On the Inspiration of Holy Scripture

Inspiration means ‘God-breathed,’ in-spiritus, in-Spirited, Spirit-filled.

‘The Holy Scriptures are able to make thee (empower into wisdom) wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration (Theopneustos = God-spirited, God-breathed) of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.’ II Timothy 3.15-16 ‘Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost'. II Peter 1.20-21 ‘I believe the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God, and to contain all things necessary to salvation in Jesus Christ.’'Are your persuaded that the Holy Scriptures contain all Doctrine necessary for eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ?' (Ordination of Priests in the Anglican Ordinal). Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation (Article of Religion VI). We Anglican Catholics believe in the full, or plenary, inspiration of Scripture: every word and syllable in Scripture is inspired by God and meant to teach the Church. Interpretation of the Church’s Book is properly done by the whole Catholic Church in all ages, East and West, universally, anciently, consentiently, which reads Scripture according to her own mind. The Undivided Church is the living Voice which gives articulation to the meaning of the Scriptures, through the Creeds and the Holy Tradition. The Church guarantees the authenticity and inspiration of the Canon of Scripture, and for this reason, how particular books may teach or who wrote them are of secondary importance. Canon is canon because the Church is herself guided and inspired so to teach, relegating questions of personal authorship or history to the background. The inspired Biblical Canon rests on the authority of inspired Spirit-possessed Body of Christ, the Church. We are not bound to any particular theory of how Scripture is inspired, as long as we affirm with the Church that the Canonical Old and New Testaments are the Word of God and have been inspired in their totality by the Spirit of God. Various theories exists as to how Scripture is inspired: 1. Verbal inspiration - God immediately and directly caused the writers to set their texts to paper, being thus oracles, secretaries of the Holy Ghost. This view was held by most of the early Church Fathers. This process is a totally supernatural explanation. 2. Natural inspiration - God worked within the naturally occurring histories of his people, permitting men of particular interests, talent and ability to write what would later be reckoned Holy Scripture. This view may be called ‘historical emergence.’ 3. Mixed bag - a) God, in some cases, directly inspired by providing infused knowledge or a direct supernatural vision, and in other instances, God inspired through man's natural talents and abilities. b) God used pre-existing materials, inspiring their collection and edition into biblical books. c) God directed the general course of human history to lend towards a particular creation of Scripture. In the end, inspiration is a mystery, and various theories are permitted, so long as one affirms genuine inspiration of Scripture by God. God chose certain men and made use of their own faculties and powers to write Scripture. They really wrote the Bible; they were not ‘puppets.’ They wrote exactly what God wanted, as he wanted it. The Bible teaches, therefore, without error, the truth of God we need to possess for our salvation. God is the divine author of Scripture because He inspired the human authors; he acts in, with and through them. He guarantees in His Church that their writings are free from error, communicating His divine truth rightly. Hence we 'rightly divide the Word of Truth' (II Timothy 2.15). The Bible is not a collection of human authorship, it is not the word of man, it does not combine truth and error, but is the very Word of God written. ‘When you received the Word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God’ (I Thessalonians 2.13). God condescends and speaks to mankind in human words; the Creator accommodates Himself to mankind for our salvation, supremely in the Incarnation of the Word of God, God the Son, the Logos-Word of the Father, Who empties Himself and takes on the form of Man to communicate His Divine Life to us - the principle of the Incarnation was at work in the formation and revelation of Holy Scripture - ‘God was made man so man can be made God’ (Saint Athanasius). God conveys Himself to man through human word and speech. The One Word of God, the Divine Logos, is the one Word uttered throughout Holy Scripture. God expresses Himself completely and perfectly through His Divine Word, the Person of the Son (Saint John 1.1-14). For this reason, the Church venerates the Holy Scriptures as the Word of God, honouring the actual physical text of the Bible with incense and kisses, honouring the Person of Our Lord present in the Bible, as He is present even more intensely and objectively in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. ‘One and the same Word extends throughout Scripture, the One and same Utterance that resounds in the mouths of all the sacred writers, for He was in the beginning "God of God."’