The highest clergyman in the Orthodox Church. Church ranks in ascending order, church ranks

IN Orthodox Church There is a people of God, and they are divided into three types: laity, clergy and clergy. With the laity (i.e., ordinary parishioners), everything is usually clear to everyone, but in reality this is not the case. For many (unfortunately, for the laity themselves), the idea of ​​lack of rights and servility has long become familiar common man, But the role of the laity is the most important in the life of the church. The Lord did not come to be served, but He Himself served to save sinners. (Matthew 20:28), and he commanded the apostles to do the same, but he also showed the simple believer the path of selfless, sacrificial love for one’s neighbor. So that everyone is united.

Lay people

Laymen are all parishioners of the temple who are not called to priestly service. It is from the laity that the Church, by the Holy Spirit, puts into service at all the necessary levels.

Clergymen

Usually this type of servant is rarely distinguished from the laity, but it exists and plays a huge role in the life of the Church. TO this type include readers, singers, workers, elders, altar boys, catechists, watchmen and many other positions. Clergymen may have obvious differences in their clothes, but they may not stand out in appearance.

Clergy

Priests are usually called clergy or clergy and are divided into whites and blacks. White is the married clergy, black is the monastics. Only black clergy who are not burdened with family concerns. Clergy also has a hierarchical degree, which indicates involvement in worship and spiritual care of the flock (i.e., the laity). For example, deacons only participate in divine services, but do not perform the Sacraments in the Church.

Clothes of the clergy are divided into everyday and liturgical. However, after the 1917 coup, wearing any church clothes It became unsafe and, to maintain peace, it was allowed to wear secular clothing, which is still practiced today. Types of clothes and their symbolic meaning will be described in a separate article.

For a new parishioner you need be able to distinguish a priest from a deacon. In most cases, the difference can be considered the presence pectoral cross, which is worn on top of vestments (liturgical garments). This part of the vestment differs in color (material) and decoration. The simplest pectoral cross is silver (for the priest and hieromonk), then gold (for the archpriest and abbot) and sometimes there is a pectoral cross with decorations ( precious stones), as a reward for many years of good service.

Some simple rules for every Christian

• Anyone who misses many days of worship cannot be considered a Christian. Which is natural, for just as it is natural for someone who wants to live in a warm house to pay for heat and a house, so it is natural for someone who wants spiritual well-being to do spiritual work. The question of why you need to go to church will be considered separately.
• In addition to attending services, there is a tradition of wearing modest and non-provocative clothing (at least in church). For now we will omit the reason for this establishment.
• Keeping fasts and prayer rules has natural causes, since sin is driven out, as the Savior said, only by prayer and fasting. The question of how to fast and pray is solved not in articles, but in church.
• It is natural for a believer to abstain from excesses in speech, food, wine, fun, etc. For even the ancient Greeks noticed that for quality life there must be moderation in everything. Not extreme, but deanery, i.e. order.

Believers must remember that the Church reminds us of order not only internally, but also externally, and this applies to everyone. But you also shouldn’t forget that order is a voluntary matter, not a mechanical one.

It would be correct to say that those people who work in churches and benefit the Church perform a service that is quite difficult, but very pleasing to God.

For many people, the Church remains hidden in darkness, and this is why some people often have a distorted understanding of it, an incorrect attitude towards what is happening. Some expect holiness from employees in churches, others asceticism.

So, who serves in the temple?

Perhaps I’ll start with the servants to make it easier to perceive further information.

Those serving in churches are called clergy and clergy, all clergy in a particular church are called clergy, and together clergy and clergy are called the clergy of a particular parish.

Clergy

Thus, clergy are people who are consecrated in a special way by the head of a metropolitan or diocese, with the laying on of hands (ordination) and acceptance of holy clergy. These are people who have taken the oath and also have spiritual education.

Careful selection of candidates before ordination (ordination)

As a rule, candidates are ordained as clergy after lengthy testing and preparation (often 5 - 10 years). Previously, this person underwent obedience at the altar and has a reference from the priest from whom he obeyed in the church; then he undergoes a prostitute confession from the confessor of the diocese, after which the metropolitan or bishop makes a decision about whether a particular candidate is worthy of being ordained.

