Holy orders

Holy orders refers to the process or rite by which a person becomes a member of the Christian clergy in some denominations. Clergy are people trained and officially approved by a denomination to serve as religious leaders. The process culminates in ordination, a ceremony in which the person is made a bishop, priest, or deacon.

Background

Since the earliest days of the Christian faith, certain individuals have been chosen as leaders. Initially, it was the twelve disciples chosen by Jesus as his inner circle. Shortly after Jesus left them, the disciples chose others to join in spreading Jesus's message around the world. In the New Testament, the Book of Acts describes how the disciples chose seven men to serve as deacons, or diakonos, a Greek word that means "servants," to tend to physical ministries such as feeding the poor. The disciples commissioned these seven by putting their hands on them and praying. This practice continues to be part of the process of administering the rite of holy orders in most circumstances.

The Book of Acts and other New Testament books include references to chosen church elders. These men—who are alternately called episkopos, presbuteros, or poimen (the Greek words for bishops, presbyters or priests, and pastors, respectively)—are appointed by the disciples. While they were leaders of their churches, they were expected to be servants and examples rather than superiors or managers. In the earliest days of the church, it was rare to find one bishop or presbyter leading a congregation by himself. Instead, they served in joint leadership. They provided spiritual and pastoral guidance, helped to interpret and explain the scriptures, and resolved misunderstandings and disputes.

By the second century, the church had begun to develop a hierarchy that made bishops superior to presbyters and presbyters superior to deacons. This was first documented in the writings of Ignatius, the Bishop of Antioch, shortly before he was martyred in Rome, Italy. While scholars have debated his meaning, Ignatius's writings helped develop the idea of bishop as a form of a monarch ruling over the church.

There is no reference to distinguishing between laity, or people, and clergy in the earliest days of the church. During the third century, further distinctions were made between the two groups, though without emphasis on one being superior to the other. However, the clergy—bishops, priests, and deacons—were set apart and commissioned for their roles through special rituals and practices.

Overview

The rites and practices by which people are ordained to ministry are called holy orders. Taking these orders is considered a life-long vocation, or calling. In the Roman Catholic Church, holy orders are one of the seven sacraments, which the church defines as outward signs of inward grace and spiritual gifts. There are three specific levels to the sacrament of holy orders, which for centuries have only been bestowed on men. These are deacon, priest, and bishop.

With few exceptions, those who receive holy orders are first ordained as a deacon. Some will remain deacons, serving as directed by a bishop. Sometimes referred to as permanent deacons, they can teach, preach, proclaim the gospel, baptize and witness marriages, and assist a priest during celebrations of the Mass. Others, sometimes referred to as transitional deacons, serve in this role for a short time before being ordained into the priesthood.

In the Roman Catholic tradition, priests can perform all the functions of a deacon and can also preside at the celebration of the Eucharist and convey absolution for sins. The ceremony in which the sacrament of holy orders is administered to a priest is conducted by a bishop, who places his hands on the candidate and asks for the presence of the Holy Spirit in the priest's life and ministry. The candidate also prostrates himself, or lays face down, on the floor before the altar while special prayers are recited or sung. The new priest's hands are anointed with a special blessed oil called chrism. When the ceremony is complete, the priest is considered to have a character, or special indelible spiritual mark, that indicates he represents the presence of Jesus to the church.

Bishops, who are placed in charge of groups of churches in an area, receive the highest level of holy orders. They have already been ordained as deacons and priests, so the ceremony for their ordination to the bishopric includes special prayers and an anointing of the candidate's head with chrism.

Other Christian denominations, including the Orthodox and Anglican Churches, also ordain clergy in variations of holy orders. While the different denominations respect the ordained roles of clergy from other faith traditions, they do not necessarily accept the holy orders received by others as valid. For instance, the Roman Catholic Church holds the position that Orthodox bishops can trace their succession, or spiritual lineage, directly back to Jesus's apostle Andrew. As a result, they consider these bishops and the holy orders they confer to be valid. However, the Roman Catholic Church does not belief that the succession of Anglican and Episcopal bishops can be traced directly back to the apostles, so they do not recognize the holy orders administered by these bishops to be valid. This has been the Roman Catholic position for many years, but it was not formalized until 1998.

Still, the various Christian denominations do recognize that their clergy share much in the way of spiritual formation, such as theology, biblical studies, and instruction in counseling. Therefore, most churches make provisions for clergy from other traditions to change denominations after a period of study and examination. They are not ordained again though. Rather, their holy orders are "received" in the new tradition. This is because of the belief that the spiritual gifts bestowed during ordination do not go away and need to be given only once for each level.

One significant difference among the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and other Christian traditions is the administration of holy orders to women and married individuals. Episcopal Churches ordain women, and a female presiding bishop, who oversees the administrative and spiritual functions of the church in America, has even led them. Some denominations do not allow their clergy to be married, though some men may be ordained as deacons after they are already married. Other faiths hold that a single man must hold these offices because Jesus was male and single.

Bibliography

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Campbell, James P. "Sacrament of Holy Orders." Loyola Press, www.loyolapress.com/our-catholic-faith/sacraments/holy-orders/sacrament-of-holy-orders. Accessed 9 Sept. 2017.

"Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Sacrament of Holy Orders." The Vatican, www.vatican.va/archive/ccc‗css/archive/catechism/p2s2c3a6.htm. Accessed 9 Sept. 2017.

"Holy Orders." Orthodox Church in America, oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/worship/the-sacraments/holy-orders. Accessed 9 Sept. 2017.

Mattison, Mark M. "The Rise of the Clergy." Auburn University, www.auburn.edu/~allenkc/openhse/clergy.html. Accessed 9 Sept. 2017.

"Ministers, Their Ordination, Functions, and Charge." The Church of England, www.churchofengland.org/about-us/structure/churchlawlegis/canons/section-c.aspx. Accessed 9 Sept. 2017.

"Pope Francis on the Sacrament of Holy Orders." Diocese of Westminster, rcdow.org.uk/vocations/priesthood/articles/pope-francis-on-the-sacrament-of-holy-orders/. Accessed 9 Sept. 2017.

"Women and Holy Orders." International Marian Research Institute, University of Dayton, udayton.edu/imri/mary/w/women-and-holy-orders.php. Accessed 9 Sept. 2017.