It is interesting that while priests were mentioned in the Old Testament, they were largely absent from the New Testament, although the concept of the priesthood was mentioned prominently in the Acts & the letters. It has been popularly assumed that the triple order of bishops, priests and deacons have always existed from the foundation of the Church, differing from the current structure with minor details but this is not really true. In this article, I would like to explore how the office of the priest evolved separately from bishops and deacons, as well as the evolution of the orders of bishops and cardinals.
Priest or Pastor
First question: why do some denominations have priests and some have pastors? This depends on how much the church concerned emphasise the sacrifice of Jesus in their communion service. Priests in all Christian and non-Christian religions make sacrifices and in churches that repeat/relive/re-enact the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, such sacrificial liturgies will be celebrated by a priest. A liturgical celebration that does not repeat/relive/re-enact the sacrifice of Jesus, will require only pastors, not priests.
I have found no generic term to describe such churches that have priests in this sense, the closest to it being sacramental churches. So I will use the term sacramental churches to refer to churches with high church liturgies, which emphasise the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist. This would include the Catholic Church, the various Orthodox churches, the Anglican churches, the Old Catholic churches and parts of the Lutheran communion, the Evangelical Catholic wing of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, for instance (no, the Evangelical in their name does not have the same meaning as with those we generally call evangelicals). This article on the development of the orders of priests would be more relevant to sacramental churches than other churches, and are especially based on the ecclesiological theology of these churches, in particular that of the Catholic Church to which I belong.
This is not to say, all other denominations are excluded from this discussion as theological views tend lie on a continuous spectrum rather than being discrete on/off positions. Also, some churches use the term priest as a title for the clergy without imputing a role to conduct a Eucharistic sacrifice. Similarly, many churches, such as the Methodist churches, have the title bishop without the sacramental nature of the office as understood by sacramental churches.
Here, I must emphasise that there is a difference between the concept of the priesthood and the office of the priests themselves. In Judeo-Christian tradition, the concept of priesthood can be traced back to Melchizedek in the Old Testament (Gen 14:18). In this article, I will apply the term priest specifically to refer to the person who celebrates the sacrificial liturgy in sacramental churches, and is intermediate between the bishop and the deacon. This article may discuss the doctrinal aspects of Holy Orders but only as part of the intended discussion on the development of the order of priests.
Deacons
Not to ignore or belittle deacons, but the story of how the first deacons were appointed is pretty clear cut. In the New Testament, seven deacons were appointed to help with charity work and free up the apostles for the task of evangelisation. Deacons soon took on liturgical functions to assist bishops, in the celebration of the Eucharist. Most deacons in the early days did not necessarily ascend to the offices of the bishop or the priest.
Bishops
Apostolic Succession
In sacramental churches, bishops are considered as successors to the Twelve Apostles, the only bishops consecrated by Jesus himself. Sacramental churches believe that Jesus Christ taught and entrusted the entire body of Christian belief to the Twelve Apostles, who then transmitted this same body of belief to their followers, symbolised by the laying of hands. Today, every bishop in the world became a bishop by the laying of hands by at least one legitimate bishop, who himself (or herself, as allowed in the Anglican and Lutheran communions) became a bishop by the laying of hands by a bishop, and so on until you had a bishop who became a bishop by the laying of hands by an Apostle who was made a bishop by Jesus himself.
Only those who are within this line of laying of hands are considered as bishops in the true church and qualified to teach the true faith that has been entrusted to him through the laying of hands. This is known as the Apostolic Succession, subscribed to by the Catholic Church, Old Catholic churches, the Orthodox and Anglican churches, and the Church of Sweden within the Lutheran communion. Such churches may recognise the Apostolic Succession of other churches not in communion with them and will consider them as schismatic, as they preserved the same faith but are just not of the same flock; but not heretics, a term reserved for those considered as not teaching the true faith taught by Jesus.
Bishops of cities
After the first Pentecost, the apostles left Jerusalem to spread the word of God to different cities in the Roman world and beyond. (The term apostles can refer to different groups of people in different context: at the most basic, apostle refers to the Twelve Apostles in the gospels; or apostle could also include all who were directly taught by Jesus, for instance including Paul who likely never met Jesus; while the Apostolic Age tend to refer to the times of the Twelve apostles and their followers.) In each city, they founded a Christian community and as they moved on to the next city to evangelise, they would leave their flock with a trustworthy man, whom they commissioned by the laying of hands to become the bishop of that city. Paul did commissioned Timothy in Ephesus (1Tim 1:3) and Titus in Cyprus (Tit 1:5). Eventually there arose a network of cities, each with its own Christian community headed by a bishop, recognised with the mandate to teach the faith of the apostles through this ritual of laying of hands.