Married or Monk...But married to the Church!

Before ordination, the protege is determined whether he will be a married minister or a monk. If he is married, he must marry in advance and after checking the relationship for strength, ordination is performed (priests are prohibited from being foreigners).

So, the clergy received the grace of the Holy Spirit for the sacred service of the Church of Christ, namely: performing divine services, teaching people Christian faith, good life, piety, manage church affairs.

There are three degrees of priesthood: bishops (metropolitans, archbishops), priests, and deacons.

Bishops, Archbishops

A bishop is the highest rank in the Church, they receive the highest degree of Grace, they are also called bishops (the most honored) or metropolitans (who are the head of the metropolis, i.e. the main ones in the region). Bishops can perform all seven of the seven sacraments of the Church and all Church services and rites. This means that only bishops have the right not only to perform ordinary divine services, but also to ordain (ordain) clergy, as well as to consecrate chrism, antimensions, temples and altars. Bishops govern priests. And bishops submit to the Patriarch.

Priests, Archpriests

A priest is a clergyman, the second sacred rank after the bishop, who has the right to independently perform six sacraments of the Church out of seven possible, i.e. With the blessing of the bishop, the priest can perform sacraments and church services, except for those that are supposed to be performed only by the bishop. More worthy and honored priests are given the title of archpriest, i.e. senior priest, and the main one among the archpriests is given the title of protopresbyter. If the priest is a monk, then he is called hieromonk, i.e. priest, for their length of service they can be awarded the title of hegumen, and then the even higher title of archimandrite. Particularly worthy archimandrites can become bishops.

Deacons, Protodeacons

A deacon is a clergyman of the third, lowest priestly rank who assists a priest or bishop during worship or the performance of the sacraments. He serves during the celebration of the sacraments, but cannot perform the sacraments on his own; therefore, the participation of a deacon in the divine service is not necessary. In addition to helping the priest, the deacon's task is to call the worshipers to prayer. His distinctive feature in vestments: He dresses in a surplice, on his hands there are guards, on his shoulder there is a long ribbon (orarion), if the deacon’s ribbon is wide and sewn overlapping, then the deacon has an award or is a protodeacon (senior deacon). If the deacon is a monk, then he is called a hierodeacon (and the senior hierodeacon will be called an archdeacon).

Church ministers who do not have holy orders and help in ministry.

Hippodiacons

Hippodiacons are those who help in bishop's service, they vest the bishop, hold the lamps, move the orlets, present the official at a certain time, and prepare everything necessary for the service.

Psalmists (readers), singers

Psalmists and singers (choir) - read and sing on the choir in the temple.

Charterers

The Ustanovnik is a psalm-reader who knows the liturgical Rule very well and promptly hands the singing singers the necessary book (during worship, quite a lot of liturgical books are used and they all have their own name and meaning) and, if necessary, independently reads or proclaims (performs the function of a canonarch).

Sextons or altar boys

Sextons (altar servers) - help priests (priests, archpriests, hieromonks, etc.) during divine services.

Novices and workers

Novices, laborers - mostly only visit monasteries, where they perform various obediences

Inoki

A monk is a resident of a monastery who has not taken vows, but has the right to wear monastic robes.

Monks

A monk is a resident of a monastery who has taken monastic vows before God.

A schemamonk is a monk who has made even more serious vows before God compared to an ordinary monk.

In addition, in temples you can find:

Abbot

The abbot is chief priest, rarely a deacon at a particular parish

Treasurer

Treasurer is a kind of Chief Accountant, as a rule, this is an ordinary woman from the world who is appointed by the abbot to perform a specific job.

Headman

The headman is the same caretaker, a housekeeping assistant; as a rule, he is a pious layman who has a desire to help and manage the household of the church.

Economy

Economy is one of the housekeeping employees where it is required.

Registrar

Registrar - these functions are performed by an ordinary parishioner (from the world), who serves in the church with the blessing of the rector; she prepares the requirements and custom prayers.

