Bishop – The Tao of Holy Orthodoxy

May 8, 2018

62. The Mystery of Holy Ordination

Stole

All Orthodox Christians share a priesthood together as members of Christ’s Holy Church. Within this shared priesthood, some individual men are chosen to serve as Clergy, ordained according to Apostolic Succession by the Grace of God. The Clergy of the Church include Bishops, Priests, and Deacons. Therefore, the priestly ministry of the Church as a whole includes both the work of the Clergy and the work of the Laity (that is, the people). Two extremes must be avoided to maintain harmony: Clericalism, which devalues the contribution of the Laity, and Laicism, which devalues the contribution of the Clergy. Both Clergy and Laity are called to harmoniously work together for the benefit of all.

A Bishop (Episkopos) holds the highest degree of the Priesthood. In earlier centuries Bishops were married. Today, a Bishop is chosen from among celibate men. He may be either a never-married man or a widower. (The current practice of choosing only unmarried men as Bishops is not a matter of doctrine, but a rule set forth in the canons. This rule could be changed if the Church, through the guidance of the the Holy Spirit, decided to do so.) Even though Bishops have different titles, such as Patriarch, Archbishop, or Metropolitan, which indicate certain honors or responsibilities, all Bishops are essentially equal. The Bishop alone presides over all the Seven Mysteries (Sacraments) as a successor of the Holy Apostles. Within his jurisdiction (diocese or archdiocese), the Bishop possesses the highest authority. If a Bishop disregarded his responsibility to keep the Faith and failed to carry out his sacred ministry faithfully, his brother Bishops, who together form a Synod, could remove him from his position and depose him as Bishop. In the Church, everyone is accountable to someone else.

A Bishop may ordain a man, either celebate or married, as a Priest (that is, a Presbyter). Through the Mystery of Holy Ordination, the man receives the Grace of the Holy Priesthood by the hand of the Bishop. Placing his hand upon the man to be ordained, the Bishop prays for the Divine Grace to make the man a Priest of the Most High God.

As the leader of a local Orthodox community (parish), the Priest watches over the spiritual flock as a loving, attentive shepherd and assists the Bishop, the chief shepherd, in the ministry of the Church. The Priest possesses the authority to preside over all the Holy Mysteries with the exception of Holy Ordination. Only the Bishop, under whose authority and care the Priest serves, possesses the authority to ordain.

The Priest stands before the Holy Altar of Heaven in the Sanctuary of the Orthodox Temple to preside over the worship of the Church. He offers gifts to God on behalf of the people and receives the Divine Gifts that God gives in return. He touches the Holy Things sanctified by God’s Presence and, as a Physician, administers these Grace-filled Medicines to the Faithful for the healing of their souls and bodies. The Priest instructs the Faithful in the life of virtue, prays for their salvation as an advocate before God, and guides them on the Way of salvation. He both cares for the sick admitted to Christ’s Hospital and goes out to bring the sick into the Hospital. The Priest proclaims the Way of salvation to the world. Keep in mind that the Priest possesses authority, but not Power. The Power that works through the Priesthood (that is, the Divine Grace) belongs to God alone.

The Bishop may also ordain a man, either married of unmarried, as a Deacon (Diakonos). Originally, the Twelve Apostles instituted the Holy Diaconate as a ministry dedicated to caring for the practical daily needs of Christians. The Deacons ensured that all the widows fairly received the food they needed. This division of labor allowed the Apostles to remain focused on the evangelistic ministry proper to their Apostolic office. The Deacons assist the Bishop and the Priests by fulfilling a liturgical role in worship as well as tending to other work in the Church, as needed.

In addition to the Ordained Clergy, called Major Clergy (that is, the Bishop, Priests, and Deacons), lower degrees also exist. The Minor Clergy, including Subdeacons and Readers, are formally blessed by the Bishop to serve in certain roles. The Subdeacon assists the Bishops, Priests, and Deacons in the Sancturary. The Reader bears the responsibility to read the Holy Epistle and other texts, as necessary, in the services. Some Readers also sing or chant during the services. When the word Clergy is used, it generally refers to the Major Clergy, but all the clerical offices should be given proper honor and respect.

