordination recalls the Old Testament priesthood and the priesthood of Christ. In the words of St. Thomas Aquinas, "Christ is the source of all priesthood: the priest of the old law was a prefiguration of Christ, and the priest of the new law acts in the person of Christ" Summa Theologica III, 22, 4c. See Presbyterorum Ordinis for the Second Vatican Council decree on the nature of the Catholic priesthood.

Related Topics:
Catholic church - Priesthood - Temple - Jew - Jesus - Liturgy - Old Testament - St. - Thomas Aquinas - Summa Theologica - Presbyterorum Ordinis - Second Vatican Council

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Process and sequence

The arrangement given above, "bishops, priests, and deacons" is in the reverse order of ordination. For Roman Catholics, it is typically in the last year of seminary training that a man will be ordained to the diaconate, called by Roman Catholics in recent times the "transitional diaconate" to distinguish men bound for priesthood from those who have entered the "permanent diaconate" and do not intend to seek further ordination. Deacons, whether transitional or permanent, are licensed to preach sermons, to perform baptisms, and to witness marriages, but to perform no other sacraments. They may assist at the Eucharist or the Mass, but are not the ministers of the Eucharist. Orthodox seminarians are typically tonsured as readers before entering seminary, and may later be made subdeacons or deacons; customs vary between seminaries and between Orthodox jurisdictions.

Related Topics:
Seminary - Transitional diaconate - Permanent diaconate - Baptism - Marriage - Eucharist - Mass

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After six months or more as a transitional deacon a man will be ordained to the priesthood. Priests are able to preach, perform baptisms, witness marriages, hear confessions and give absolutions, anoint the sick, and celebrate the Eucharist or the Mass.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

For Anglicans, a person is ordained a deacon once they have completed their training at a theological college. They then typically serve as a curate and are ordained as priest a year later. Deacons must be at least 23 years old, and priests 24. Anglican deacons can preach sermons, perform baptisms and conduct funerals, but, unlike priests, cannot conduct marriages or celebrate the Eucharist. In most branches of the Anglican church, women can be ordained as priests, but usually cannot be ordained a bishop. Anglican priests have to be at least 30 before they can be chosen to become a bishop.

Related Topics:
Deacon - Curate - Priest - Baptism - Marriage - Eucharist - Bishop

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bishops are chosen from among the priests in churches that adhere to Roman Catholic usage. Among Eastern Rite Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, which permit married priests, bishops must either be unmarried or agree to abstain from contact with their wives. It is a common misconception that all such bishops come from religious orders; while this is generally true, it is not a rule. In the case of both Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, they are usually leaders of territorial units called dioceses. Only bishops can validly administer the sacrament of holy orders. In Latin-rite Catholic churches and Anglican churches, only bishops (and priests with authorisation by the bishop) may lawfully administer the sacrament of confirmation, but if an ordinary priest administers that sacrament illegally, it is nonetheless considered valid, so that the person confirmed cannot be confirmed again, by a bishop or otherwise. In Eastern-rite Catholic churches, confirmation is done by parish priests via the rite of chrismation, and is usually administered to both neonates and adults immediately after their baptism.

Related Topics:
Bishop - Diocese - Latin-rite - Eastern-rite

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Recognition of other churches' orders

Roman Catholics recognize the validity of holy orders administered in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Old Catholic, Independent Catholic, and the Assyrian Churches because they believe those churches have maintained the apostolic succession of bishops, i.e., their bishops claim to be in a line of succession dating back to the Apostles, just as Catholic bishops do. Consequently, if a priest of one of those eastern churches converts to Catholicism, he is automatically a Catholic priest. Eastern Orthodox bishops can, and frequently do, grant recognition to the holy orders of converts who were earlier ordained in the Roman Catholic church (though there is much debate in the Orthodox Church about this); that is part of the policy called church economy.

Related Topics:
Apostolic succession - Apostle - Church economy

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Anglican churches, unlike most Protestant churches, maintain the succession, their bishops being successors of English bishops who converted to Protestantism in the 16th century. A controversy in the Catholic church over the question of whether Anglican holy orders are valid was dogmatically settled by Pope Leo XIII in 1896, who wrote that Anglican orders lack validity because the rite by which priests are ordained is not correctly performed. Eastern Orthodox bishops have, on occasion, granted "economy" when Anglican priests convert to Orthodoxy. Catholics do not recognize ordination of ministers in Protestant churches that do not maintain the apostolic succession.

Related Topics:
Anglican - Pope Leo XIII - 1896

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Anglicans accept the ordination of most mainline denominations, however, only those denominations in full communion with the Anglican Communion such as some Lutheran denominations, may preside at services requiring a cleric.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Marriage and holy orders

The rules discussed in this section are not considered to be among the infallible dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church, but are mutable rules of discipline. See clerical celibacy for a more detailed discussion.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Married men may be ordained to the diaconate as Permanent Deacons, but in the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church may not be ordained to the priesthood. In the Eastern Rites of the Roman Catholic Church and in the Eastern Orthodox Church married deacons may be ordained priests, but may not become bishops. Bishops in the Eastern Rites and the Eastern Orthodox churches are drawn only from among monks, who have taken a vow of celibacy. They may be widowers, though; it is not required of them to never have been married.

Related Topics:
Latin Rite - Catholic Church - Eastern Rites - Eastern Orthodox - Monks

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There are cases of permanent deacons who, left widowed by the death of a wife, have been ordained to the priesthood. There have been some situations in which men previously married and ordained to the priesthood in the Anglican Church have been ordained to the Catholic priesthood and allowed to function much as an Eastern Rite priest but in a Latin Rite setting. This, however, may only happen with the approval of the priest's Bishop and the Pope.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chastity and celibacy

There is a difference between chastity and celibacy. Celibacy is the state of not being married, so a vow of celibacy is a promise not to enter into marriage but instead to consecrate one's life to service (in other words, "married to God"). Chastity, a virtue expected of all Christians, is the state of sexual purity; for a vowed celibate, or for the single person, chastity means the avoidance of sex. For the married person, chastity means the practice of sex only with the spouse, and can carry the expectation of intercourse with the spouse that is open to reproduction.

Related Topics:
Celibacy - Vow of celibacy - Chastity - Reproduction

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~