Sajun.org
:''This article is about the sacrament.
Holy Orders was also the title of a
1908 book by
Marie Corelli.''
'''Holy Orders''' in the modern
Catholic Church and in the
Eastern Orthodox,
Oriental Orthodox, and
Anglican churches, includes three degrees:
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bishops,
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priests, and
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deacons.
Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox churches believe that Holy Orders is a
sacrament, whereas Anglican churches do not.
The Eastern Orthodox Church has two minor orders, that of reader and
subdeacon. Candidates for ordination are receive the clerical
tonsure prior to being ordained by the '''laying on of hands''' to these minor orders. There is a distinction between the laying on of hands for minor orders (chirothesis) and that for major orders (chirotony). Those in these lesser orders are not considered clergy in the same sense as those in major orders.
In former times, the Roman Catholic church also had four
minor orders along with the
major order of
subdeacon, which were conferred on seminarians ''pro forma'' before they became deacons. The minor orders and the subdiaconate were not considered sacraments, and for simplicity were suppressed under
Pope Paul VI after the
Second Vatican Council.
Such titles as ''
Cardinal'', ''Monsignor'', ''Archbishop'', etc., are ''not'' sacramental orders. These are simply
offices; to receive one of those titles is ''not'' an instance of the sacrament of Holy Orders.
== Definition of "order" ==
The word ''ordo'' (order, in
Latin) designated an established civil body or corporation, and ''ordinatio'' meant legal incorporation into an ''ordo.'' The three degrees of Holy Orders represent ''ordines.''
== Meaning of priesthood ==
The
Catholic church sees the
priesthood as both a reflection of the ancient
temple priesthood of the
Jews and the person of
Jesus Christ. 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.
== 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.
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, annoint 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.
Bishops are chosen from among the priests in churches that adhere to Roman Catholic usage. Among the Orthodox (Eastern and Oriental), they must be both priests and monks. In either case, 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.
== Recognition of other churches' orders ==
Roman Catholics recognize the validity of holy orders administered in Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches because 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 Catholic church (though there is much debate in the Orthodox Church about this); that is part of the policy called
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.
== Marriage and holy orders ==
The rules discussed in this section are not considered to be among the infallible dogmas of the 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
Catholic Church may not be ordained to the priesthood. In the
Eastern Rites of the 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.
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.
== 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 preferably solely for
reproduction.
== See also ==
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Clergyde:Priesterweihe
it:Ordine sacro
no:Ordinasjon