Cleaning woman

The temple servant (for cleaning, maintaining order in the candlesticks) is an ordinary parishioner (from the world), who serves in the temple with the blessing of the abbot.

Servant in the Church Shop

A servant in a church shop is an ordinary parishioner (from the world), who serves in the church with the blessing of the rector, performs the functions of consulting and selling literature, candles and everything that is sold in church shops.

Janitor, security guard

An ordinary man from the world who serves in the Temple with the blessing of the abbot.

Dear friends, I draw your attention to the fact that the author of the project asks for the help of each of you. I serve in a poor village Temple, I really need various help, including funds for the maintenance of the Temple! Website of the parish Church: hramtrifona.ru

How are white clergy different from black clergy?

In the Russian Orthodox Church there is a certain church hierarchy and structure. First of all, the clergy is divided into two categories - white and black. How are they different from each other? © The white clergy includes married clergy who did not take monastic vows. They are allowed to have a family and children.

When they talk about the black clergy, they mean monks ordained to the priesthood. They devote their entire lives to serving the Lord and take three monastic vows - chastity, obedience and non-covetousness (voluntary poverty).

A person who is going to take holy orders is required to make a choice even before ordination - to marry or become a monk. After ordination, a priest can no longer marry. Priests who did not marry before being ordained sometimes choose celibacy instead of becoming a monk—they take a vow of celibacy.

Church hierarchy

In Orthodoxy there are three degrees of priesthood. At the first level are deacons. They help conduct services and rituals in churches, but they themselves cannot conduct services or perform sacraments. Church ministers belonging to the white clergy are simply called deacons, and monks ordained to this rank are called hierodeacons.

Among the deacons, the most worthy can receive the rank of protodeacon, and among the hierodeacons, the eldest are archdeacons. A special place in this hierarchy is occupied by the patriarchal archdeacon, who serves under the patriarch. He belongs to the white clergy, and not to the black clergy, like other archdeacons.

The second degree of priesthood is priests. They can independently conduct services, as well as perform most of the sacraments, except for the sacrament of ordination to the priesthood. If a priest belongs to the white clergy, he is called a priest or presbyter, and if he belongs to the black clergy, he is called a hieromonk.

A priest can be elevated to the rank of archpriest, that is, senior priest, and a hieromonk - to the rank of abbot. Often archpriests are abbots of churches, and abbots are abbots of monasteries.

The highest priestly rank for the white clergy, the title of protopresbyter, is awarded to priests for special merits. This rank corresponds to the rank of archimandrite in the black clergy.

Priests belonging to the third and highest degree priesthood are called bishops. They have the right to perform all sacraments, including the sacrament of ordination of other priests. Bishops govern church life and lead dioceses. They are divided into bishops, archbishops, and metropolitans.

Only a clergyman belonging to the black clergy can become a bishop. A priest who has been married can be elevated to the rank of bishop only if he becomes a monk. He can do this if his wife has died or has also become a nun in another diocese.

The local church is headed by the patriarch. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church is Patriarch Kirill. In addition to the Moscow Patriarchate, there are other Orthodox patriarchates in the world - Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Georgian, Serbian, Romanian And Bulgarian.

Orthodox worship can only be performed by people who have undergone a special initiation - ordination. Together they make up the church hierarchy and are called the clergy.

Priest in full vestments

Only a man can be a priest in the Orthodox Church. Without in any way diminishing the dignity of a woman, this institution reminds us of the appearance of Christ, who is represented by the priest during the celebration of the sacraments.

But not every man can be a priest. The Apostle Paul names the qualities that a clergyman must have: he must be blameless, once married, sober, chaste, honest, unselfish, quiet, peace-loving, and must not love money. He must also manage his family well, so that his children will be obedient and honest, because, as the apostle notes, “whoever does not know how to govern own home, will he care for the Church of God?”

In Old Testament times (about 1500 years before the birth of Christ), by the will of God, the prophet Moses chose and dedicated special persons for worship - high priests, priests and Levites.

In New Testament times, Jesus Christ chose 12 closest disciples - the apostles - from among His many followers. The Savior gave them the right to teach, perform worship, and lead believers.

