Augustine:
Bud, thanks for your response.
I gather then that only the bishop receives the sacrament fully. However, I have some difficulty undestanding a sacrament being given in degrees, unlike the others.
I wholly understand the disciplinary aspects of it being so. I mean, the Holy Orders sacrament is given only once, but with restrictions on what the receiver can do. Thus, the sacrament is given in its full Grace, but with disciplinary limitations that the Church sees fit.
I remember that the Apostles ordained presbiters, as the Church does now. But, my question remains, did they do so for theological or for purely for disciplinary reasons?
TIA
It is not just disciplinary reasons.
Those who are ordained are ordained to more than a “rank” of clergy. Each of the major orders has a specific function. One is not “better” than another, or intrinsically “higher.” Each clergyman, be he ordained to the diaconate, presbyterate, or episcopate, is fully “ordained” - as opposed to partly ordained. But they are ordained to do what is inherent in their office - and those things differ.
Part of the process of the ordination rite is the invocation of the Holy Spirit to equip the ordinand for the office and work of a “________” (fill in the blank). The deacon has the office and work of a servant ministry - the Greek word diakonos means servant.
The presbyters and bishops are ordained to do certain things, to fulfill certain offices and requirements. The functions differ. The sacrament of Holy Orders is truly conferred in each case. The different clerics are not more or less ordained than each other. They are simply ordained to fulfill different purposes in the Church, in ministering to the whole of God’s people.
The different orders are not so much involved in limitations as to what one “can” do or “is permitted” to do - but rather in what they are positively called and needed to do. Perhaps it would work better if I said it is a matter of what they are supposed to do rather than what they are prohibited fom doing.
A person who is ordained priest doesn’t “lose” his diaconal ordination, he adds to it the ordination to the priesthood. His certificate of ordination to the diaconate isn’t taken up and destroyed. He has added to his office and functions those of a priest. Same principle applies to one ordained to the episcopate.
So - it’s more than a matter of discipline. It’s a matter of doctrine, of sacramental theology, of the theology of Holy Orders. It’s not that they arbitrarily “don’t get to” do certain things but could if they really wanted to. It’s a matter of the nature of their ordination to a specific function and office, and of what the church intends to do wit that ordination process. Remember graces are imparted by sacraments. The graces to perform the functions of a priest are not imparted by the sacrament of ordination to the diaconate. The graces to perform the functions peculiar to a bishop are not imparted with the sacrament of ordination to the priesthood.
Hope that helps clarify a bit!
Pax Christi!
