The sacrament of holy orders is conferred in three ranks of clergy: bishops, priests, and deacons.
Bishops (episkopos, έπισκοπη) have the care of multiple congregations and appoint, ordain, and discipline priests and deacons. They sometimes appear to be called “evangelists” in the New Testament. Examples of first-century bishops include Timothy and Titus (1 Tim. 5:19-22; 2 Tim. 4:5; Titus 1:5).
Priests (presbuteros, πρεσβύτερος) are also known as “presbyters” or “elders.” In fact, the English term “priest” is simply a contraction of the Greek word presbuteros. They have the responsibility of teaching, governing, and providing the sacraments in a given congregation (1 Tim. 5:17; Jas. 5:14-15).
Deacons (diakoneo, διακονέω) are the assistants of the bishops and are responsible for teaching and administering certain Church tasks, such as the distribution of food (Acts 6:1-6).
In the apostolic age, the terms for these offices were still somewhat fluid. Sometimes a term would be used in a technical sense as the title for an office, sometimes not. This non-technical use of the terms even exists today, as when the term is used in many churches (both Protestant and Catholic) to refer to either ordained ministers (as in “My minister visited him”) or non-ordained individuals. (In a Protestant church one might hear “He is a worship minister,” while in a Catholic church one might hear “He is an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion.”)
Thus, in the apostolic age Paul sometimes described himself as a diakonos (“servant” or “minister”; cf. 2 Cor. 3:6, 6:4, 11:23; Eph. 3:7), even though he held an office much higher than that of a deacon, that of apostle.
Similarly, on one occasion Peter described himself as a “fellow elder,” [1 Pet. 5:1] even though he, being an apostle, also had a much higher office than that of an ordinary elder.
The term for bishop, episcopos ejpiskophv (“overseer”), was also fluid in meaning. Sometimes it designated the overseer of an individual congregation (the priest), sometimes the person who was the overseer of all the congregations in a city or area (the bishop or evangelist), and sometimes simply the highest-ranking clergyman in the local church—who could be an apostle, if one were staying there at the time.
Although the terms “bishop,” “priest,” and “deacon” were somewhat fluid in the apostolic age, by the beginning of the second century they had achieved the fixed form in which they are used today to designate the three offices whose functions are clearly distinct in the New Testament.
As the following quotations illustrate, the early Church Fathers recognized all three offices and regarded them as essential to the Church’s structure. Especially significant are the letters of Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, who traveled from his home city to Rome, where he was executed around A.D. 110. On the way he wrote letters to the churches he passed. Each of these churches possessed the same threefold ministry. Without this threefold ministry, Ignatius said, a group cannot be called a church.
“Now, therefore, it has been my privilege to see
you in the person of your God-inspired bishop, Damas; and
in the persons of your worthy presbyters, Bassus and
Apollonius; and my fellow-servant, the deacon, Zotion.
What a delight is his company! For he is subject to the
bishop as to the grace of God, and to the presbytery as
to the law of Jesus Christ.”
—Letter
to the Magnesians 2, A.D. 110
“Take care to do all things in harmony with God,
with the bishop presiding in the place of God, and with
the presbyters in the place of the council of the
apostles, and with the deacons, who are most dear to me,
entrusted with the business of Jesus Christ, who was with
the Father from the beginning and is at last made
manifest.”
—ibid., 6:1
“Take care, therefore, to be confirmed in the
decrees of the Lord and of the apostles, in order that in
everything you do, you may prosper in body and in soul,
in faith and in love, in Son and in Father and in Spirit,
in beginning and in end, together with your most reverend
bishop; and with that fittingly woven spiritual crown,
the presbytery; and with the deacons, men of God. Be
subject to the bishop and to one another as Jesus Christ
was subject to the Father, and the apostles were subject
to Christ and to the Father; so that there may be unity
in both body and spirit.”
—ibid., 13:1-2
“Indeed, when you submit to the bishop as you would
to Jesus Christ, it is clear to me that you are living
not in the manner of men but as Jesus Christ, who died
for us, that through faith in his death you might escape
dying. It is necessary, therefore—and such is your
practice that you do nothing without the bishop, and that
you be subject also to the presbytery, as to the apostles
of Jesus Christ our hope, in whom we shall be found, if
we live in him. It is necessary also that the deacons,
the dispensers of the mysteries [sacraments] of Jesus
Christ, be in every way pleasing to all men. For they are
not the deacons of food and drink, but servants of the
Church of God. They must therefore guard against blame as
against fire.”
—Letter
to the Trallians 2:1-3, A.D. 110
“In like manner let everyone respect the deacons as
they would respect Jesus Christ, and just as they respect
the bishop as a type of the Father, and the presbyters as
the council of God and college of the apostles. Without
these, it cannot be called a church. I am confident that
you accept this, for I have received the exemplar of your
love and have it with me in the person of your bishop.
His very demeanor is a great lesson and his meekness is
his strength. I believe that even the godless do respect
him.”
—ibid., 3:1-2
“He that is within the sanctuary is pure; but he
that is outside the sanctuary is not pure. In other
words, anyone who acts without the bishop and the
presbytery and the deacons does not have a clear
conscience.”
