Holy orders

Other positions, such as pope, patriarch, cardinal, monsignor, archbishop, archimandrite, archpriest, protopresbyter, hieromonk, protodeacon and archdeacon, are not sacramental orders but specialized ministries.

[3] They do not have the nature of a sacrament of the Gospel in the absence of any physical matter such as the water in Baptism and the bread and wine in the Eucharist.

Various editions of the Book of Common Prayer and other Anglican liturgical texts provide rites for ordination of bishops, priests and deacons.

In the 1983 Code of Canon Law, "The Latin words sacerdos and sacerdotium are used to refer in general to the ministerial priesthood shared by bishops and presbyters.

[8] The Eastern Orthodox Church considers ordination (known as cheirotonia, "laying on of hands") to be a sacred mystery (μυστήριο, what in the West is called a sacrament).

Before the commencement of the Holy Liturgy, the bishop-elect professes, in the middle of the church before the seated bishops who will consecrate him, in detail the doctrines of the Orthodox Christian Faith and pledges to observe the canons of the Apostles and Councils, the Typikon and customs of the Orthodox Church and to obey ecclesiastical authority.

After the Little Entrance, the arch-priest and arch-deacon conduct the bishop-elect before the Royal Gates where he is met by the bishops and kneels before the altar on both knees.

The ordination of a priest occurs before the Anaphora (Eucharistic Prayer) in order that he may on the same day take part in the celebration of the Eucharist:[11] During the Great Entrance, the candidate for ordination carries the Aër (chalice veil) over his head (rather than on his shoulder, as a deacon otherwise carries it then) as a symbol of giving up his diaconate, and comes last in the procession and stands at the end of the pair of lines of the priests.

After the Aër is taken from the candidate to cover the chalice and diskos, a chair is brought for the bishop to sit on by the northeast corner of the Holy Table (altar).

Two deacons go to priest-elect who, at that point, had been standing alone in the middle of the church, and bow him down to the west (to the people) and to the east (to the clergy), asking their consent by saying "Command ye!"

Later, after the Epiklesis of the Liturgy, the bishop hands him a portion of the Lamb (Host) saying:[12] Receive thou this pledge, and preserve it whole and unharmed until thy last breath, because thou shalt be held to an accounting therefore in the second and terrible Coming of our great Lord, God, and Saviour, Jesus Christ.A deacon may not perform any sacrament and performs no liturgical services on his own but serves only as an assistant to a priest and may not even vest without the blessing of a priest.

[13] In Luther's Small Catechism, the holy orders include but are not limited to the following: bishops, pastors, preachers, governmental offices, citizens, husbands, wives, children, employees, employers, young people, and widows.

Priests are able to preach, perform baptisms, confirm (with special dispensation from their ordinary), witness marriages, hear confessions and give absolutions, anoint the sick, and celebrate the Eucharist or the Mass.

Anglican deacons can preach sermons, perform baptisms and conduct funerals, but, unlike priests, cannot celebrate the Eucharist.

The Catholic Church judged Anglican orders invalid when Pope Leo XIII in 1896 wrote in Apostolicae curae that Anglican orders lack validity because the rite by which priests were ordained was not correctly worded from 1547 to 1553 and from 1559 to the time of Archbishop William Laud (Archbishop of Canterbury 1633–1645).

Various Orthodox churches have also declared Anglican orders valid subject to a finding that the bishops in question did indeed maintain the true faith, the Orthodox concept of apostolic succession being one in which the faith must be properly adhered to and transmitted, not simply that the ceremony by which a man is made a bishop is conducted correctly.

Different churches and denominations specify more or less rigorous requirements for entering into office, and the process of ordination is likewise given more or less ceremonial pomp depending on the group.

It was first devised under the leadership of Bishops Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the late 18th century.

In the United Methodist Church, for instance, seminary graduates are examined and approved by the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry and then the Clergy Session.

After serving the probationary period, of a minimum of two years, the probationer is then examined again and either continued on probation, discontinued altogether, or approved for ordination.

These ministers are regarded simply as Presbyters ordained to a different function, but in practice they provide the leadership for the local Session.

Some Presbyterians identify those appointed (by the laying on of hands) to serve in practical ways (Acts 6.1–7) as deacons (diakonos in Greek, meaning 'servant').

Mormons teach that the priesthood was lost in ancient times not to be restored by Christ until the nineteenth century when it was given to Joseph Smith directly.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a relatively open priesthood, ordaining nearly all worthy adult males and boys of the age of twelve and older.

But out of respect or reverence to the name of the Supreme Being, to avoid the too frequent repetition of his name, the church, in ancient days, called that priesthood after Melchizedek.

Young people are occasionally ordained as deacon, and sometimes teacher or priest, but generally most priesthood members are called following completion of post secondary school education.

The Catholic Church, in accordance with its interpretation of the theological tradition on the issue, and the definitive clarification found in the encyclical letter Ordinatio sacerdotalis (1994) written by Pope John Paul II, officially teaches that it has no authority to ordain women as priests and thus there is no possibility of women becoming priests at any time in the future.

The ordination of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender clergy who are sexually active, and open about it, represents a fiercely contested subject within many mainline Protestant communities.

The majority of churches are opposed to such ordinations because they view homosexuality as a sin and incompatible with Biblical teaching and traditional Christian practice.

[25] The issue of ordination has caused particular controversy in the worldwide Anglican Communion, following the approval of Gene Robinson to be Bishop of New Hampshire in the US Episcopal Church.