Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: avo@icad.com (Alex Orlovsky) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Is Apostolic Succession found in the NT? Message-ID: Date: 16 Mar 90 08:35:59 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: ICAD Inc., Cambridge, MA Lines: 20 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article , Ake Eldberg (William de Corbie writes: | |As to priesthood, our view is that there does exist a priestly |office, instituted by Christ. This is separate from the common |priesthood of all Christians, and its purpose is to select some |persons especially for certain very important tasks, such as |distributing the sacraments. There is really only *one* office, |fully manifest in the bishop. He delegates parts of his office |to priests and deacons, but only bishops have the fullness of |the office. | This is strikingly similar to the Orthodox view, where the priest substitutes for the bishop in the parish, but does not replace him. This is most clearly in evidence when the bishop celebrates the Divine Liturgy: the bishop and deacons do most of the work, while the priests hang around waiting for the bishop to delegate something. When the bishop is present, a priest is superfluous - even in his own parish.