Holy Orders (The Mystery of Ordination)

The Orthodox Church maintains the threefold apostolic ministry of bishop (episkopos), priest (presbyteros), and deacon (diakonos), received through the laying on of hands (cheirotonia) in unbroken apostolic succession. The bishop possesses the fullness of the priesthood; the priest and deacon share in this ministry by delegation. Married clergy (priests and deacons) are permitted, but bishops must be celibate — in practice, drawn from the monastic ranks. The Orthodox Church does not ordain women to any of the three major orders.

Tradition: Pan-Orthodox

The Threefold Ministry

Bishop (Episkopos)

The bishop (Greek: episkopos, “overseer”) holds the fullness of the priesthood. He alone can:

Ordain priests, deacons, and (with other bishops) consecrate new bishops
Consecrate the Holy Myron (chrism)
Consecrate churches and antimensia
Exercise authoritative teaching and governance in his diocese

The bishop is the successor of the Apostles — each bishop stands in an unbroken line of ordination reaching back to the Apostles themselves. He is the visible center of unity in his diocese; without the bishop, there is no Church in the local sense.

St. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 35-c. 108) wrote emphatically on the centrality of the bishop: “Let no one do anything pertaining to the Church without the bishop. Let that be considered a valid Eucharist which is celebrated by the bishop, or by one whom he appoints… Where the bishop appears, there let the people be; just as where Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church” (Ignatius, Letter to the Smyrnaeans, 8).

And again: “It is fitting that you should be in agreement with the mind of the bishop… for your justly esteemed presbytery, worthy of God, is fitted as exactly to the bishop as the strings are to the harp” (Ignatius, Letter to the Ephesians, 4).

A bishop is consecrated by the laying on of hands of at least two or three bishops (Apostolic Canon 1: “Let a bishop be ordained by two or three bishops”). In practice, the consecration is performed by the metropolitan or patriarch together with other bishops of the synod.

Priest (Presbyteros)

The priest (Greek: presbyteros, “elder”) is ordained by the bishop and serves as the bishop’s delegate in a parish or other pastoral assignment. The priest may:

Celebrate the Divine Liturgy and all other services (except those reserved to the bishop)
Administer the Mysteries of Baptism, Chrismation, Eucharist, Confession, Marriage, and Holy Unction
Preach and teach
Bless the faithful

The priest cannot ordain, consecrate churches (in the full sense), or consecrate Myron — these are reserved to the bishop. The priest always serves in connection with and under the authority of his bishop; the antimension (a consecrated cloth with relics) signed by the bishop and placed on the altar is the sign of this connection.

The priest is addressed as “Father” (otets; Greek: pater). In Russian practice, the married parish priest is called batiushka (an affectionate diminutive of “father”). A priest-monk (ieromonakh) or a priest holding a higher monastic rank is addressed accordingly.

Deacon (Diakonos)

The deacon (Greek: diakonos, “servant” or “minister”) assists the bishop and priest in the liturgical services and in pastoral work. The deacon:

Leads the litanies (petitions) during the Divine Liturgy and other services
Proclaims the Gospel reading
Assists in the administration of Communion
Censes the church, the icons, and the faithful
May not celebrate the Liturgy, pronounce absolution, or administer any Mystery independently

The diaconate is understood as a ministry of service, following the model of Christ who “came not to be served but to serve” (Matthew 20:28). The institution of the diaconate is traced to Acts 6:1-6, where the Apostles appointed seven men for the ministry of service.

The deacon is addressed as “Father Deacon” (otets diakon) in Russian practice (and generally in ROCOR and the OCA); in Greek practice he is addressed as “Father Deacon (Name)” or simply “Deacon (Name)” — usage varies by jurisdiction and local custom.

Minor Orders

In addition to the three major orders, the Orthodox Church recognizes several minor orders:

Subdeacon (Ipodiakon)

The subdeacon assists the bishop in liturgical celebrations — vesting the bishop, holding the dikiri and trikiri (the two- and three-branched candlesticks used by the bishop), and performing other liturgical functions. The subdeacon is set apart by the bishop through cheirothesia (“placing of hands”), the rite used for the minor orders, performed outside the altar and outside the Divine Liturgy — as distinguished from cheirotonia, the ordination of the major orders, performed at the altar during the Liturgy. The terminological distinction is maintained in later Byzantine canonical literature, though in the earliest sources the two terms were used more fluidly.

