The Ordination of Priests

In earlier times, priests were highly esteemed and almost elevated figures within the community. Their advice was sought in all matters of life, and without them, a relationship to God seemed unthinkable.

Today, humanity has come of age, and religion is often regarded as a personal affair. Each individual’s relationship with God has become as varied as humanity itself. Christ’s mission is to foster the freedom and growth of human beings. In a modern Christian movement, there can be no return to the old forms. Against this background, it may seem surprising that The Christian Community has priests at all. What, then, is the task of the priest today, when every person seeks their own religious path?

Why Are Priests Needed Today?

Every human being can learn to pray and find their own way of prayer. Yet many know how the power of prayer can deepen when people pray together.

Alone or in community, the question remains whether prayer serves only our inner well-being or whether it can truly bring something about in the world. If prayer is to effect the transformation of earthly substances in the sacraments, then its power cannot depend solely on the changing inner state of those present.

Through the Ordination, a human being dedicates their whole life to the service of Christ. Something is then bestowed upon them that goes beyond their personal abilities – the capacity to fulfil the sacraments at the altar. The Ordination does not make them morally superior; rather, they make themselves available for a spiritual event, so that the individual paths of those gathered may be drawn together and concentrated in the sacrament.

Women have been ordained on equal terms with men since the founding of The Christian Community.

The Priest’s Cross and the Three Tasks of the Priest

In the Act of Consecration of Man, the congregation may make the sign of the cross on the forehead, chin, and breast. The priest, meanwhile, traces a large cross enclosed in a circle.

In the Ordination of Priests, which is woven into this Act, the candidate has this cross drawn in front of them, before they make the crosses for the first time. In the great priestly cross, we can see an image of the threefold priestly task:

The vertical beam – proclaiming the Gospel to human beings.
The horizontal beam – celebrating the sacraments with others.
The encircling form – cultivating a pastoral relationship with those they serve.

Proclaiming – Mediating the Message from Heaven

At first glance, proclaiming the Gospel seems simple: anyone can read aloud. Yet ‘proclaiming’ means that something of the divine world should resound through the priest’s words. What descends as spiritual message flows through human speech as living power.

Before the candidates’ first Gospel Reading during the Ordination, the stole is placed around their neck and crossed over the breast: what streams from heaven as euangelion – the good news from the realm of the angels – is to pass through the priests’ heart and become audible to human ears. Thought and word are to become living streams.

Performing Sacraments – God’s Deed Flowing into Human Deed

The second task expresses a hope shared by many: that their deeds may be imbued with God’s power. To make this possible at the altar, the candidates are anointed with consecrated oil.

This oil, blessed with the power of love, is used to inscribe a cross on the forehead and on the backs of the hands, and the candidate is touched three times on the crown of the head. In these moments, openings to the divine world are initiated, through which the activity of Christ can enter priestly work.

The new priest then receives the chasuble – the vestment worn for the Act of Consecration of Man – open at the sides to leave the hands free for deeds in which divine powers may work.

Becoming a Priest through the Affirmation of Others

The first Christians called themselves ‘those on the Way’. To become a priest is to remain a beginner – one who is still becoming. In the Ordination, the candidate is addressed as ‘You, who are becoming…’.

A priest cannot work alone or on their own authority. Their calling depends on threefold support: from the divine world, from the human community, and from the circle of priests.

This is made visible with the anointing, when the candidate is affirmed three times: by the one performing the Ordination, by the servers, and by all the priests assembled behind them, with a powerful ‘Yes, so be it.’ Later , the congregation is told that the priests’ capacity to serve their calling is sustained by the way the community perceives and upholds them

Pastoral Care – To Serve Christ is to Serve Humanity

The third task is pastoral care. It does not replace the practical help or charitable activity of others; rather, it seeks to support the spiritual dimension of each individual with their unique destiny.

Towards the end of the Ordination, the celebrant, carrying the chalice, walks a circle around the assembled priests, creating an inner space from which the newly ordained are sent into their congregations. They are charged to unite their own being with the being of their congregation.

Pastoral care is therefore not merely a matter of advice, but of entering an existential relationship with others – one that engages the whole heart while fully honouring the other’s freedom.

To help each person at the point where they stand on their own path, without defining that path from outside – this is the concern of the priest in The Christian Community. In the renewed form of confession, the Sacramental Consultation, this care can gather itself into a sacrament.

Hierarchy

The spiritual beings – Angels, Archangels, and others named in the Bible – exist in a sacred order or hierarchy through which they can work together. A community that seeks to work from the power of the spiritual world also needs such an order, so that the sacraments can be celebrated within harmony and continuity.

Within this order, each priest bears responsibility for their congregation. Some serve several congregations within a region, co-ordinating and guiding as Lenkers; and a few serve the whole movement as Oberlenkers, among whom one is the Erzoberlenker.

Greater responsibility accompanies these functions, but not greater prestige, power, or income.

All priests entrust the Lenkers and Oberlenkers with the task of sending them to their places of work. Through this, before God and humanity, it is ensured that the sacraments can continue to be celebrated in every congregation.

Written by Claudio Holland.
Edited and adapted by Tom Ravetz