(Saint Augustine of Hippo, On the Psalms). ‘All Sacred Scripture is one book, and that one Book is Christ, because all Divine Scripture speaks of Christ, and is fulfilled in Christ’ (Hugh of Saint Victor). ‘Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ’ (Saint Jerome). There is four-fold way of interpreting Scripture, a four-fold method, or as the Holy Fathers call them, the Four Senses of Scripture: Scripture possesses both a literal and a spiritual, figurative, symbolic, iconic meaning. Because Scripture is living and active, it is capable of holding all four senses. Sometimes, in any given case, only one or two are applicable, sometimes all are at work. Indeed, because of the multiplicity of various genres and styles of literature in the Bible, only one sense may be useful and helpful and even operative in any given example. 1. Literal and Historical: ‘All senses of Scripture are based on the literal’ (Saint Thomas Aquinas). According to Saint Thomas, the Church must never establish a doctrine solely on an allegorical reading, but it must be based in the literal meaning of the Bible. One must have the basic literal meaning before the others emerge. Meaning is conveyed by the Scripture itself and discovered by exegesis (reading-out) of the meaning. For example, Jerusalem = a city of Israel. 2. Allegorical: Realities and events discussed in Scripture are themselves signs of God’s presence and will. Allegory is the Scripture's significance in Christ. For example, Jerusalem = the Catholic Church. 3. Tropological and Moral: the Scriptures are written for our instruction and learning, and our moral teaching. For example, Jerusalem = God’s holy people, God’s pure chosen flock. 4. Anagogical and Eschatological: (anagoge, leading, uncovering). Events and realities of the Bible are viewed in their eternal significance, their symbolic meaning as pointing to the end of the world and eternity. For example, Jerusalem = the heavenly kingdom. The medieval couplet sums-up the four senses of Scripture: The Letter speaks of deeds; Allegory to faith; The Moral how to act; Anagogy our destiny. Lettera gesta docet, quid credas allegoria, moralis quid agas, quo tendas anagogia. Jesus Christ is the lens of Scripture, through whose Incarnation and Paschal Mystery we orthodox catholics read the whole of the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament. Scripture is inerrant, without error, infallible, never teaching falsehood, because as the Word of God it communicates God’s saving truth of Faith and Morality, and faithfully transmits the intention of God in teaching faith and morals to us. Although specific texts may differ in the purposes of their inspiration, their inerrancy is guaranteed for whatever purpose, by God Himself. To discover the meaning of particular texts, one must look to the teaching office of the Church, Holy Tradition, the unbroken Apostolic teaching of the Church. The purpose for inspiration itself will go unfulfilled if one does not look to the Body which has been inspired by the Holy Ghost to give the right interpretation of her own Book. We must read Scripture within the Living Tradition of the whole Catholic Church. The Holy Fathers teach that the Bible is written in Church’s heart, in her interior life, rather than on paper or in documents. Inspired and directed by the Holy Spirit, the Church carries in her Tradition the whole teaching contained in Scripture. ‘The Word of God is not just a mute, written word, but is Incarnate and Living in the Church’ (S. Bernard of Clairvaux). There is but One Catholic Faith, One Deposit of Divine Revelation, but Two Modes of its transmission, Holy Scripture and Apostolic Tradition. The Catholic Church, especially represented by the Apostolic College, the historic Episcopate, is the guardian, transmitter teacher and interpreter of Holy Scripture. In order to retain their proper meaning, the Holy Scriptures cannot divorced from the context in which they were inspired, to wit, the doctrine, liturgy and discipline of that Church which bears the marks One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic. 'Biblical orthodoxy' cannot be realised without or separated from ecclesiastical Tradition. The Church of the living God is the 'pillar and ground of the Truth,'the House of God(I Timothy 3.15). ‘Where there is the Church, there is the Spirit and where the Spirit is, there is the Church. The Church is the place where the Spirit flourishes' (Saint Irenaeus of Lyons). 'But I would not believe in the Gospel, had not the authority of the Catholic Church already moved me' (Saint Augustine).