With the early bishops evangelising from city to city, Christianity was by default a religion of the cities. Much like today, the countryside was more conservative and new ideas like Christianity were more accepted among the city intelligentsia. This is why until today, bishops in the Catholic and Orthodox churches always take on the title of the city where they have their cathedral. Again, the word cathedral reflects the teaching office of the bishop, coming from the Latin word for chair, from which teachers in the classical world always teach while their students stand (you can see this in paintings of Socrates, Plato or other teachers teaching in ancient Athens), unlike the practice today where teacher stands to teach to sitting students.
Metropolitan archbishops and patriarchs
In each region, there tends to be one single mother church from which cities of the region were evangelised. This mother church became known as the metropolitan church and the bishop there has oversight rights over the other bishops of the region. Their liturgy tends to be based on that of the mother church and the bishop of the mother church has the right to hear appeals from its dependent churches. By the First Council of Nicea 325, after the legalisation of Christianity in the Roman Empire, the mirroring of the civil jurisdictions became formalised and the metropolitans led churches in civil provinces of the Roman Empire. The bishop of the metropolitan church later became known as the Metropolitan Archbishop (though the naming practice may differ in some Eastern churches) and, in the Catholic Church the dependent bishops are known as suffragans. Not all archbishops in the Catholic Church is a metropolitan: some are independent archbishops as they do not have any dependent suffragan bishops (i.e., Luxembourg, Goa).
Initially, bishops were all independent, each looking towards Jerusalem for spiritual leadership but soon, the centralising tendency that exist in any organisation kicked in and among the metropolitans, five later emerged to become the five ancient patriarchates: Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem. This was evidenced by the appeal by the Corinthians to the third pope to intervene in their conflicts, to which Clement responded with his letter. The five patriarchates was first formalised at the second council in 381, and their rights and jurisdiction became more developed in later councils.
Titular bishops
All bishops are consecrated for life but eventually, some bishops lose their dioceses when dioceses became extinct, either by natural disasters, abandoned or were conquered by the Muslims. The bishops there continue to hold full faculties of a successor to the apostles but without a diocese to administer, offered to help other bishops, in particular the Bishop of Rome. Today, assistant bishops in large diocese throughout the world, known as coadjutors or auxiliary bishops, and bishops working in the Vatican holds the title of such a titular see, a diocese that no longer exist as a diocese anymore. Except for those submerged under the sea, these dioceses do territorially exist, albeit under sand, as ruins or no longer has sufficient Christians to be functional. However, as the Catholic Church has assigned every single inch of the Earth to a bishop, there is a need to avoid confusion and the titular bishop is not allowed to set foot in the territory of their diocese that overlaps with that of a residential bishop with pastoral responsibilities there.
Priests
It is natural for a church that has grown out of being a sect of Judaism, for the organisation of the local church to be initially modelled on that of the synagogue. Synagogues are led by a rabbi assisted by a council of lay elders. It would seem that early churches were organised very much in the same way, with an apostle assisted by a similar council of elders, responsible for the more secular duties such as fundraising and general administration (Acts 11:20, 15:22). Today, this would be a parish council.
The Greek word used for elders in these and other verses in the Acts of the Apostles are variously translated in English as elders, as in my Jerusalem Bible, or presbyters. The latter is a more complicated translation, as the English word implies a priestly function. It is likely that some elders were obviously chosen and prepared as a bishop to evangelise the next city. It is also likely that the autonomy of these nominally independent churches linked only by a spiritual direction towards Jerusalem, would mean that different practices on organising churches would emerge in different dioceses before eventually a settled structure emerged through regular exchanges of ideas between churches: so, there could be a spectrum of roles for elders in the ancient Church. In any case, the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, and the Didache seems to refer to only two levels of the office in the Church: bishops (used interchangeably with the title overseers and presbyters) and deacons. There was no intermediate level in writings of those early days.
So, initially all priests were bishops, there being no separate orders of priests and bishops. Confusingly the term sacredotus in the 1983 Canon Law of the Catholic Church, translated as priests, refers to the ministerial priesthood shared by the orders of bishops and priests, while the term presbyter refers to the order of priests. It is unclear in the first generation of Christians, where there was a rejection of Jewish animal sacrifice, whether bishops were considered priests, in the sense of having a sacrificial role. It was only after the Roman doctrine of the Eucharistic sacrifice was universally accepted by the Church in the third century, were clergy generally recognised as priests
The heart of the Christian community from the earliest days has been the celebration of the Eucharist. As men commissioned by Jesus himself, the apostles, as the first bishops, were the only ones who can lead the Eucharistic celebration, which by the way look little like the liturgies of today. There can only be one Eucharistic celebration in each community and this can only be celebrated on Sunday, the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day. Thus, the leadership role of the bishop of a Christian community quickly became expressed in his celebration of the Eucharist.
