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Beginnings of Hierarchical Order in the Early Church
PŘIBYL, Stanislav
The issue of ecclesiastical ministries, services and offices has always attracted attention of theological scholars and church ministers. The early Christian Church shows a great variability of its organizational models. The suitable starting point for their explanation is the charismatic phenomena in the earliest Church. In the Epistle to the Ephesians, prophets stand alongside the apostles as those who form the fundaments of Church teaching. According to Luke's Acts, the imposition of hands accompanies the mediation of the Spirit during the process of being entrusted with various services in the Church. There are numerous specifications of charismata in St Paul's letters; at the same time, some of these gifts can transform into permanent offices, like those of leadership or teaching. Early Christians especially revered martyrdom, particularly that of their pastors. Itinerant prophets also enjoyed high esteem. Their pronouncements in ecstatic moments were considered inspired by the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, itinerant missionaries potentially also presented a grave danger of heresies that could spread among the faithful. However, the constitutive role in the Church belonged undoubtedly to the apostles, the only ministry established by the Lord himself. According to Luke's writings, the concept of apostles is reduced only to the Twelve. Nevertheless, Paul in his letters appeals to his personal apostolate. Besides that, a clearer concept of apostolate in the early Church there can be found also, namely that of the missionaries. In the Jewish Christian milieu, the early Church followed in the exercise of the presbyter's ministry, known from the synagogue life. In the Pastoral Epistles, presbyters operate together with deacons and bishops as leaders of the various Churches. In the epistles of Ignatius of Antiochia, dated to the beginning of the second Christian century, the three grades of Church hierarchy, i.e. the deacons, the presbyters and the sole bishop, are mentioned as already existing. This type of monarchic episcopacy soon became the prevalent leadership model of Church organization, known throughout its history.
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