From: Philorthodox

ACNA and illicit orders

A new controversy has arisen in the Anglican Church in North America concerning the Episcopate and the recognition of Holy Orders usually classified as deriving from episcopi vagantes, or 'wandering bishops.' Recently, the ACNA received into its House of Bishops without the benefit of consecration sub conditione a bishop originally ordained in the 'Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches,' affectionately known in some circles as the CEEEEEC...

The problem lies in the fact that, historically, the Anglican Communion has simply refused to recognise Holy Orders conferred by those persons or entities which trace their origin to the various wandering bishops of the twentieth century, without issuing a final judgement as to the sacramental validity of the orders in question: this cautious and prudent disciplinary position was established by the Lambeth Conferences of 1920 and 1958.

By receiving a bishop whose orders originate from episcopi vagantes without conditional consecration, the ACNA has broken from the long-standing discipline of the Anglican Communion in this matter. Anglicanism from the days of her orthodoxy has been very clear on this subject.

The Church Catholic has always taken the safest course as to the validity of Holy Orders, since the validity of orders is necessary for the validity of the Holy Eucharist and other sacraments, and has, whenever there has been a question or doubt about a particular ordination, supplied what might be lacking with conditional ordination - the reiteration of orders under condition does not deny the possible validity of the orders concerned, but only seeks to remedy any defect present and to ensure that the ordination is beyond doubt - 'ecclesia supplet' - the Church supplies what is otherwise lacking in such an ordination by conditional administration of the same.

The Church has a most solemn moral and theological responsibility to make certain, as far as is possible, that the sacramental integrity of her life is preserved and transmitted unimpaired for sake of the salvation of souls. The valid continuation of the Sacraments of the Holy Eucharist, Penance, Unction of the Sick and Ordination itself depends on an unbroken and sacramentally assured conferral of a valid priesthood. Hence the Church has always followed the rule, 'better safe than uncertain,'in the administration of the sacraments.

The irony of this particular situation is that orders conferred by episcopi vagantes are generally recognised by Roman Catholic canon law as 'valid but illicit,' possessive of the power of Order but conveyed in a canonically illegal manner. Anglican Orders, on the other hand, are dubbed null and void by the Roman Church, per Apostolicae Curae (1896). Therefore, the historic Anglican position has, in such cases, been stricter in application than that of the Roman Communion. The Anglican Communion, again, has not asserted that vagans orders are invalid, only that they are not to be recognised or permitted within her own ecclesial life. Oddly enough, with an ironic twist of providence, the APA and some other Continuing Churches possess Old Catholic orders from irregular sources, orders which should be recognised by the Roman See, whereas the Anglican succession is declared invalid at Rome. But for Anglicans, it is preeminently the regular, canonical and orderly administration of Holy Orders through and within duly-constituted catholic jurisdiction - Apostolic Succession of Order united to Apostolic Succession of Creed, Faith, Teaching and Government - which is rightly determined most important. Tactile succession can never be divorced from catholic orthodoxy and authentic ecclesiastical structure. And such canonical transmission and orderliness is mostly absent in the vagantes phenomenon.

The orders of the Anglican Province of America were originally obtained from these same controversial sources: Bishop AH Mathew, Bishop CH Carfora, and Bishop FL Pyman of the English Old Catholic succession; Bishop HG de Willmott Newman and Bishop KC Pillai of the English Old Catholic succession; and Bishop C Duarte-Costa and Bishop EM Corradi-Scarella of the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church - orders theoretically recognised by Rome but not recognised by the Anglican Communion, orders which, when held up to every standard of Augustinian Western Catholic theology, are to be regarded as sacramentally valid, but uncanonical. In order to remove all scruple and doubt from the Anglican perspective, our hierarchy received conditional diaconal and priestly ordination, and consecration to the Episcopate, in October 1991 by three orthodox bishops of the Anglican Communion at the Deerfield Beach Unity Conference. This action did not deny the validity of the previous ordinations, but only sought to supply what was necessary according to Anglican theological and canonical precedent.

From an Anglican viewpoint, the ACNA should indeed be willing to do the same for its own clergy and people, in accordance with the perennial Anglican disciplinary approach and for the certitude of the sacramental life.

To read about this controversy, please go here, here and here.

Posted by The Reverend Canon Chandler Holder Jones
(Copied from PhilOrthodox)

Why sacramental assurance matters

Order: the Revd David Hayes at his ordination service in St John and St Barnabas’s, Belle Isle, Leeds, with the Bishop of Beverley, on 5 July.

“Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Oh, what a foretaste of glory is mine!” Anglicans, especially Catholic An­glicans, find “blessed assurance” and a “foretaste of glory” in the sacraments of the Church. After the General Synod debate on women bishops, Stephen Barney wrote asking for an explanation of the doctrine of sacra­mental assurance (Letters, 16 July). Others have questioned whether sacra­mental assurance is an Anglican doctrine.
I would like to try to explain it, and to show that it is an Anglican doctrine. The doctrine of the Church of England is to be found particularly in “the Thirty-nine Articles of Reli­gion, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordinal”, according to Canon A5; I will refer to these sources, among others.
Article XXV teaches that “Sacra­ments ordained by Christ . . . [are] effectual signs of grace”: they effect what they signify; they truly bring us the grace of God; they are the means by “which [God] doth work invisibly in us”. This gives the Church of Eng­land a Catholic doctrine of the sacra­ments.
The teaching of the Article is ex­panded in the Catechism in the Book of Common Prayer, which states that the sacraments are “a means whereby we receive [grace]”, and “a pledge to assure us thereof”. We have therefore the assurance that we receive the grace of God in the sacraments, pro­vided that the right conditions are met.
Traditional Catholic teaching re­quires the use of bread and wine at the eucharist, and the presidency of a priest ordained by a bishop in the apostolic succession. Both the Book of Common Prayer and Common Worship require the use of bread and wine, and the presidency of a priest ordained by a bishop. Article XXXVI refers to the Ordinal attached to the Book of Common Prayer, which re­quires that priests be ordained by bishops, as did the Act of Uniformity 1662.
The preface to the Ordinal makes it clear that the Church of England intended to continue the orders of bishops, priests, and deacons, as the Church had received them, going back to the time of the Apostles. In other words, the C of E explicitly intended to continue the ordained ministry of the Catholic Church.
The requirement of a priest, or­dained by a bishop in the apostolic succession, to preside at the eucharist is a requirement of Anglican for­mularies. One could cite various Anglican divines who took just such a Catholic and Anglican position — Jeremy Taylor, Lancelot Andrewes, John Cosin, and William Laud, to name but a few.
The problem for traditional Cath­olics in the Church of England is that we do not believe that in ordaining women, the C of E is continuing the orders of bishops and priests as the Church has received them. By “Church” here, we mean the un­divided Church of the past, together with the present-day Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches, and a number of other Anglican provinces.
The ordination of women to the priesthood therefore initiated a pro­cess of reception in the Church of England and the wider Church. Reception is not a new concept in the history of the Church: it refers to the reception of the decisions of Councils of the Church by the whole people of the Church, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Because the C of E claims that her orders are those of the whole or universal Church (Catholic, Ortho­dox, Anglican), the new development in the ordination of women must be subject to reception by the whole Church. Otherwise, our Church’s claim about her orders would be in jeopardy. Recognition of the need for reception underpinned theologically the provision that was made in 1992-93 for members of the Church of England not to receive the priestly ministry of women.
The introduction of women bishops would introduce a new phase into the process of reception, calling, theologically and practically, for provision for members of the C of E not to receive the episcopal ministry of women. According to Anglican ordinals, priests have to be ordained by bishops. Those who are unable to receive the ministry of women bishops cannot receive the ministry of those who have been ordained by women bishops, because ordination is an essentially episcopal ministry.
The problem then, particularly for lay traditionalists, would be how they can be sure that a priest presiding at the eucharist has been ordained by a male bishop, in a line of bishops and priests which is an explicit continua­tion of the orders of bishops and priests as the Church has received them. Without that assurance, they do not have the assurance of the grace of God in the sacrament.
This is not to denigrate the minis­try of women priests, or to say that the grace of God is not present when they preside at the eucharist. But it is to say that the same sacramental as­surance is not available when women preside at the eucharist, or ordain priests — because there is doubt that, in their ordination, the Church of England is continuing the Catholic orders of the universal Church.
Bishop Kenneth Kirk wrote in a paper for the Church Assembly in 1947 that “where the sacraments are concerned, the Church is always obliged to take the least doubtful course.” For this reason, we cannot receive the priestly or episcopal minis­try of women.
It is sometimes objected that Article XXVI says that the “un­worthiness of ministers” does not hinder the effect of the sacrament. If we read the Article in full, however, we see that the unworthiness referred to is not an issue about holy orders, but serious moral unworthiness: “wicked­ness”.
Indeed, the Article teaches the principle of sacramental assurance, namely, that the grace of God is present in the sacrament when it is rightly and duly administered, in accordance with the teaching and practice of the undivided Church. This requires the continuation of the orders of bishops and priests as the Church has received them, going back to the time of the Apostles.

Canon Simon Killwick is the Rector of Christ Church, Moss Side, Manchester, and chairman of the Catholic Group on the General Synod.

From Church Times

De consecratione electi in Episcopum

Deo Volente, the Most Reverend Walter Howard Grundorf, with the assistance of his co-consecrators, will consecrate yours truly to the Sacred Order of Bishops for service as Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of the Eastern United States of the Anglican Province of America on Ember Saturday, 18th September 2010 at Saint Alban's Anglican Cathedral in Oviedo, Florida. The time is yet to be determined: more information will soon be forthcoming.