At first, the apostles did everything themselves - baptized, preached, practiced economic issues(collection, distribution of donations, etc.) But the number of believers quickly increased. In order for the apostles to have enough time to fulfill their direct mission - to perform divine services and preach, they decided to entrust economic and material issues to specially selected people. Seven men were chosen to become the first deacons Christian Church. After praying, the apostles laid hands on them and dedicated them to the service of the Church. The ministry of the first deacons (Greek: “minister”) consisted of caring for the poor and helping the apostles in performing the sacraments.

When the number of believers grew into the thousands, twelve people were physically no longer able to cope with either the sermon or the sacred rites. Therefore, in large cities, the apostles began to ordain certain people to whom they transferred their responsibilities: to perform sacred actions, teach people and govern the Church. These people were called bishops (from Greek “overseer”, “guardian”). The only difference between bishops and the first twelve apostles was that the bishop had the right to officiate, teach and govern only in the territory entrusted to him - his diocese. And this principle has been preserved to this day. Until now, the bishop is considered the successor and representative of the apostles on earth.

Soon the bishops also needed helpers. The number of believers grew, and bishops big cities every day it was necessary to perform divine services, baptize or perform funerals - and at the same time in different places. The bishops, to whom the apostles gave the power not only to teach and officiate, but also to ordain to the priesthood, following the apostolic example, began to ordain priests to serve. They had the same power as bishops with one exception - they could not elevate people to holy orders and performed their ministry only with the blessing of the bishop.

Deacons assisted both priests and bishops in serving, but did not have the right to perform the sacraments.

Thus, from the times of the apostles to the present day, there are three degrees of hierarchy in the Church: the highest - bishop, middle - priest and lowest - deacon.

In addition, the entire clergy is divided into “ white" - married, and " black" - monks.

Priestly ranks of white and black clergy

There are three hierarchical levels of the priesthood and each of them has its own hierarchy. In the table you will find the titles of the white clergy and the corresponding titles of the black clergy.

The deacon assists bishops and priests during divine services. Having received the blessing, he has the right to participate in the commission church sacraments, concelebrate with bishops and priests, but does not perform the sacraments himself.

A deacon who is in the monastic order is called a hierodeacon. The senior deacon in the white clergy is called protodeacon - the first deacon, and in the black clergy - archdeacon (senior deacon).

Subdeacons (assistants to deacons) participate only in the bishop's service: they vest the bishop with sacred robes, hold and serve him dikiriy and trikiriya, etc.

A priest can perform six sacraments of the Church except the Sacrament of Ordination, that is, he cannot elevate him to one of the sacred degrees of the church hierarchy. The priest is subordinate to the bishop. Only a deacon (married or monastic) can be ordained to the priesthood. The word "priest" has several synonyms:

– priest(from Greek - sacred);

– presbyter(from Greek - elder)

The senior priests of the white clergy are called PROTOPRIES, PROTOPRESSBYTERS (protopresbyter is the senior priest in cathedral), i.e., the first priests, the first elders.

A priest holding the monastic rank is called HIEROMON (from Greek - “priest-monk”). The senior elders of the black clergy are called IGUMENS (leaders of the monastic brethren). The rank of abbot is usually held by the rector of an ordinary monastery or even a parish church.

The rank of ARCHIMANDRITE is assigned to the abbot of a large monastery or monastery. Some monks receive this title for special services to the Church.

Is "pop" a good word?

In Rus', the word “pop” never had a negative meaning. It comes from the Greek “pappas”, which means “daddy”, “father”. In all ancient Russian liturgical books, the name “priest” appears very often as a synonym for the words “priest”, “priest” and “presbyter”.

Now, unfortunately, the word “pop” has begun to have a negative, contemptuous connotation. This happened during the years of Soviet anti-religious propaganda.

Currently, among the South Slavic peoples, priests continue to be called priests, without putting any negative meaning into this word.

