Ordination : Holy Orders : Christianity

In the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican Communion, and Oriental Orthodox churches, ordination is identified with the sacrament of Holy Orders and is the means by which one is included in one of those orders: bishop, priest, or deacon. In those churches, ordination can be administered only by a bishop in Apostolic Succession, that is a historical line of succession of bishops dating back to the Twelve Apostles. These churches hold that ordination to the priesthood enables a person to act in persona Christi, 'in the name of' or 'on behalf of Christ'. Ordination allows a priest validly to administer sacraments, most notably giving him the authority to celebrate the Eucharist. It would be proper to think of a priest as acting as a living conduit for Christ, with sacraments being dispensed solely from God Himself through the priest, an inadequate but divinely accepted tool.

In Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox thought, the validity of an ordination is of the utmost importance. While debate exists in many Protestant communities about the number and nature of the sacraments, and about the particulars of the Eucharist, generally speaking, Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians mutually recognize each other's ordinations and consequently sacraments, while only viewing Protestant communities' Trinitarian Baptism and Matrimony as valid sacraments (these are the only two sacraments that do not require a priest, but merely faith and intent). While most Eastern churches recognize Anglican ordinations as valid, the Roman Catholic Church does not.

Protestant Christianity

In most Protestant churches, ordination to the ministry of preaching is the rite by which their various churches: recognize and confirm that an individual has been called by God to ministry,
acknowledges that the individual has gone through a period of discernment and training related to this call, and authorizes that individual to take on the office of ministry.

For the sake of authorization and church order, and not for reason of 'powers' or 'ability', individuals in most mainline Protestant churches must be ordained in order to preside at the Sacrament of Baptism and a ceremony similar to the holy Eucharist, and to be installed as a "pastor" of a congregation or parish.

Some Protestant traditions have additional offices of ministry to which persons can be ordained. For instance:

most Presbyterian and Reformed churches maintain a three-fold order of ministry of pastor, elder, and deacon. The order of Pastor, the only one of the three orders considered "clergy", is comparable to most other denominations' pastoral office or ordained ministry. The order of elder comprises lay persons ordained to the ministries of church order and spiritual care (for example, elders form the governing bodies of congregations and are responsible for a congregation's worship life). The order of deacon comprises lay persons ordained to ministries of service and pastoral care. In the Methodist tradition, deacons are also ordained.

While many of the Protestant denominations' clergy have similar titles to those of the Anglican, Catholic, and Orthodox Churches, they do not have apostolic succession and therefore have no lineage of bishops which are traced all the way to the Apostles and Jesus Christ Himself.

For most Protestant denominations that have an office of bishop, such as Methodism, this is not viewed as a separate ordination or order of ministry. Rather, bishops are ordained ministers of the same order as other pastors, simply having been "consecrated" or installed into the "office" (that is, the job) of bishop. While some Lutheran churches follow this view, some also have valid apostolic succession.

Some Protestant (especially Pentecostal/Charismatic) Churches also have an informal tier of ministers. Those who graduate from a Bible College or take a year of prescribed courses are Licensed Ministers. Two more years of courses or graduation from a seminary or theological graduate school, as well as an exam by senior ministers, will result in one becoming an Ordained Minister. Both Licensed and Ordained ministers are entitled to "Reverend."

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