Please pray for the Province, Diocese and us as plans and organisation proceed apace. God bless you!

The Theology of the Sacred Diaconate

Deacons of the Anglican Tradition are permitted to administer the Blessed Sacrament at Mass and to those who cannot attend the Eucharistic celebration in church; they may preach; they may baptise in the absence of a priest; they also bear the great responsibility of teaching and preaching the Gospel through catechesis and instruction of the young and converts to the Faith; deacons may teach Confirmation, enquirers' and Sunday school classes; they may teach classes on Holy Scripture, just as they proclaim the Scriptures in the liturgy of the Mass and Offices; they also possess the profound 'ministry of the Altar and of charity' - biblically and historically, deacons serve the needs of the poor and sick and function to collect and distribute the alms of the Church to those in need. In this respect, deacons uniquely represent the bishop as ministers of charity and mercy, and have so functioned since Apostolic times (Acts 6). In the liturgy, the deacon proclaims the Holy Gospel and traditionally administers the Chalice of Our Lord's Precious Blood. The role and ministry of the deacon in the Anglican Rite are succinctly summarised in the Ordinal (BCP 533).

Deacons of the modern Roman Rite, since the II Vatican Council and contrary to earlier Tradition, are today permitted to solemnise marriages and confer the nuptial blessing at such rites; they are permitted to bless persons, places and objects as the need may arise. However, modern Roman deacons are not permitted to administer the Sacrament of the Unction of the Sick: that sacrament, like the Holy Eucharist and the Sacrament of Penance, depends on the grace of the sacerdotium, the sacramental priesthood, for a valid administration. It should be noted that neither traditional rite Roman deacons nor Eastern Orthodox deacons are permitted to bless things and solemnise Matrimony, which actions are entirely novel and were only introduced by Vatican II, never before being part of the diaconal ministry as received from Christian antiquity. Deacons of the ancient Oriental Orthodox Churches follow the same pattern of ministry as the Anglican, Eastern Orthodox and traditional Latin Churches. The traditional Anglican form of the diaconate is that inherited from Apostolic Tradition and the practice of the undivided Catholic Church of the first millennium.

The deacon is in fact ordained to assist the episcopal or priestly celebrant at the altar and in the celebration of the Mysteries, because that ministry of service and servanthood is the essence of the charcater of the diaconate: the diakonos, servant, is conformed to the image of Jesus Christ the Deacon, Christ the Servant, by the sacramental ontological character of ordination. The Deacon is 'ordered' to the altar; he is admitted to the order of servanthood in the liturgical life of the Church and therefore mystically represents the Angels in heaven who attend to the eternal and divine Liturgy of the heavenly court. The New Testament deacon is the New Testament fulfillment and antitype of the Old Testament Levite, who was ordained to assist in the sacrifices and worship of the Old Testament sacramental system. An icon of the heavenly Ministers of the Altar, the angelic host, and the perfection of the Levitical ministry of sacrifice and offering, the Catholic and Apostolic deacon is consecrated to God by the Sacrament of Holy Orders to participate in the action of the Mass and to take his rightful place in the administration of the sacraments as a Minister, a servant and steward of the Mysteries of God. Deacons have administered the Chalice at Mass since Apostolic times, and in the primitive Church enjoyed a more prominent role in the celebration of Mass than that of the presbyterate: the priests as a council would be seated behind the altar, while the bishop celebrated at the altar with his deacons beside him, assisting the bishop in the offertory and the administration of Holy Communion. In the first four centuries, the bishop was always the chief celebrant of the Mass and the other sacraments in his region, the High Priest of the local Church; the deacons were his special and unique assistants in the liturgical action. Presbyters, priests of the second order of ministry, only came fully to share in the sacramental ministry of the bishop after the third century. But the unique and essential role of the deacon has always remained in tact. The deacon 'serves the Table of the Lord' (Acts 6.2) in an altogether primary and distinctive sense, by Apostolic institution. The deacon is associated with the sacramental ministry of the bishop and of the Church because that is his liturgical ministry given from the Apostles themselves.

