Holy Orders: Bishops, Priests and Deacons

What is Holy Orders?

Holy Orders is the Mystery by which men are ordained to serve the Church as deacons, priests, or bishops. The ordination is conferred through the laying on of hands by a bishop, who stands in unbroken succession from the apostles. The clergy do not act as substitutes for Christ in His absence. They make visible Christ's continuing presence and ministry in His Church through the Holy Spirit.

Three orders make up the ordained ministry of the Orthodox Church: the diaconate, the presbyterate (priesthood), and the episcopate (the office of bishop). Each has its own role, and each is conferred through a distinct rite of ordination during the Divine Liturgy. The man being ordained is led around the altar, has hands laid upon him by the bishop, and is vested in the garments proper to his order. He is then introduced by name to the assembled Church.

The three orders are not a corporate ladder. A deacon is not a priest-in-training, and a priest is not a bishop-in-waiting. Each order is a distinct calling with a distinct ministry. The Orthodox Church has never understood Holy Orders as a hierarchy of personal status but as a structure of complementary service.

Why Do We Ordain?

Christ chose twelve apostles and gave them authority to teach, baptize, and forgive sins in His name (Matthew 28:18-20, John 20:21-23). After the Ascension, the apostles in turn laid hands on others, transmitting the ministry they had received (Acts 6:6, Acts 13:3, 1 Timothy 4:14). This continuity of ordination, bishop to bishop, generation to generation, is what the Church calls apostolic succession. It is the visible thread that ties Holy Apostles parish in Shoreline, Washington in 2026 to the upper room in Jerusalem in the first century.

But Holy Orders is more than a chain of credentials. The deeper Orthodox understanding is that Christ Himself remains the only priest, the only pastor, the only teacher of the Church. The clergy do not stand in for Him in His absence. They serve as the means by which His ongoing presence is made visible — at the altar, in the proclamation of the Gospel, in the forgiveness of sins, in the care of His people. When the priest blesses the bread and wine at the Divine Liturgy, it is not the priest's blessing that consecrates them; it is the prayer of the Holy Spirit, invoked by the whole Church through the priest's words and gestures.

This understanding shapes how the Orthodox Church thinks about clergy in everyday life. A priest is not a religious professional set apart from the laity by a special holiness. He is a member of the Body of Christ, called and ordained for a particular service, and dependent — as every Christian is — on the same grace, the same sacraments, and the same forgiveness as everyone else. The validity of the Mysteries he celebrates does not depend on his personal virtue. The Mysteries belong to Christ and to His Church.

How Are Men Ordained, and Who Serves at Holy Apostles?

The Three Orders

Deacons assist the bishop or priest at the altar, lead the people in litanies and prayer, proclaim the Gospel at the Liturgy, and often carry out works of charity and education in the parish. Priests, who are usually called presbyters in the older Church language, head local congregations as pastors. They celebrate the Mysteries, preach, teach, hear confessions, and shepherd their parishes. Bishops, who are called from among the ranks of the priesthood, oversee dioceses — groups of parishes — maintaining the unity and teaching of the Church across regions.

Ordination

Each ordination takes place during the Divine Liturgy. The man being ordained is presented to the bishop, led around the altar three times, and the bishop lays hands on his head and prays the prayer of ordination invoking the Holy Spirit. He is then vested in the garments of his order and given the kiss of peace by the other clergy. The newly-ordained immediately takes his place in the service.

Marriage and Ordination

In the Orthodox Church, married men may be ordained as deacons or priests, but a man cannot marry after ordination. A married deacon or priest who is widowed does not remarry and continue in active ministry. Bishops, since the sixth century, are chosen from among single men or widowers, most often from monastic communities. 

Holy Apostles

Holy Apostles is served by Fr. Tom Tsagalakis, our parish priest. Fr. Tom celebrates the Divine Liturgy and other services, leads the parish in its sacramental and pastoral life, and answers to His Eminence the Metropolitan of San Francisco. 

Learn More

For further reading we recommend: 

• Fr. Thomas Hopko's The Orthodox Faith, Volume 2: Worship

• Metropolitan Kallistos Ware's The Orthodox Church.