Statute 73

1Concerning the Order of the Priesthood.

2Each of you knows what we have ordained for you. You also know that some are called bishops, others presbyters, and others deacons. With prayer we laid hands on them, and we appointed each to an order according to its distinct name. Among us, no one seeks ordination at our hands, nor will anyone receive from us whatever rank of priesthood he desires, as did the priests of Jeroboam’s oxen, which were made an abomination to God.

3If there were not a distinct order for each according to law, one name would have sufficed for everyone in the world. But since we have received from God guidance for every function, we have set apart for bishops the ordination of the priesthood, for presbyters the priesthood, and for deacons the service … so that the work of the service might thereby be completed. It is not fitting for deacons to offer the Offering, to baptize, or to give the [eulogia] to either small or great. Nor shall a presbyter ordain anyone, because he has not been deemed worthy of anything beyond his own order.

4For God is not a God of confusion, so that those of lower rank should audaciously seize an office. What work, then, will be completed by the imperfect? They make a new law to their own destruction, not knowing that what is in their power is a small thing; and they kick with their feet in the net. In acting this way, they do not oppose us, but the Bishop of the whole world, the Son of God, the Chief Priest, Jesus Christ our Lord.

5A chief priest, priests, and Levites were ordained by Moses, the lover of God. We, the twelve Apostles, were ordained by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We, in turn, ordained Clement, Yaʾekob, and others with them for ourselves, so that we might send each of them. Furthermore, all of us together ordained presbyters and deacons.

6The first Presbyter and only true Chief Priest is our Lord Jesus Christ. He did not grasp the honor for himself, but the Father ordained him. As he is our Chief Priest, he offered a spiritual sacrifice to God the Father before he was crucified, and he commanded us to do likewise. There were others with us who believed in him, but he does not grant everyone who believes in him to be a priest, nor does he grant them, as he granted us, the order of priestly ordination.

7After his Ascension, we offered according to the ordinance of the holy, bloodless Offering. We ordained bishops, presbyters, and deacons, seven in number; among them was Stephen, the first martyr. He was not the least among us in his love of God, but demonstrated his service to God through faith and love for Jesus Christ our Lord, so much that he gave up his life for his sake. The wicked Jews, the murderers of the Lord, stoned him for his name’s sake and killed him. But he was a man of such fervent spirit that he saw our Lord Christ at the right hand of God and saw the open gates of heaven.

8Nowhere is it found that Stephen did anything unsuitable for him as a deacon, such as offering sacrifice or laying hands on anyone. Instead, he remained within his order as a deacon to the end. For thus it was fitting that the martyr of our Lord Christ should fulfill the duties of his order.

9If any blame Philip the deacon and Ananias the faithful brother because the one baptized the eunuch and the other baptized even me, Paul, they mistake what we are saying. We say that no one should seize priestly ordination by force. Rather, one receives it from God, as did Melchizedek and Yaʾekob, or from the chief priest, as Aaron did from Moses. Thus Philip and Ananias did not take ordination upon themselves, but received it from our Lord Christ. They believed in the Chief Priest of God, with whom no one can be compared.