The bishop performs all divine services and all seven holy sacraments. Only he can ordain others as priests through the Sacrament of Ordination. A bishop is also called a bishop or hierarch, i.e., a priest. Bishop – general rank for a clergyman standing at this level of the church hierarchy: this can be called a patriarch, a metropolitan, an archbishop, and a bishop. By ancient tradition Only priests who have accepted the monastic rank are consecrated to the rank of bishop.

The rank of bishop in administrative terms has five degrees.

Suffragan Bishop(“vicar” means “vicar”) does not lead parishes big city.

Manages the parishes of an entire region, called a diocese.

Archbishop(senior bishop) often governs a larger diocese.

Metropolitan- This is the bishop of a large city and the surrounding region, who may have assistants in the person of suffragan bishops.

Exarch– the commanding bishop (usually a metropolitan) of a large capital city; He controls several dioceses that are part of the exarchate with their bishops and archbishops.

– “father leader” – primate Local Church, elected and appointed at the Council, is the highest rank of the church hierarchy.

Other Church Ministers

Except faces holy orders V church services Laymen also take part - subdeacons, psalm-readers and sextons. They are among the clergy, but they are not consecrated to service through the sacrament, but are simply blessed - by the rector of the temple or the ruling bishop.

Psalmists(or readers) read and sing during the service, and also help the priest in performing the requirements.

Sexton perform the duties of bell ringers, serve censers, and assist during services at the altar.

What is the church hierarchy? This is an ordered system that determines the place of each church minister, his duties. The hierarchy system in the church is very complex, and it originated in 1504 after an event that was called the “Great Church Schism" After it, we got the opportunity to develop autonomously, independently.

First of all, the church hierarchy distinguishes between white and black monasticism. Representatives of the black clergy are called upon to lead the most ascetic lifestyle possible. They cannot marry or live in peace. Such ranks are doomed to lead either a wandering or isolated lifestyle.

White clergy can lead more privileged lives.

The hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church implies that (in accordance with the Code of Honor) the head is the Patriarch of Constantinople, who bears the official, symbolic title

However, the Russian Church does not formally obey him. The church hierarchy considers the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' to be its head. He occupies the highest level, but exercises power and control in unity with Holy Synod. It includes 9 people who are selected for on different basis. By tradition, the Metropolitans of Krutitsky, Minsk, Kiev, and St. Petersburg are its permanent members. The five remaining members of the Synod are invited, and their episcopacy should not exceed six months. The permanent member of the Synod is the Chairman of the internal church department.

The church hierarchy calls the next most important level senior officials, which govern dioceses (territorial-administrative church districts). They bear the unifying name of bishops. These include:

• metropolitans;
• bishops;
• archimandrites.

Subordinate to the bishops are priests who are considered the main ones locally, in city or other parishes. Depending on the type of activity and duties assigned to them, priests are divided into priests and archpriests. The person entrusted with the direct leadership of the parish bears the title of Rector.

The younger clergy is already subordinate to him: deacons and priests, whose duties are to help the Superior and other, higher spiritual ranks.

Speaking about spiritual titles, we should not forget that church hierarchies (not to be confused with the church hierarchy!) allow several different interpretations spiritual titles and, accordingly, give them other names. The hierarchy of churches implies the division into Churches of the Eastern and Western rites, their smaller varieties (for example, Post-Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, etc.)

All of the above titles refer to the white clergy. The black church hierarchy is distinguished by more stringent requirements for people who have been ordained. The highest level of black monasticism is the Great Schema. It implies complete alienation from the world. In Russian monasteries, the great schema-monks live separately from everyone else, do not engage in any obedience, but spend day and night in unceasing prayer. Sometimes those who accept the Great Schema become hermits and limit their lives to many optional vows.

The Great Schema is preceded by the Small. It also implies the fulfillment of a number of obligatory and optional vows, the most important of which are: virginity and non-covetousness. Their task is to prepare the monk to accept the Great Schema, to completely cleanse him of sins.

Rassophore monks can accept the minor schema. This is the lowest level of black monasticism, which is entered immediately after tonsure.

Before each hierarchical step, monks undergo special rituals, their name is changed and they are appointed. When changing a title, the vows become stricter and the attire changes.