—ibid., 7:2
“I cried out while I was in your midst, I spoke
with a loud voice, the voice of God: ‘Give heed to
the bishop and the presbytery and the deacons.’
Some suspect me of saying this because I had previous
knowledge of the division certain persons had caused; but
he for whom I am in chains is my witness that I had no
knowledge of this from any man. It was the Spirit who
kept preaching these words, ‘Do nothing without the
bishop, keep your body as the temple of God, love unity,
flee from divisions, be imitators of Jesus Christ, as he
was imitator of the Father.’”
—Letter
to the Philadelphians 7:1-2, A.D. 110
“A multitude of other pieces of advice to
particular persons is written in the holy books: some for
presbyters, some for bishops and deacons; and others for
widows, of whom we shall have opportunity to speak
elsewhere.”
—Pædagogus
(The Instructor) 3:12:97:2, A.D. 191
“Even here in the Church the gradations of bishops,
presbyters, and deacons happen to be imitations, in my
opinion, of the angelic glory and of that arrangement
which, the scriptures say, awaits those who have followed
in the footsteps of the apostles and who have lived in
complete righteousness according to the
gospel.”
—Stromata
6:13:107:2, A.D. 208
“When a deacon is to be ordained, he is chosen after the fashion of those things said above, the bishop alone in like manner imposing his hands upon him as we have prescribed. In the ordaining of a deacon, this is the reason why the bishop alone is to impose his hands upon him: he is not ordained to the priesthood, but to serve the bishop and to fulfill the bishop’s command. He has no part in the council of the clergy, but is to attend to his own duties and is to acquaint the bishop with such matters as are needful …
“On a presbyter, however, let the presbyters impose their hands because of the common and like Spirit of the clergy. Even so, the presbyter has only the power to receive [the Spirit], and not the power to give [the Spirit]. That is why a presbyter does not ordain the clergy; for at the ordaining of a presbyter, he but seals while the bishop ordains.
“Over a deacon, then, let the bishop speak thus:
‘O God, who have created all things and have set
them in order through your Word; Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, whom you sent to minister to your will and to
make clear to us your desires, grant the Holy Spirit of
grace and care and diligence to this your servant, whom
you have chosen to serve the Church and to offer in your
holy places the gifts which are offered to you by your
chosen high priests, so that he may serve with a pure
heart and without blame, and that, ever giving praise to
you, he may be accounted by your good will as worthy of
this high office: through your Son Jesus Christ, through
whom be glory and honor to you, to the Father and the Son
with the Holy Spirit, in your holy Church, both now and
through the ages of ages. Amen.’”
—The
Apostolic Tradition 8, A.D. 215
“Not fornication only, but even marriages make us
unfit for ecclesiastical honors; for neither a bishop,
nor a presbyter, nor a deacon, nor a widow is able to be
twice married.”
—Homilies
on Luke 17, A.D. 234
“Bishops, presbyters, and deacons may not leave
their own places for the sake of commerce, nor are they
to be traveling about the provinces, frequenting the
markets for their own profit. Certainly for the procuring
of their own necessities they can send a boy or a
freedman or a hireling or a friend or whomever, but, if
they wish to engage in business, let them do so within
the province.”
—Canon
19, A.D. 300
“It has come to the attention of this holy and
great synod that in some places and cities deacons give
communion to presbyters, although neither canon nor
custom allows this, namely that those who have no
authority to offer should give the body of Christ to
those who do offer. Moreover it has become known that
some of the deacons now receive the eucharist even before
the bishops. All these practices must be suppressed.
Deacons must remain within their own limits, knowing that
they are the ministers of the bishop and subordinate to
the presbyters. Let them receive the eucharist according
to their order after the presbyters from the hands of the
bishop or the presbyter.”
—Canon
18, A.D. 325
“[In Philippians 1:1 Paul says,] ‘To the
co-bishops and deacons.’ What does this mean? Were
there plural bishops of some city? Certainly not! It is
the presbyters that [Paul] calls by this title; for these
titles were then interchangeable, and the bishop is even
called a deacon. That is why, when writing to Timothy, he
says, ‘Fulfill your diaconate’ [2
Tim. 4:5], although Timothy was then a bishop. That
he was in fact a bishop is clear when Paul says to him,
‘Lay hands on no man lightly’ [1
Tim. 5:22], and again, ‘Which was given you
with the laying on of hands of the presbytery’
[1
Tim. 4:14], and presbyters would not have ordained a
bishop.”
—Homilies
on Philippians 1:1, A.D. 402
“I, Patrick, the sinner, am the most rustic and the
least of all the faithful … had for my father
Calpornius, a deacon, a son of Potitus, a priest, who
belonged to the village of Bannavem Taberniae … At
that time I was barely sixteen years of age … and
I was led into captivity in Ireland with many thousands
of persons, in accordance with our deserts, for we turned
away from God, and kept not his commandments, and were
not obedient to our priests, who were wont to admonish us
for our salvation.”
—Confession
of St. Patrick 1, A.D. 452
“I, Patrick, the sinner, unlearned as everybody
knows, avow that I have been established a bishop in
Ireland. Most assuredly I believe that I have received
from God what I am. And so I dwell in the midst of
barbarous heaths, a stranger and an exile for the love of
God.”
—Letter
to the Soldiers of Coroticus 1, A.D. 452
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