Introduction to Holy Orders

Sisters and Brothers in the Lord Jesus,

A little history about ordination might be in order. Perhaps something beginning with the New Testament; then on to the movers and shakers of the Church after the first few generations; then on our way through the massive changes that occurred when we believers came out from under the rocks after several centuries of persecution. . . . . But I don't have the talent to pull all such information together. And I wouldn't blame you for not having the patience to deal with the frustration that comes from seeing that the history of ordination is complex, convoluted and sometimes contradictory. So is human history. So too is each of our individual histories. The Holy Spirit knows how to work in such environments.

The most important moment we believers share with the Risen One is our time gathered together around the Word of God still spoken in our midst, a Word which beckons us to then gather around the altar, the Lord's table, as full and equal member of Christ's Body and God's priestly people. It is here that the death and resurrection of Jesus most profoundly reverberates in us by the working of the Holy Spirit. It is here we taste, even if momentarily, our future fullness when we will be gathered together with all creation, handed over to the Father. It is here that we are first challenged to put aside those things which can and do drive us apart: gender, race, culture, social and economic class, education, personal history and, oh yes, sin. Even if for a brief moment, our diversity does not create division and the Holy Spirit grants us a vision of being one in the One who is Three. To taste of this vision is to be nourished to live it in the ordinary rhythm of our lives where we are called to see Christ everywhere, especially where we least expect to recognize him - and then, of course, to be Christ as members of his Body. Nobody promised that walking the Way would be a cakewalk.

The three-fold gift of Orders (deacon, Presbyter, Bishop) upheld in our Orthodox jurisdiction exists in the Church for the sake of order, to serve the baptismal priesthood and to plunge believers again and again into the Holy Mysteries, the maddening multiplicity of ways in which the Holy Spirit breathes the Truth of the Gospel, and the life of Christ in Us and through us for the life of the world. In fact, the diversity within ordained ministry exists to resonate and ratify the immense diversity of gifts among God's people, gifts that are given to us all for the sake of building up the Body of Christ and God's Kingdom. The clergy clay has been, so to speak, remolded and reshaped down through the ages by the Holy Spirit for the life and mission of the Church. Today this clay is willing to be shaped and molded anew.

Welcome to this ordination celebration. It is really a celebration of the Church and her great diversity in the midst of her singular calling from the Good Shepherd, who is our Passover in whom we faithfully keep on feasting.

-- The Synod of Bishops