by Joe Fitzpatrick

The English word ‘priest’ like the German and Dutch ‘priesten’, the Italian ‘prete’, the French ‘pretre’ and the Spanish ‘prebitero’ derive from the Latin word ‘prebyter’ which, in turn, is a transliteration of the Greek word ‘presbyteros’.

‘Presbyteros’ is not a word with any sacral character. It is the comparative form of the word ‘presbys’ – meaning ‘old’ – and literally means ‘older’. Hence the most common translation of the word ‘presbyteroi’, which occurs frequently in both the New and Old Testaments, is the word ‘elders’.

We find the first mention of ‘elders’ with reference to the Christian community in the Acts of the Apostles 11.30. They emerge quite clearly as a distinct group of people who exercise authority in the early Church. The elders govern and work in teaching and preaching, for which they deserve sustenance (1 Timothy 5. 17). Titus is directed to appoint presbyters in every town (Titus 1. 5) and, interestingly, as he sets out the qualities which should distinguish the presbyters, Paul starts to talk about bishops, ‘episkopoi’.

In several places in the pastoral epistles the word ‘presbyteroi’ is used interchangeably with ‘episkopoi’, and the dominant function of the presbyters appears to be the same as that of the bishops, the function of over-seeing, ‘epi-skopoi’. In chapter 20 of Acts, Paul addresses the presbyters of Ephesus and calls them episkopoi, over-seers of the flock which the Holy Spirit has entrusted to their charge (Acts 20, 18). The strongest fear in the early Church was that the authentic teaching of Jesus and the apostles would be contaminated with falsehood. Hence the need for overseers who were charged with the duty of protecting and sustaining the authentic tradition in all its purity.

Apart from presbyters and bishops, the other group mentioned in Acts were deacons. What is interesting about deacons is that we learn the reason for their institution. Chapter 6 of Acts tells us of a disagreement between the Hellenists and the Hebrews. The Hellenists complained to the Hebrews that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. As was to happen later in the Church, out of this disagreement came development.

We are told that the Twelve called together the whole body of the followers of Jesus and told them that they had no time to wait at table and serve people because that would be a waste of the time they needed to preach the Word – which, understandably, was the special ministry of the Twelve – and so they suggested the creation of a new ministry. Seven worthy men were chosen by the community to serve the material needs of the people. The Greek word for ‘to serve’ is ‘diakonein’ and this gives us the word ‘deacon’.

It is worth stressing the role of the community in the appointment of the deacons. There is no comparable account of the events leading to the creation of the offices of bishops (episkopoi) and priests (presbyteroi) but it is probable that, like the deacons, they were appointed to meet a perceived need in the early Church. In the case of the bishops and priests the need was to have men of proven worth to teach, preach and defend the community against falsehood.

In the early Church authority resided in the community. In Didache 15.1 we read ‘select for yourselves bishops and deacons’. And the eminent German Catholic scripture scholar, Herbert Haag, informs us that ‘all ministries, including that of bishops, were established by the Church.’ The three ministries we have referred to were not founded by Jesus but were commissioned by the Church to perform a particular function, to meet a need. Words like ‘bishop’, ‘priest’ and ‘deacon are not sacral terms.

Joe Fitzpatrick is a writer and former inspector of schools.