To be taught Dec 7.
From Michael Ruse:
Why do we need priests or church hierarchy to be Orthodox Christians? The hierarchical structure of the Orthodox Church is built by the apostles on Jesus Christ. The whole hierarchical structure continues the apostolic mission. The Holy Spirit is given to each generation of Christians through hands out-stretched in prayer because God gave the apostles this power. The cheirotonia (laying on or stretching out of hands in Greek) is a well-known Old Testament gesture that guided the blessings of generations of righteous before the incarnation and it continues. Three holy orders have always been recognized: bishops, priests, deacons. They all serve at the altar and they all help us heal in various ways and to learn about God. By serving and offering the eucharist during liturgy they all help us in an essential way for our spiritual growth. The orders of the Church are holy because they bestow what’s holy to us from God.
Like ordinary water and oil, so too the laying on of hands and the spoken word in services can be taken as mere words or gestures. But they are not just empty words or objects. It’s not just earthily hands that, though we know our hands have no power in themselves, bestow graces since only through the Holy Spirit all things can be given life, and all dead material substances can become a sacrament for us. Baptismal water, the blessed oil, the bread and wine, and also the laying on of hands continue to give us the grace of the Holy Spirit in the Church.
When the purpose of the Church is approached in this way with Jesus Christ as the healer and our medicine, which is the Eucharist, we can understand why the three holy orders are so essential and beneficial for our salvation. Metropolitan Hilarion has selected many important prayers and liturgical texts for ordaining readers, deacons, priests (presbyters), and bishops. Those prayers boldly proclaim that Jesus Christ is “the physician” of the people and ruler over the Church, that Jesus Christ completes the work, that the Holy Spirit is the giver of all grace coming from the laying on of hands from bishops and priests. That grace from the Holy Spirit strengthens us with healing and blessings. We also need to live in communion with other Christians as we’ve already learned in previous volumes. This chapter shows us that nothing can be done without other Christians and the Holy Trinity. Becoming a reader, a deacon or deaconess, a priest, or a bishop involve the working of the Holy Spirit to bless what the holy orders set out to do in the Church. Join us this Saturday at 4:00 p.m. for a discussion on holy orders.