Reader (Anagnost / Chtets)

The reader (Greek: anagnostes; Russian: chtets) is appointed to read the Epistles, the Psalter, and other texts during the liturgical services. The reader is set apart by a bishop’s blessing and tonsure (cutting of hair).

Other Minor Roles

In some traditions, additional minor orders or liturgical roles include the cantor (psalmist / psalomshchik), the acolyte, and the doorkeeper (ostiarios), though these are not universally maintained as formal orders in all jurisdictions.

Apostolic Succession

The Doctrine

Apostolic succession is the principle that the authority and grace of the ordained ministry have been transmitted in an unbroken chain from the Apostles to the present-day bishops through the laying on of hands. This is not merely an administrative or historical claim but a theological one: the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ to the Apostles at Pentecost, has been transmitted through ordination from generation to generation.

Apostolic succession ensures:

Continuity of ministry: The bishop of today stands in the same office as the Apostles.
Continuity of faith: Succession in office is inseparable from succession in doctrine — the bishop must teach what the Apostles taught.
Validity of the Mysteries: The Mysteries are valid because they are celebrated by clergy who stand in apostolic succession, authorized by the bishop.

Ordination as Sacramental Act

Ordination is not merely an appointment or commissioning — it is a genuine Mystery, conferring a permanent, indelible spiritual gift (charisma) through the invocation of the Holy Spirit and the laying on of the bishop’s hands. The ordination prayer in the Liturgy includes the words: “The divine grace, which always heals what is infirm and supplies what is lacking, ordains [Name] to be [deacon/priest/bishop]. Let us therefore pray for him, that the grace of the Holy Spirit may come upon him” (He theia charis…).

The sacramental character of ordination means that it cannot be repeated — a person is ordained once. Apostolic Canon 68 forbids a second ordination outright: “If any bishop, or presbyter, or deacon, receives a second ordination from any one, let him be deprived, and the person who ordained him, unless he can show that his former ordination was from the heretics” (Apostolic Canon 68; The Rudder [Pedalion], trans. Cummings). Accordingly, a deposed priest is never re-ordained; whether a deposed cleric may be restored to the exercise of his orders at all is a matter of canonical discipline — some canons treat deposition as permanent (e.g., Basil, Canon 3, on the deposed deacon), and restoration, where it occurs, is an act of the competent synod, not a new ordination.

Married Clergy vs. Monastic Episcopate

Married Priests and Deacons

The Orthodox Church permits — and indeed expects — most parish priests and deacons to be married men. Marriage must take place before ordination to the diaconate; a man may not marry after ordination. This reflects the teaching of the Apostle Paul (1 Timothy 3:2, 12; Titus 1:6) and the practice of the ancient Church.

The Council of Trullo (Quinisext Council, 692) settled this question definitively for the East:

Canon 13: Rejects the rule of the Roman Church that men advanced to the diaconate or presbyterate must promise to cease living with their wives, willing instead “that the lawful marriages of men who are in holy orders be from this time forward firm” (Quinisext 692, Canon 13; trans. NPNF II/14). It thereby reaffirms Apostolic Canon 5, which forbids a bishop, presbyter, or deacon to put away his wife “under pretext of piety.”
Canon 6: Forbids a subdeacon, deacon, or priest to contract marriage after ordination, on pain of deposition — hence marriage must precede ordination.
Canons 12 and 48: Require that bishops be celibate (see below).

If a priest’s wife dies, he may not remarry and must either live as a celibate priest or take monastic vows. A widowed priest who remarries would be deposed.

The Monastic Episcopate

Bishops must be celibate — in practice, this means they are drawn from the monastic clergy (monashestvuyushchee dukhovenstvo). This practice developed gradually:

In the early Church, bishops were sometimes married (St. Peter, for example, had a mother-in-law — Matthew 8:14).
The Council of Trullo established episcopal celibacy in two canons. Canon 12 forbids bishops to live with their wives after consecration. Canon 48 provides for the wife: “The wife of him who is advanced to the Episcopal dignity, shall be separated from her husband by their mutual consent, and after his ordination and consecration to the episcopate she shall enter a monastery situated at a distance from the abode of the bishop… And if she is deemed worthy she may be advanced to the dignity of a deaconess” (Quinisext 692, Canon 48; trans. NPNF II/14). Note that Trullo requires separation and celibacy, not prior monasticism — the election of bishops exclusively from the monastic clergy became the universal practice only in later centuries.
By the later Byzantine period and continuing to the present, the universal practice is that only monks (or at least celibate clergy who have taken monastic vows) are elected to the episcopate.