Read: Exodus 30.22-33; Leviticus 8-9; 18; Psalm 133; Acts 6.1-7; 13.1-3; 1 TImothy 4.6-16; 5.17-25; 1 Peter 2.1-12

November 2, 2017March 17, 2018

30. The Greeting and Blessing

blessing hand ICXC

The proper way to greet a Bishop or a Priest is to make a bow, reaching toward the floor, then, standing upright again, place your right hand inside your left hand, palms up. When greeting the Bishop, say, Bless, Master. When greeting a priest, say instead, Bless, Father. The Bishop or Priest will bless you by making the sign of the Cross over you with his right hand. He will then place his hand in your open hands. You respond by kissing his hand with reverence.

During the blessing, the fingers of the Bishop or Priest form a configuration representing the Greek letters IC XC, an ancient abbreviation of the Name of Jesus Christ. The blessing offered by the Bishop and Priest is the blessing of Jesus Christ. They have been given authority to bless as ministers of Jesus Christ within His Holy Church.

Why do you kiss the hand of the Bishop or Priest? Since they hold Apostolic Succession, being part of a spiritual and historical genealogy originating with Christ’s original Twelve Apostles, when you kiss their hands, you are venerating the Holy Apostles. You are showing respect for the Holy Priesthood, which God has placed on earth for your salvation. You are therefore reverencing the hands set apart to touch Holy Things and honoring the sacred ministry established to bring all people into the healing, life-giving experience of the Living God.

Requesting a blessing from the Bishop or Priest is especially appropriate whenever you wish to do something in a spirit of obedience. For example, you may ask your Priest for a special blessing to begin a new project within the Church or to significantly change certain practical aspects of your own prayer and ascetic effort.

When Priests greet the Bishop, they do so in the same way a lay person does. The Priests are in obedience to the Bishop, serve under his authority, and act according to his blessing. (When the Bishop is present, the Priest does not bless people, but rather the Bishop offers all blessings.)

When Priests greet each other they kiss each other’s hands, each recognising the Apostolic succession of the other as brothers in the Holy Priesthood.

Seek to do all things in humble obedience in good order with a blessing from God.

Read: Genesis 14.17-20; 27.28-29; Numbers 6.22-27; Matthew 10.1-15; Luke 24.50-53; John 20.19-23; 2 Corinthians 13.14; Ephesians 6.23-24

(Posted originally in February 2018, but moved to be an earlier lesson.)

October 27, 2017October 30, 2017

24. Where do you find the Church?

Synaxis_of_the_Twelve_Apostles_by_Constantinople_master_(early_14th_c.,_Pushkin_museum)

If you desire to follow Jesus Christ, where do you practically find the Orthodox Church?

Here is the short answer:

To find the Orthodox Church, connect with a local Orthodox church near where you live. Receive guidance from the Orthodox priest, who cares for the church. The priest serves under the authority an Orthodox bishop, the spiritual shepherd responsible for overseeing all the churches in his geographic area (called a diocese). Within the local church, you will find the whole Mystery of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. A priest should instruct you, guide you, and care for your soul as a fatherly physician.

In such a case that you do not have a local Orthodox church near you, arrangements can be made with a priest to guide you remotely, as necessary.

Here is a longer explanation:

The Holy Apostles consecrated bishops to oversee the many local churches they founded and to serve as their successors. After a bishop falls asleep in the Lord at the end of his earthly life, another man is chosen to succeed the previous bishop. The man is consecrated a bishop by other bishops, who possess Apostolic succession, an unbroken 2,000 year old historical line of bishops back to the Apostles. The requirements for a bishop’s Apostolic succession is more than an unbroken genealogy originating with the Apostles. For legitimate Apostolic succession, a bishop must also united to the Holy Orthodox Church, the same Church of the Apostles, and hold to the same Faith of the Apostles. As the Orthodox bishops possess Apostolic succession, so do the Orthodox priests ordained by the bishops.