Ordination is the conferral and reception of the commission and authority of Jesus Christ to act in His Name and Person, and of the grace to execute the ministry of the Church; a commission and authority to act as an authentic representative of Christ and His Church. Deacons receive through Apostolic Succession the grace of this commission and authority, a power given from the Apostles and conveyed by Apostolic hands in the episcopate. Thus, deacons are true Ministers of the Word and Sacraments of God, true Ministers of the Church of God, according to their specific Order conferred by diaconal ordination. The diaconate is the third sacred Order in the hierarchy constituted by Our Lord and the Apostles, a real sharing in the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Deacons take their place next to priests and bishops as participants in the Threefold Apostolic Ministry, a Ministry of divine institution and appointment.

Deacons may assist in the administration of the Chalice at Mass and may bear the Blessed Sacrament in both kinds to those who are unable to attend the Mass in church, but are strictly forbidden to offer the Eucharistic Sacrifice according to the canons and decrees of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicea I (AD 325). Deacons do not possess the grace of priestly ordination and thus cannot validly consecrate the Mass.

The following is one of the earliest testimonies to the ordination of the deacon outside the New Testament, the Apostolic Tradition of Saint Hippolytus of Rome: note carefully what this record of AD 215 says about the theology of the Diaconate:

When one ordains a deacon, he is chosen according to what has been said above, with only the bishop laying on his hand in the same manner. In the ordination of a deacon, only the bishop lays on his hand, because the deacon is not ordained to the priesthood, but to the service of the bishop, to do that which he commands. For he is not part of the council of the clergy, but acts as a manager, and reports to the bishop what is necessary. He does not receive the spirit common to the presbyters, which the presbyters share, but that which is entrusted to him under the bishop's authority. This is why only the bishop makes a deacon. Upon the presbyters, the other presbyters place their hands because of a common spirit and similar duty. Indeed, the presbyter has only the authority to receive this, but he has no authority to give it. Therefore he does not ordain to the clergy. Upon the ordination of the presbyter he seals; the bishop ordains.

The bishop says this over the deacon:

O God, you who have created all and put it in order by your Word, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom you sent to serve by your will, and to manifest to us your desire, give the Holy Spirit of grace and earnestness and diligence to this your servant, whom you have chosen to serve your church and to offer up in holiness in your sanctuary that which is offered from the inheritance of your high priests, so that serving without reproach and in purity, he may obtain a higher degree, and that he may praise you and glorify you, through your son Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom to you be glory, and power, and praise, with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and throughout the ages of the ages. Amen.

A deacon may baptise in the absence of a priest because the validity of Holy Baptism does not depend on its administration by one in sacerdotal orders and character; its validity depends solely on the proper administration of the matter and form instituted by Our Lord Jesus Christ, to wit, water in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Because Baptism is generally necessary for salvation for all men (St John 3.5), Our Lord has instituted it in such a way that any person who intends seriously to administer the Sacrament of Holy Baptism may validly do so - because it is the rite itself, given by Christ, which effects the grace of the sacrament. Any baptised Christian, lay or ordained, may validly baptise in emergency, in extremis. But in order to maintain the regula fidei and the bene esse of the Church, her good order and canonical obedience to the Catholic Faith and Tradition, it is required where and when possible that one in Holy Orders, a duly ordained cleric of the Church, baptise. A deacon no less than a priest is an ordained representative of the Holy Catholic Church. A deacon possesses the indelible character of Holy Orders and thus sacramentally represents Jesus Christ, no less than a priest - only in a different manner according to a different grace of ordination. For a Baptism to be canonically regular and in accordance with the Church's ordering of her own life, a deacon, ordained for this purpose as a herald of the Gospel and a minister of the Word and Sacraments, should always preside if a priest cannot be present. Deacons are truly ordained.

For the reasons listed above, because the deacon is a true and sacramentally ordained minister of the Word and Sacraments according to his own full and complete order in the Church, he may in the absence of the priest celebrate the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified and administer the consecrated gifts of the Body and Blood of Christ to the faithful: he is ordered to the altar and has the commission and authority so to act, under the authority of the bishop and priest. Anglicans call this rite in the absence of the priest the 'Deacon's Mass,' a colloquial term for us; Roman Catholics call it a 'Communion service,' wherein the Eucharistic Elements are not consecrated but the Pre-Sanctified Gifts are offered in Holy Communion to the people. In the Orthodox Church, the Deacon's Mass is called the Deacon's Typika. All Catholic Churches have a form of service in which the deacon administers Holy Communion from the reserved Sacrament.

