Blog 1 of 7 - Sorting out the jargon
This 7-part blog series will explore the nature of priestly/presbyteral identity, based on an essay I wrote for my Diocesan Director of Ordinands when exploring whether to apply to train for ministry.
You may wonder, “what on earth is priestly/presbyteral identity?”. The Church of England is committed to what it calls the threefold order, of bishops, priests and deacons. Without going into too much detail here, these are different “orders” to which someone can be ordained. It is common practice now for those going forward for full-time ordained ministry to:
Do some form of training (residential in a theological college, or on a regional course, full-time or part-time, with varying degrees of time spent ‘on the job’ at a church)
Be ordained as a deacon, so you can have an official ordained role in a church, but not lead a church or preside at Holy Communion. I talk a bit about this in https://ralphmatt.wixsite.com/sleepingfruit/post/what-s-going-on-an-ordinand-s-faq . While a deacon, most will do the first year of their curacy (trainee post in a church after training)
Be ordained as a priest (although I prefer the term ‘presbyter’ which I take to be more theologically accurate - see blog 3 of this series) - very few people remain only a deacon.
Of course, a few will later be ordained as bishop too. It’s important to note that the roles are additive - if you’re ordained priest (presbyter), you are and remain a deacon. If you’re ordained a bishop, you remain a priest and a deacon.
The best book for exploring what these 3 roles really mean is probably Steven Croft: Ministry in 3 dimensions. But to summaries:
Deacon comes from the Greek diakonia, meaning ‘service’. The main image is of foot-washing. Deacons spend time in pastoral ministry in churches, visiting the sick, calling those who are lonely, but can also take church services like baptisms
Presbyter comes from the Greek presbuteros, meaning ‘elder’. The tradition here is of word and sacrament - presbyters being those who preach and lead churches (for which words and narrative are the main tools), and who preside over Holy Communion (the Eucharist)
Bishop is an English word equivalent to the Greek episcopoi, meaning ‘overseer’. They oversee churches in a diocese, but also traditionally hold a role as guardians of Christian doctrine and representing the unity of the church, holding it together in its differences.
There is some history to explore about where the Roman Catholic and then Anglican churches derived this threefold order from, which there isn’t really space for here. But basically, the early church had apostles (those who had specifically seen the risen Christ) travelling and planting churches, bishops overseeing congregations, and “presbyters” and “deacons” used throughout the letters of the New Testament. When the last of the apostles died, bishops started to look after larger areas rather than single churches, and eventually “presbyters” and “deacons” became distinct roles.
This essay specifically explores presbyteral (priestly) identity, with the view that, if training works out for me in the normal way, and God willing, I will complete training (after 3 years), then become a deacon (for 1 year), then become a presbyter.
Once I am a presbyter, it will be possible for me to work in a church as what people tend to call a ‘vicar’. Unlike the threefold order, ‘vicar’ is a job description, not something you can be ordained to. Parish churches look for presbyters to work for the, as church leaders, to one of three job roles:
Vicar
Rector
Priest-in-charge
The differences between them are to do with who has the power to appoint them, and used to be related to who held the freehold on the church. But a lot of those differences have been reduced by reforms and simplifications. Still, it’s important to remember that “vicar”, “rector” and “priest-in-charge” are job descriptions vis-a-vis a particular parish church, while bishops, presbyters and deacons are roles to which one can be ordained. In medicinal terms, think of ‘presbyter’ as being licensed to practise as a medic (‘being a doctor’), and ‘vicar’ as a specific role, like hospital registrar or GP. If that helps. So that’s the Anglican set of terminology, anyway. Onwards!
This blog series uses the following sources:
1 Peter and Hebrews from the New Testament
Strategy documents of the Diocese of Chelmsford (“Transforming Presence” and “Re-imagining Ministry”)
Interviews with priests:
Interviewee A in an inner-city urban parish with Sunday and mid-week services
Interviewee B in a market-town / rural parish working with a large number of church buildings in villages
Interviewee C, a pioneer minister working with fresh expressions. From a worship background of charismatic evangelicalism
Interviewee D, a liberal catholic in a suburban parish
The Ordination service from Common Worship, the Licensing Service and the 5 Marks of Mission
The 39 Articles
Other secondary reading (see the Bibliography at the end of Blog 7)
Now the preliminaries are done, we'll kick off properly with Blog 2 of 7: Setting Out the Landscape
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