The Sacrament of Holy Orders is a reflection of the Most Holy Trinity. Just as the Trinity is one God yet three distinct Persons, so also is the Sacrament of Holy Orders one Sacrament yet three distinct orders.
The first and highest order is that of the Episcopate. A man ordained as a Bishop receives the Sacrament of Holy Orders to the Episcopal degree. The second and next highest order is that of the Priesthood. A man ordained as a Priest receives the Sacrament of Holy Orders to the Sacerdotal degree. The third order is that of the Deaconate. A man ordained as a Deacon receives the Sacrament of Holy Orders to the Diaconal degree.
The Episcopate is a reflection of the Father. The Priesthood is a reflection of the Son. The Deaconate is a reflection of the Spirit. Just as Father, Son, Spirit share one and the same Divine Nature, so also do Bishop, Priest, Deacon share one and the same Sacrament. In their Divine Nature, Father, Son, Spirit are equal, for their Divine Nature is One. So also, in the nature of the Sacrament itself (but not specifically in their roles), Bishop, Priest, Deacon are equal, for they are all called to the same calling and each receives one and the same Sacrament.
But Father and Son and Spirit are also distinct from one another; and in their distinctions they are not equal. The Father is greater than the Son, as even Christ has told us: “For the Father is greater than I.” (John 14:28). Christ was not merely saying that the Father is greater than Christ's human nature, for this is an obvious truth that no one disputes. Instead, Christ was saying that the Person of the Father is greater than the Person of the Son. And indeed, this teaching is a true revelation from God. The precedence of the Father over the Son is intrinsic to the truth that the Son proceeds from the Father, because the Son is completely dependent on the Father for his Personhood. The Father and the Son are each greater than the Spirit, for the Spirit is completely dependent, primarily on the Father and secondarily on the Son, for his Personhood. The Father and the Son each are precedent over the Spirit. For the distinctness of the Spirit could not occur without the distinctions between the Father and the Son.
Therefore, the Bishop is greater than the Priest, though they each have the same human nature and they each have received the same Sacrament of Ordination. The Priest could not be a priest apart from the Bishop; nor could he even be ordained into the Priesthood without a Bishop. The Sacerdotal degree of the Sacrament of Ordination is subservient to the Episcopal degree of the same Sacrament, because the Son is subservient to the Father. Priests must obey Bishops, because the Son must obey the Father. The Son has no authority apart from the Father, just as Priests have no authority apart from Bishops.
The Bishop and the Priest are each greater than the Deacon, though they each have the same human nature and they each have received the same Sacrament of Ordination. The Deacon could not be ordained without a Bishop to ordain him, and the Deacon cannot function as a Deacon apart from Priests and Bishops. The Diaconal degree of Ordination is subservient to the Sacerdotal and Episcopal degrees of Ordination, because the Spirit is subservient to the Father and the Son. And just as the Spirit proceeds primarily from the Father and secondarily from the Son, so also must the Deacon be primarily subservient to the Bishops and secondarily subservient to the Priests. The Deacons must first obey the Bishops and second obey the Priests. For the Spirit has no authority apart from the Father and the Son.
The Sacrament of Ordination is received by a man when he becomes a Deacon. And if that same man then becomes a Priest, and later a Bishop, he does not receive the Sacrament of Ordination three times, but only once. Yet truly, when that man is ordained as a Deacon, and then a Priest, and finally a Bishop, he continues to receive the Sacrament of Ordination on each of those three occasions, but he only receives it once. His one reception of the Sacrament of Ordination is in three stages. In other words, he receives the Sacrament of Ordination only once, yet this one reception occurs spread out over three different points in time.
This is similar to the situation with the Sacrifice of the Mass. The Holy Mass is in truth the one Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. That one Sacrifice is not presented again, nor is it repeated again. For truly, the one Sacrifice is timeless, and its benefits pour forth from Eternity to every Place and Time where and when the Mass is offered to God Who is Eternal. The sacrifices of every Mass in every lifetime in every generation are all one Sacrifice, and it is the exact same Sacrifice: the one true Sacrifice of Christ dying for our salvation on the Cross. This timelessness, which is found in all the Sacraments, occurs because God is Eternal, and because when God became man, He did not give up His Eternal Divine Nature, but he joined it thoroughly and irrevocably to His human nature. Thus Eternity was joined to Time, and Heaven was joined to Earth, and all the Sacraments could then flow freely, unbounded by Time and Place.
And so, one and the same Sacrament of Ordination is received by the layman when he becomes a Deacon, and by the Deacon when he becomes a Priest, and by the Priest when he becomes a Bishop. Yet the Sacrament of Ordination is received only once; it seems to be received three times only because we passing through Time, and we are not yet fully sharing in God's own Timelessness within the Eternal joys of Heaven. But this timelessness is nevertheless an essential component of each and every Sacrament, because all the Sacraments have their foundation in the Incarnation, when the Eternal God entered Time and Place.
by Ronald L. Conte Jr.
