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Handout 44 |
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The three degrees of ministry |
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| Ignatius,
who was in charge of the church in Antioch, was taken to Rome (c.110 A.D.)
to be martyred there. He wrote to several churches in Asia Minor to
encourage them and exhort them to be united in the faith. He bears witness
clearly to the existence of a threefold hierarchical ministry, plainly
distinguishing the episcopate from presbyters and deacons. So one could
translate the words he uses as bishop, priest and deacon in the modern
sense. However, the vocabulary is still fluid with Irenaeus, at the end of
the second century.
Follow your bishop, everyone of you, as obediently as Jesus Christ followed the Father. Obey the presbyters (the college of presbyters) as you would the apostles; give your deacons the same reverence that you would a command from God. Make sure that no step affecting the Church is ever taken by anyone without the bishop's sanction. The sole eucharist you should consider valid is one that is celebrated by the bishop himself or by some person authorized by him. Where the bishop is to be seen, there let all his people be; just as wherever Jesus Christ is present, we have the catholic church. Nor is it permissible to conduct baptisms or agapes (a meal of support and fellowship with a religious significance but different from the eucharist) without the bishop. On the other hand, whatever does have his sanction can be sure of God's approval, Ignatius, To the Smyrnaeans, 8. It is for the rest of you to hold the deacons in as great respect as Jesus Christ; just as you should also look upon the bishop as a type of Father and the clergy as the apostolic circle forming his council; for without these three orders no church has any right to the name. Ignatius, To the Trallians,3. |
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