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Holy Orders is a sacrament in which men are approved orordainedby the Church to perform the other six sacraments. The men may be deacons, priests or bishops.

Проте, the sacrament of Holy Orders is performed only by bishops, and that follows directly from the Bible.

There is an established way in Scripture in which God’s call to the ministry is given and received. It flows from God to Jesus, from Jesus to the Apostles, and from the Apostles to their successors (побачити Євангеліє від Луки 10:16 і Євангеліє від Івана 13:20; 20:21). Так, the sacrament of Holy Orders can be performed only by an Apostle or only by one on whom apostolic authority has been conferred. Наприклад, Paul writes in his Перший лист до Тимофія (4:14), “Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophetic utterance when the council of elders laid their hands upon you” (побачити 5:22, his Second Letter to Timothy, 1:6, and his Letter to Titus 1:5). Так, the sacrament follows an unbroken chain from Jesus to today’s newest Catholic priest. (More on this below.)

In the early Church, a hierarchy developed that consisted of bishops, presbyters (or elders), and deacons, which corresponded to Israel’s three-tiered structure of high priest, priests, and Levites (див. Павло Letter to the Phillipians, 1:1; Saint JamesEpistle, 5:14; The Book of Numbers, 32; The Second Book of Chronicles 31:9-10).1 In Israel, the priest was seen as God’s unique emissary (побачити Малахій 2:7), being set apart from the assembly by an anointing and the imposition of hands (побачити Вихід 30:30 or Повторення Закону 34:9).

Given that the Apostles were Jews, the Church adopted these Jewish customs for her rite of ordination.

Aren’t We all Priests?

Немає, but sometimes people are confused by the Bible’s message that all believers are called to share in Christ’s priesthood. Наприклад, Saint Peter’s First Letter (2:9) states, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people.These words are a reference back to Вихід 19:6, “You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

Reserving the authority to perform sacraments to a special group of individuals (priests) is known as sacerdotalism.

In the Old Covenant, a smaller, sacerdotal priesthood existed within the larger priestly nation of Israel. As we explain, it is the same in the New Covenant.

The Bible reveals the sacerdotal priesthood to be a kind of spiritual fatherhood, which is why the Catholic Church teaches that priestly ordination is reserved for men alone. Наприклад, in the Old Testament, в Книга Суддів (18:19) states: “Come with us, and be to us a father and a priest.

Так само, in the New Testament, Paul writes in his Перше послання до коринтян (4:15) thatFor though you have countless guides in Christ, у вас не так багато батьків. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.Paul elaborates more on this spiritual fatherhood or sacerdotal priesthood at the start of that same chapter, when he says, “This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God” (4:1).2

At the start of His ministry, Jesus remarked that the crowds resembledsheep without a shepherd,” кажучи, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (побачити Матвій 9:36, 37-38). These remarks preface His selection of the Twelve Apostles, whom He empowered and sent out as His vicarious shepherds over the faithful (побачити Євангеліє від Івана 21:15-17; в Діяння апостолів 20:28; and Peter’s First Letter 5:2). “You did not choose me,” He later reminded them, “but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit” (Джон 15:16). “How can men preach unless they are sent?” writes Paul in his Лист до римлян, 10:15.

Nowhere in Scripture does a man assume the ministry for himself. “One does not take the honor upon himself, but is called by God, just as Aaron was,” write Paul in his Послання до Євреїв 5:4 (see his Послання до колосян 1:25, також). When certain Jewish exorcists attempt to rebuke evil spiritsby the Jesus whom Paul preaches,” the spirits reply, “Jesus I know, а Пола я знаю; but who are you?” (Діяння апостолів, 19:13, 15).

Так, a valid call to the ministry ordinarily involves the confirmation of the apostolic hierarchy. Наприклад, in the Act of the Apostles (1:15), Matthias does not stand up and take his ministerial office by his own volition. He is elected according to the authority of Peter and the Apostles, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Neither does Paul, in spite of his dramatic conversion, set off on his own to preach the Gospel, claiming God’s anointing for himself. As mentioned in his Letter to the Galatians (1:18), he goes first to Jerusalem to receive the approval of the Apostles, and later he returns to verify the gospel he is preaching is correct (2:2).

While all Christians are called to evangelize, the Apostles and their successors have the unique call of safeguarding the Deposit of Faith and teaching the faithful. В Євангеліє від Матвія (28:19-20) Jesus says to the Apostles, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

Так само, in his Second Letter to Timothy, Paul instructs: “Guard the truth that has been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us,… What you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” (see verses 1:14; 2:2; 1:13; і Діяння апостолів 2:42).

Насправді, when His ministers teach it is Christ Himself who teaches through them as He said: “He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you, rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me” (Люк 10:16). Elsewhere He declares, “Воістину, по-справжньому, Я кажу тобі, he who receives any one whom I send receives me; and he who receives me receives him who sent me” (Джон 13:20; emphasis added).

The Apostles are given the authority of presiding over the Eucharistic celebration. Наприклад, while instituting the Eucharist at the Last Supper, He bids them, “Do this in remembrance of me” (Люк 22:19 and Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 11:23-24). The Apostles receive a unique share in His priesthood and with it the chief duty of offering the Eucharistic Sacrifice on behalf of the faithful (пор. Євр. 5:1).3

The Apostles also receive from Jesus the power to forgive sins through the gift of the keys given to Peter and the authority tobind and looseconferred on them as a group (пор. Matt. 16:19; 18:18). “As the Father has sent me,” the Savior tells them, “even so I send you. … Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (Джон 20:21-23; emphasis added).

  1. Though the fullness of the apostolic office with all its prerogatives was not passed down, the bishops, as direct successors to the Apostles, remained at the head of the hierarchy.
  2. The wordmystery,” in Greek, mysterion, is translated in Latin as sacramentum orsacrament.The Greek Orthodox continue to this day to refer to the Sacraments as the sacredMysteries.
  3. The Biblical view of the Eucharist as a Sacrifice (пор. Mal. 1:11; 1 Cor. 10:1-5, 15-22; 11:23-30; Євр. 10:25-26), насправді, further points to the existence of a sacerdotal priesthoodfor the presence of a sacrifice necessitates a priesthood to offer it. Папа Святий Климент, writing from Rome in about the year 96, clearly distinguished between the Eucharistic Sacrifice offered by the ministerial priesthood and the spiritual sacrifices offered by the priesthood of the laity (пор. Clement’s Letter to the Corinthians 40-41). Misunderstanding the Eucharistic Sacrifice, non-Catholics sometimes accuse Catholics ofre-sacrificingJesus at Mass. The Eucharistic Sacrifice is not a re-sacrificing, проте, but a re-presentation of the one Sacrifice of Calvary. Christ does not die again; His saving Flesh and Blood are made present on the altar under the appearances of Bread and Wine so that the faithful mayproclaim the Lord’s death until he comesas Paul wrote in his Перше послання до коринтян (11:26).

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