As cities grow larger, the bishop either commissioned additional bishops to serve in the suburbs or in some cases, they delegated the celebration of the Eucharist to an elder to bring the consecrated bread to the faithful in the countryside. Eventually, these elders were delegated to celebrate the Eucharist there, but always in the name of the bishop. (This is why the Catholic Canon Law insist the bishop is the liturgist of the diocese and all rights to celebrate the liturgy derives from him.). These ministers became pastors, as they worked in the countryside, i.e. pastoral. By the third century, as Christianity penetrated into the countryside, the current structure of the diocese with a bishop leading a body of priests and deacons became common.
Cardinals
The first founding bishops of cities, would have been bishops appointed by an apostle or his successor. When it came to replace that bishop, the council of elders normally would play a role in the election of a new bishop. In some ancient dioceses in Europe, this remains the practice: the bishop is elected by the cathedral chapter of senior priests of the diocese. Of course, the final say today would be Rome and the accommodation with the ancient practice has created a multiplicity of episcopal election processes: in some dioceses, the cathedral chapter proposes up to three names for confirmation by the Vatican; in some dioceses, the cathedral chapter selects from three names proposed by the Vatican.
In Rome, the bishops of Rome were selected by a council of the Roman clergy, which became the College of Cardinals. This College of Cardinals later separated from the actual clergy that ministered to the Roman diocese and became purely a papal electoral college. The clergy that ministers to the Roman diocese today is headed by a cardinal with the title of Cardinal-Vicar, who acts as the pastoral bishop of Rome, ministering the diocese on behalf of the Pope. The College of Cardinals has three levels: cardinal-bishops, cardinal-priests, cardinal-deacons.
Cardinal-bishops
Ancient Rome had seven suburbs, to which the bishops of Rome appointed bishops. Today, cardinal-bishops are normally the most senior officers in the Vatican. One of the dioceses do not have parishes anymore and became a titular sees while cardinal-bishops of the other six are expected to be involved in ministering to their suburban dioceses in addition to their Vatican responsibilities even if they have an assistant to take care of the daily running of the dioceses. Cardinal-bishops rank first among the cardinals, and at one point they were the only ones to elect the Pope. In addition to these seven cardinal-bishops, patriarchs from eastern rite Catholic churches elevated to the cardinalate holds the rank of a cardinal-bishop but without any diocese attached - this is to recognise the participation of Eastern rite churches in the election of the head of the universal church.
Cardinal-priests
The next rank of cardinal on the cardinal-priests. Technically speaking, they are the parish priests of Rome and up to today each one of the cardinal-priests is assigned a titular church in Rome. At present, 150 of the 300 parishes in Rome has been thus assigned, where name and coat of arms of the cardinal are displayed in that parish church. They are not required to be involved in the administration of the parish but are expected to celebrate Mass in their parish every time they are in Rome. Cardinal-priests are residential bishops who are responsible for some of the largest dioceses throughout the world. Pope Francis has accelerated the elevation of bishops from smaller remote dioceses from countries which never previously had a cardinal to broaden the universal nature of the Church.
Cardinal-deacons
Initially, there were only seven deacons in Rome, one appointed to provide social services for each of the seven districts of Rome, reflecting the seven original deacons mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles (6:5). The deacons gained the title of cardinal in the eighth century when they were included in the papal electoral college. They were initially assigned to the ancient deaconaries in Rome but today 50 of the parish churches in Rome were identified as cardinalatial deaconries, to which a cardinal-deacon would be assigned.
While most cardinal-deacons are curial officers much like cardinal-bishops, some were created cardinals in recognition of their contribution to the Church. Among them are cardinals who were only priests when they were elevated to the cardinalate, who under current canon law would be required to be consecrated bishop. Indeed, before the reforms of the 20th century, cardinal-deacons were not required to be ordained but historically, they have received at least the minor orders. The last such cardinal-deacon died in 1899.
I hope from this article you can gain an appreciation that the Church did not emerge fully formed at its foundation. Even with divine guidance, the Church is still a human institution and as a human institution, developed and evolved in response to the needs of the times and the context of her history.
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