Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists murmured against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the body of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve table. Therefore, brethren, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” And what they said pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.
Acts 6:1-6
Ten days after the Ascension, the Apostles were gathered together and the Holy Spirit came down on them in the form of tongues of fire and allowed them to speak in all the languages known to mankind. This is commemorated on the day of Pentecost.
After Pentecost, the Apostles spread out throughout the world and established churches. Peter went to Rome. James stayed in Jerusalem. Thomas went to India. Andrew went to Asia Minor (Turkey today). This is why the Patron Saint of our Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople is St. Andrew, because St. Andrew founded the church there. Now, when the church was founded, communities were small. They met in homes. It was easy for an Apostle to lead the entire church in one city. The Apostles, head of a church in each city, were the precursors to what we now call bishops. A bishop is the ecclesiastical head of a geographic area, like a city or a country.
As the churches grew, they became unmanageable for one Apostle. We know from Acts 6, that the work of the early church was two-fold, preaching the word of God and the daily distribution, feeding the poor and the widows. Again it’s amazing how much of our history is easily seen just from reading the Bible. This passage shows us that the early church was concerned only with preaching the word of God and feeding the hungry. There wasn’t a cultural dimension or a social dimension or an athletic dimension. It was just worship and philanthropy. However, even this was too much work for the Apostles, so they asked for assistance. Notice that the Apostles did not choose the ones who would assist them. They told the people to pick out from among you those that would be appointed to this duty. These seven men they chose became the first deacons, or helpers, to the Apostles, who were the first bishops. The Apostles (bishops) laid their hands on them, and this happened in public. It was not a private thing. This is the foundation for how the sacrament of Ordination is done to this day. The ordinations are done in public—there is no “ordination in the middle of the night” and there is a surprise priest. They are done with public announcement and public acceptance. At an ordination, the faithful present agree with the ordination by exclaiming “Axios” or “Worthy” for the person being ordained. If they were to scream “An-axios” or “Unworthy” then the person cannot be ordained.
As the church expanded, and more communities were established in cities, (think a major city with several church communities) it became too much work for one Apostle to lead multiple church communities. Thus, the office of “presbyter” was created, to lead the community in place of the bishop. In other words, the bishop was still the overseer of the city (or territory) and had oversight of all the parishes in that area (or diocese, or metroplis). The presbyter (priest) would lead the day-to-day affairs of the individual church community. The bishop would visit occasionally, and be kept apprised of the community’s progress. When the bishop would be present, he would lead the worship.
In modern times, the seat of the bishop, that church is called the “cathedral,” because it is the home church of the bishop. In our Metropolis of Atlanta, where I serve, the Cathedral of the Metropolis is in Atlanta. Our Metropolitan oversees 75 parishes. When the Metropolitan is present, he presides over the worship. The Metropolitan also appoints priests to serve in the various parishes. And in our worship, we always pray for the Metropolitan multiple times, since he is the “chief shepherd” or “pimenarhos” of the church.
And thus we have the three offices of the “holy priesthood”—the bishop (episkopos), the presbyter or priest (presviteros) and the deacon (diakonos). In James 5:14, we read: Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. In this instance, the “elders” of the church in Greek is the word “presviteri,” or the “presbyters” of the church. One of the primary roles of the priest is to visit the sick.
The second and most important vestment of the priest is called the Epitrahelion or stole. The Epitrahelion of worn by both the priest and bishop. On it are usually seven crosses for the seven sacraments. There are two layers of fringe at the bottom of the stole, one representing the church militant (the fighting church of the living on earth) and the church triumphant (those who have gone on to heaven). The church continually remembers those who have passed away. Also, the Epitrahelion is worn by the priest for every priestly function. He wears his entire set of vestments for the Divine Liturgy. The Epitrahelion is worn by itself for things like confession, house blessings, grave side prayers, and any time the priest is administering Holy Communion, such as at a hospital.
Blessed is God Who pours grace upon His priests, as myrrh upon the head which ran down the bear, the bear of Aaron, which ran down to the helm of his garment, now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen. (Vesting prayer for the Epitrahelion)
Remember that we have a two thousand year history of how the priesthood functions.
