Holy Orders

Three Orders in One Sacrament

To ordain a man is to place him in one of the three Orders in this Sacrament: bishop, priest, or deacon.

All three orders are part of the priesthood.

Bishop

The English word, "bishop", comes from the Greek, epi-, "over," plus skopos, "watcher." The job of the bishop is to "watch over" the flock.

Bishops are the successors of the apostles.

Bishops are the high priests of their diocese.

The diocese is the basic building block of the Church--it is the smallest unit of the Church because only bishops can provide all seven sacraments.

Greek NT

Acts 20:28	Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock of which the holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, in which you tend the church of God that he acquired with his own blood.
Phil 1:1	Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus, to all the holy ones in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the overseers and ministers.
1 Tim 3:1-7	1 This saying is trustworthy: whoever aspires to the office of bishop desires a noble task. 2 Therefore, a bishop must be irreproachable, married only once, temperate, self-controlled, decent, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not aggressive, but gentle, not contentious, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, keeping his children under control with perfect dignity; 5 for if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how can he take care of the church of God? 6 He should not be a recent convert, so that he may not become conceited and thus incur the devil’s punishment. 7 He must also have a good reputation among outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, the devil’s trap.
Titus 1:5-9	5 For this reason I left you in Crete so that you might set right what remains to be done and appoint presbyters in every town, as I directed you, 6 on condition that a man be blameless, married only once, with believing children who are not accused of licentiousness or rebellious. 7 For a bishop as God’s steward must be blameless, not arrogant, not irritable, not a drunkard, not aggressive, not greedy for sordid gain, 8 but hospitable, a lover of goodness, temperate, just, holy, and self-controlled, 9 holding fast to the true message as taught so that he will be able both to exhort with sound doctrine and to refute opponents.
1 Peter 2:25	For you had gone astray like sheep, but you have now returned to the shepherd [ἐπὶ τὸν ποιμένα] and guardian of your souls [καὶ ἐπίσκοπον τῶν ψυχῶν ὑμῶν].

Other languages

Latin	episcopus
German	Bischof
French	évêque
Spanish	obispo
Italian	vescovo

Priest

The English word, "priest", comes from the Greek, presbyteros, "elder."

Online Etymology Dictionary, "priest"

Old English preost, shortened from the older Germanic form represented by Old Saxon, Old High German prestar, Old Frisian prestere, from Vulgar Latin *prester "priest," from Late Latin presbyter "presbyter, elder," from Gk. presbyteros (see Presbyterian). In O.T. sense, a translation of Hebrew kohen, Greek hiereus, Latin sacerdos.

Deacon

The English word, "deacon", comes from the Greek diaconos, "servant."

Only men may be ordained

• "Ordinatio Sacerdotalis"--May 22, 1994.
• "Concerning the Teaching Contained in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis Responsum ad Dubium"--Ratzinger, CDF, October 28, 1995.