This arrangement creates two paths within the Orthodox clergy:

The “white” clergy (beloe dukhovenstvo): Married parish priests and deacons who serve in the world. Their advancement is limited — they may become archpriests (protoierei) or protodeacons, but they cannot become bishops.
The “black” clergy (chernoe dukhovenstvo): Monastic clergy — monks who have been ordained. They are eligible for elevation to the episcopate and to higher monastic ranks (hegumen, archimandrite).

The Ordination of Women

The Orthodox Position

The Orthodox Church does not ordain women to the priesthood or the diaconate (in its major-order form) or the episcopate. The reasons given include:

Christ’s example: Christ chose twelve male Apostles, despite His radical willingness to challenge social conventions in other areas (speaking with the Samaritan woman, including women among His followers). This choice is understood as normative, not culturally contingent.
The priest as icon of Christ: In the Divine Liturgy, the priest stands in persona Christi — as a living icon of Christ. Since Christ is male, the iconic representation requires a male priest. This argument, developed especially in modern Orthodox theology, is not merely about biological sex but about the iconic and symbolic dimension of priesthood (Hopko, ed., Women and the Priesthood, SVS Press, 1983; rev. ed. 1999).
Unbroken Tradition: The Church has never ordained women to the priesthood in 2,000 years. For Orthodox theology, this unbroken Tradition carries normative weight — it is not merely a custom that can be changed by majority vote but reflects the mind of the Holy Spirit guiding the Church.
Anthropological complementarity: Orthodox theology affirms the full equality of men and women in dignity and in the image of God, but teaches that this equality does not mean interchangeability. Men and women have distinct but complementary roles within the Body of Christ.

The Historical Deaconess

The deaconess (diakonissa) existed in the ancient Church — attested in Romans 16:1 (Phoebe, diakonos of the Church at Cenchreae) and in the canons (Council of Chalcedon, Canon 15, which sets a minimum age of 40 for deaconesses). The deaconess’s role included:

Assisting at the baptism of women (for modesty during the immersion)
Pastoral care of women
Carrying communion to sick women

The order of deaconesses died out in the Orthodox Church by the medieval period. There is ongoing discussion about its possible restoration — some Orthodox theologians and hierarchs support this, while others oppose it. The Holy and Great Council of Crete (2016) did not formally address the question, and it remains under discussion in several autocephalous Churches. The Patriarchate of Alexandria has gone furthest: its Synod resolved in 2016 to revive the institution for its African missions, Patriarch Theodoros II consecrated five deaconesses in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2017, and on Holy Thursday 2024 Metropolitan Serafim of Zimbabwe, with the Alexandrian Synod’s approval, ordained Angelic Molen a deaconess in Harare — a step welcomed by some Orthodox and criticized by others (as of 2026, no other autocephalous Church has followed).

It should be noted that even those who support the restoration of the female diaconate do not advocate for the ordination of women to the priesthood or episcopate.

References

Ignatius of Antioch. Letters (esp. To the Smyrnaeans 8, To the Ephesians 4; trans. ANF 1).
Apostolic Canons 1, 5, 17, 18, 68 (The Rudder [Pedalion], trans. Cummings).
Council of Trullo (Quinisext Council, 692), Canons 6, 12, 13, 48 (trans. NPNF II/14).
Council of Chalcedon (451), Canon 15.
Basil the Great. Canonical Epistles, Canon 3.
Afanasiev, Nicholas. The Church of the Holy Spirit. Crestwood: SVS Press, 2007.
Pomazansky, Michael. Orthodox Dogmatic Theology. Platina: St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 1994. (On the priesthood: Part II, ch. 8, “The Holy Mysteries or Sacraments.”)
Meyendorff, John. Byzantine Theology. New York: Fordham University Press, 1974.
Ware, Kallistos. The Orthodox Church. London: Penguin, 1993.
Hopko, Thomas, ed. Women and the Priesthood. Crestwood: SVS Press, 1983; rev. ed. 1999.
FitzGerald, Kyriaki Karidoyanes. Women Deacons in the Orthodox Church: Called to Holiness and Ministry. Brookline: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 1998.
St. Phoebe Center / Patriarchate of Alexandria reports on the 2017 Congo consecrations and the 2024 ordination of Deaconess Angelic Molen (orthodoxdeaconess.org).