A deacon is not permitted to bless sacramentally persons, places or objects, even using holy water blessed by a priest, because the deacon does not possess the necessary character of Holy Orders to bless in the Name of Christ and the Church in a sacramental way. Bishops and priests possess the sacramental character of the sacerdotium, which entails the blessing of people, places and objects in the Name of Christ, thus conveying the blessing of Almighty God and of the Church in a sacramental action. Such ministry of blessing is an integral part of the ministry of the priesthood; priestly grace is required for one so to act in the Name and Person of Christ and the Church, in persona Christi capitis. Holy water is a sacramental of the Church, blessed by the Church to invigorate and encourage the faith of those who use it, but it is not a sacrament and does not convey grace in the manner of a sacrament. Sacramentals are aids to faith, meant to inspire devotion and drive away evil, but they do not have the nature of the sacraments themselves. Sacramental blessings, priestly blessings, are just that - they require a sacrament, in this case, the Sacramental Man, the 'walking sacrament' of the priest, to convey them. Now, of course, please let it be clearly understood that this fact of theology does not preclude the ability of any Christian to pray and to bless in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and all Christians should so pray and bless in the Lord's Name. Parents should bless their children; loved ones should bless their needy, their sick, the lonely and those in trouble; Christians should pray for one another and bless one another in the Name of Jesus. But the specific sacramental action of sacramental blessing is reserved in the Church's liturgical life to those endowed with the Spirit of the Priesthood, the Holy Ghost for the office and work of a Priest in the Church of God. (BCP 546, BCP 294).

All of the aforementioned also apply to the Sacrament of the Unction of the Sick, but even more so, because the Sacrament of Unction requires a bishop or priest for the valid administration of the sacrament by divine institution. Holy Scripture records the practice of the Sacrament of Unction from New Testament times: 'Is any among you sick? Let him call for the presbyters (priests) of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven' (Saint James 5.14-15). Our Lord anticipated the practice of this sacrament by giving power to His Apostles (and their successors in the episcopate and priesthood) to administer healing to the sick by means of anointing them with oil: 'So they went out and preached that men should repent. And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them' (Saint Mark 6.13). Only bishops and priests may administer this Sacrament, as Saint James clearly teaches. A priest should administer Unction using holy oil blessed by a bishop for this purpose. The outward and visible sign is the anointing of a baptised Christian who is ill, by a priest, with oil blessed by a bishop. Typically, the oil is applied to the forehead, and sometimes to the hands or specific place of pain. The prayer is one for blessing and spiritual healing from God (BCP 320). The inward and spiritual grace is divine power, peace, strength and forgiveness of all sins. This sacramental economy was given by the Lord Jesus Christ to His Church.

(Copied from Philorthodox with Permission)

Who is St. Thomas the Apostle

St Thomas the Apostle

St. Thomas was a Jew, called to be one of the twelve Apostles. He was a dedicated but impetuous follower of Christ. When Jesus said He was returning to Judea to visit His sick friend Lazarus, Thomas immediately exhorted the other Apostles to accompany Him on the trip which involved certain danger and possible death because of the mounting hostility of the authorities. At the Last Supper, when Christ told His Apostles that He was going to prepare a place for them to which they also might come because they knew both the place and the way, Thomas pleaded that they did not understand and received the beautiful assurance that Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. But St. Thomas is best known for his role in verifying the Resurrection of his Master. Thomas' unwillingness to believe that the other Apostles had seen their risen Lord on the first Easter Sunday merited for him the title of "doubting Thomas." Eight days later, on Christ's second apparition, Thomas was gently rebuked for his scepticism and furnished with the evidence he had demanded - seeing in Christ's hands the point of the nails and putting his fingers in the place of the nails and his hand into His side. At this, St. Thomas became convinced of the truth of the Resurrection and exclaimed: "My Lord and My God," thus making a public Profession of Faith in the Divinity of Jesus. St. Thomas is also mentioned as being present at another Resurrection appearance of Jesus - at Lake Tiberias when a miraculous catch of fish occurred. This is all that we know about St. Thomas from the New Testament. Tradition says that at the dispersal of the Apostles after Pentecost this saint was sent to evangelize the Parthians, Medes, and Persians; he ultimately reached India, carrying the Faith to the Malabar coast, which still boasts a large native population calling themselves "Christians of St. Thomas." He capped his left by shedding his blood for his Master, speared to death at a place called Calamine. His feast day is July 3rd and he is the patron of architects.