In the early Church, as the Gospel of Jesus Christ spread throughout the world, those men and woman who became Christians formed church communities in their particular cities. In each city, a bishop led the church. All the bishops of the Church were in communion with one another as brothers and all the individual churches in the various cities were all in communion, meaning that they were one Church. So, the Church as a whole was a communion of local churches scattered throughout the world.

After the Church emerged from persecution to become officially recognized by the Roman Empire, the churches of five cities were elevated as leading “mother churches” in the world. These five senior churches, called Patriarchates, included the churches of

(1) Rome

(2) Constantinople (called New Rome)

(3) Alexandria in Egypt,

(4) Antioch of Syria, and

(5) Jerusalem.

These five senior churches, called Patriarchates, were governed independently by a synod, a brotherhood of bishops. The synod of each Patriarchate was led by an elder brother, called a Patriarch, who was elected (and could be removed) by his brother bishops. Each Patriarchate was called autocephalous, meaning that it was independently governed so that no other church could interfere with its affairs. All the autocephalous churches, though self-governing, formed one Body, the Church, with one Head, Jesus Christ. United in the Holy Spirit, they held firmly to their common Apostolic Faith, each in its own geographic region. Some churches (called autonomous) in the world are mostly self-governing, but still are connected to a Patriachate.

Originally, churches were established on the basis of geography. Still today, an Orthodox Christian in Syria belongs by default to the Church of Antioch (also called the Antiochian Orthodox Church and the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East). Likewise, an Orthodox Christian in Russia belongs to the Russian Orthodox Church (Patriarchate of Moscow), one in Finland belongs to the Orthodox Church of Finland, and an Orthodox person in Japan belongs to the Orthodox Church of Japan. Most properly, only one Orthodox jurisdiction exists in a particular geographic location. Having said that, realize that due to the spread of the Gospel and immigration outside of the older Orthodox Christian lands, one finds overlapping jurisdictions in a single place. For example, in the West, many different Orthodox jurisdictions including Greek, Antiochian, Russian, Romanian, Serbian, and others coexist in many cities together. Although the various jurisdictions reflect different ethnicities and cultures rooted in their home countries, they are all in communion together as One Church.

Tragically, since the earliest times of Church history, members of the Church, including bishops and priests along with lay people who followed them, have fallen into heresy and schism, separating themselves from the Orthodox Church to form new religious groups. If an Orthodox bishop or priest decides to become a heretic (choosing to reject the teachings of the Church) and a schismatic (breaking from the Orthodox Church), then that bishop no longer possesses Apostolic succession. He has cut himself off from the Church, as a dead branch of a living tree. Since Jesus Christ alone possess the authority to found a Church and He only founded one Church upon the Apostles, none of the groups that have separated from the Orthodox Church or the people in those communions can properly be called orthodox, catholic, or the Church.

Perhaps the most significant schisms to occur in Church history include the following:

The Nestorian Schism, which separated the Assyrian Orthodox Church (also called the Church of the East) in AD 431.
The Monophysite Schism, which separated the so-called Oriental Orthodox: Coptic Orthodox, Indian Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, Eritrean Orthodox, and Armenian Orthodox in AD 451.
The Great Schism, which separated the Orthodox Patriarchate of Rome and Western Europe with it, thereby creating the so-called Roman Catholic Church in AD 1054. (The city of Rome had not been the capital of the Roman Empire or even within the boundaries of the Empire for centuries). Five hundred years after Roman Catholicism began, the Protestants who rejected Roman Catholicism initiated a movement (the Protestant Reformation) that has created thousands of different communions, all the various denominations and independent local communities outside of communion with the Holy Orthodox Church.

The Orthodox Church is the Church of Jesus Christ, which is the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Sometimes, it is called the Eastern Orthodox Church or the Greek Orthodox Church. Although Rome fell into schism centuries ago, the other ancient Patriarchates of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem still exist alongside their sister churches, from the Church of Russia (Patriarchate of Moscow) to the Church of Japan. Find a local Orthodox church under the authority of an Orthodox bishop and connect with an Orthodox priest to instruct, guide, and care for you. There you will find the Mystery of the Church.