The Order of Priesthood

Now let us go back and see how the Apostles, in accordance with Our Lord’s intention and will, formed the Order of the Priesthood.  Our Lord gave the Apostles all the powers of the Christian Ministry when he gave them the authority to act for him as his personal representatives.  In particular, he gave them special authority to act for him, the Great High Priest.  For, since it was as our Great High Priest that he offered himself as a Sacrifice to God for the forgivenessof our sins, so he appointed the Apostles to be his high-priestly representatives in these two particular ways.  First he gave them the power to consecrate the Bread and Wine in the Eucharist – “Do this in remembrance of me” (NRSV, Luke 22: 19,20) – so that he could continue to offer himself in the Eucharist as a sacrifice to God.  And secondly, he gave the Apostles the power to forgive sins – “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them…” (NRSV, John 20:23).

In every place where the Apostles planted the Church on their missionary journeys, they ordained elders or presbyters to be in charge of the Christian congregation.  To these presbyters they gave some of their own Apostolic powers.  In particular, they gave them a share in their own high-priestly authority as representatives of Our Lord, the Great High Priest.  This made it possible for the presbyters to celebrate the Eucharist in the absence of the Apostles.

The bishops, who in time took the place of the Apostles, did the same.  If they were present on a Sunday, they celebrated the Eucharist themselves.  But if they were away they appointed a presbyter to celebrate it.  So St Ignatius, who was Bishop of Antioch in Syria, and was martyred around the year 107 AD by being thrown to wild animals in the Colosseum at Rome, wrote this: “Let that eucharist be considered valid which is under the bishop or him to whom he commits it”. (4)

In the fourth century, when the persecutions ended and many churches were built, it became the normal thing for the presbyters to celebrate the Eucharist in them, and they were then called Priests to distinguish them from the bishop who was still known as the Christian high priest.

When, therefore, priests are ordained, they are made high-priestly representatives of Our Lord who is our Great High Priest.