Form of Church organization

[dark_knight]

I stumbled on a difficult statement of St.Arius conserning the apostolic hierarchy: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/jackson2/14_epi.html

On the Several Orders of the Clergy.

"Or how can a presbyter be called equal to a bishop? Truly some excessive boldness or ambition has deceived this Aerius. For that he may deceive as well himself as his hearers, he makes this objection: The apostle writes of presbyters and deacons , not of bishops. Also, addressing a bishop, he says, ' Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which thou receivedst through the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.' Then in another place [he says] 'bishops and deacons,' so that bishop seems to be the same as presbyter. But this man being surely ignorant of the lineage of the truth, and not versed in its more recondite history, does not understand that the apostle, while the teaching of Christian truth was yet recent, wrote according to the circumstances; for when now bishops had been constituted, he wrote to bishops and deacons. For frequently the apostles were not able to administer all things. And the work was indeed, at the first, intrusted to presbyters and deacons, by both of whom ecclesiastical affairs are truly able to be administered. Wherefore, when as yet no one appeared worthy of the episcopate, no one was made a bishop in that place. Yet when necessity required, and there was no lack of those who were worthy of the episcopate, then bishops were constituted. But where there was not a great multitude, none could be found who might be made presbyters; wherefore they were limited to a bishop only. Still, there can be no bishop without a deacon. Wherefore, the apostle took care that, for the giving of thanks, deacons should be present with the bishop. Therefore while as yet the Church could not be completed in all its functions, during that time a status arose suited to the several places. Nor, indeed, is there anything which, from its beginning, has been complete in all its parts; but as time passes, with all its opportunities, the arrival at perfection at last occurs." — Haer. 75.


I have no great difficulty to submit to the system where [I]episkopos is above presbyteros, but there seems to be some contradiction and multiple interpretations about this in the writings of the Apostles (in NT) and those of Arius (though written by his adversaries).

[bupanishad2012]

Read on:

ARIUS.
Neither the extent nor the importance of this author's writings would entitle him to a prominent place among the great ecclesiastical writers. His name, however, is so associated with the literature of the great church controversy, that we can not understand that literature without recognizing his work. He was a presbyter in the church at Alexandria, and first attracted notice by an attack upon his bishop, Alexander, on the subject of the Trinity. The outcome of the resulting controversy was the Council of Nice and its doctrinal definition. After this council Arius was banished to Illyrium and his writings were publicly burned. In a few years, however, he was recalled, and through the influence of Eusebius, who persuaded Constantine that he differed from the churchmen only in the words which he used, he was received with favor at court. An earnest effort was also made to restore him to standing in the church, but it was defeated by Arius's sudden death (see page 41). He was a man of eloquence, and the purity of his moral character was unquestioned. His chief work was his "Thalia," a theological writing in prose and verse. He also wrote popular songs teaching his peculiar views.

[David Kone]

Jesus taught that we are all equal before the Father and those who would be first must be as a slave. The humble nature of St. Arius' life both taught and demonstrated this. He could have chosen the easy path and enjoyed a comfortable career in the new official church. Those who cherished the secular power that came with high office did not understand this, they just felt threatened. Our Master rose to the high priesthood by instructing those who were in error through careful rebuke and by being a living example of holiness, not by distroying those who disagreed. He was one who stood for the truth against all earthly authority. St. Arius was a true follower of His example. Those who disagreed with him had to resort to silencing him and distroying his writings for they could not win otherwise. The lowliest of deacons who obey the word of our Lord are mightier than all the pontiffs and bishops who have ever ruled in darkness.

[RabbiBarry]

After one goes through the Gate, which is Jesus (John 1:51) then one becomes a friend of G-d like Avraham. After seven steps or years on the Path past the Gate, one begins the Dark Night and becomes the Servant of G-d like Mary or Isaiah. After finishing the Dark Night, that is, after seven years in most excruciating mental and spiritual pain, then one emerges into the Day of Community and becomes the Slave of G-d. After 14 years past the Dark Night, one emerges as a full Citizen of Heaven, a Slave of G-d, a Tzaddik ready to either enter Heaven or begin the great work that G-d has planned for you.

[Archbishop Michael-John]

I have given a run through of the offices of clergy in the Arian Catholic Church in a previous posting, which may be of use to anyone who is not familiar with them...

Clergy - Clerks in Holy Orders

I will begin by clearing up some confusion over the naming convention of our clergy: Candidates who have previous pastoral experience I would acknowledge as Subdeacons while they are awaiting formal ordination (or ordination sub conditione) as Deacons. We are happy to ordain both men and women to the Diaconate. The term Deacon means servant, and their duty is to assist the Presbyter (our term for Priest which was also used by the early Church); we regard Deacons as having completed their basic training and are the apprentices to the Presbyterium. The senior Deacon in a diocese is known as the Archdeacon in accordance with the early Church (other churches use this term for a senior Presbyter). Ordination as a Presbyter gives "Character" to the soul as an accomplished Clerk in Holy Orders; Presbyter means elder. The senior Presbyter in the diocese is the Archpresbyter (similar to that office in the eastern orthodox church). Finally the Episcopate consists of Bishops, Archbishops and one Primate Archbishop; Bishop (from Episcopus/Epi skopos) means overseer.

There is also an article on the ACC website at...
http://arian-catholic.org/arian/worship.html#ordination
which gives some more background to the scriptural origins of these three offices.

Examples of these offices can be found in the Gospels and Epistles which are recited during the Sacrament of Ordination...

<TABLE align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left>Deacons:-
1 Timothy 3:8-13,
Acts 6:2-7,
Luke 12:35-38;



</TD><TD vAlign=top align=left>Priests:-
Ephesians 4:7-13,
Matthew 9:36-38,
John 10:1-16;



</TD><TD vAlign=top align=left>And Bishops:-
1 Timothy 3:1-7, 8-13
Acts 20:17-31, 32-35,
John 21:15-17,
John 20:19-23, and
Matthew 28:18-20.



</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


Basically the offices are accumulative! That is a Deacon is a Servant, a Presbyter is also an Elder, and a Bishop is also an Overseer. As you can see, nothing is taken away but the responsibilities do increase!

I think this is most probably what Arius was explaining but the message has been somewhat distorted by his enemies. There was also an enigma that the Bishops were faced with as they wrestled with the question of: How Bishops could be expected to be lead by a Presbyter? According to Arius, the Bishops had missed the point! Remember the idea of the 'Petrine Primacy' <HTTP: roman_catholicism.html#petrine_deception arian arian-catholic.org>was not introduced until the 5th century and the Patriarchate of Rome was actually just one of several Patriarchates, each considered equal! We must remember that the Church is the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, Arius is our guide, but where there is any confusion we must carefully turn towards scripture as Arius was a dedicated theological conservative whose concern was to defend true Christianity, and he would not have misquoted the sacred scripture of his time.

I hope this gives some clarification! :-)

Kind regards and blessings,
in the Grace of our Father, through Immanuel,

[Jason]

Interesting way of looking at this ++Michael.

[Postulare42]

I defer fully to the Archbishop in matters concerning his congregation.

That said, some researches into the dynamics of the early church communities indicate some significant differences between the protocommunity in Jerusalem, the communities established by Paul, the communities established by other Apostles, and uniquenesses according to regions. These differences are fascinating. Of greatest interest to me are the commonalities, in as much as these point towards the original, essential message of Jesus to us.

The structural roles passed down to us, mostly through the Greek and Alexandrian communities, follow (with almost NO exceptions) from the organisational structure of the synagogues.

I can go into this in more detail, if anyone wishes. . .perhaps on a different thread, or in an E-Zine article.

:)