Knowra Ordination Ordination Ordination is a formal religious rite or process that appoints a person to clerical office or ministry, often granting authority to perform sacred functions.
Laying on of hands : A ritual gesture in which a person places hands on another, often for blessing, healing, or commissioning. Many Christian ordinations use this gesture to confer or signify ministerial authority.
Licensing of ministers : Formal authorization for a person to preach or perform specified ministerial duties, often without ordination. Licensing can permit ministry while withholding the clerical status or authority associated with ordination.
Early Christianity : The diverse Christian communities and movements that developed during the first centuries CE. Early Christian communities developed offices and practices that later traditions connected to ordination.
Catholic ordination : The sacrament by which men are ordained as deacons, priests, or bishops in the Catholic Church. It exemplifies a tradition that treats ordination as a sacrament conferring sacred orders.
Apostolic succession : The doctrine that Christian bishops inherit ecclesial authority through an unbroken succession of consecrations traced to the apostles. Some churches ground the validity of ordination in a bishop’s place within this succession.
Consecration : A rite or act that dedicates a person, place, or object to sacred use. Some traditions distinguish consecrating a bishop from the ordination that admits someone to clerical orders.
Didache : An early Christian instructional text describing communal practices, moral teaching, and church leadership. Its references to appointing bishops and deacons illuminate early forms of ministerial selection.
Eastern Orthodox ordination : The sacramental rite by which candidates are ordained to clerical orders in Eastern Orthodox churches. Its rites show how apostolic succession and episcopal authority structure ordination.
Ordination vows : Public promises made by a candidate for religious ministry, often concerning doctrine, conduct, and service. These commitments commonly accompany ordination and define its obligations.
Installation (religion) : A public ceremony placing a religious leader in a particular position or congregation. Installation assigns a specific post, whereas ordination generally concerns ministerial status.
Show all 22