Правила святых Апостолов Правило 1

Bishops are appointed by two or three bishops. (I Omni. Sob. rule 4; VII Om. 3; Antioch. 12, 23; Laod. 12; Serdic. 6; Const. 1; Carth. 13, 49, 50). This rule talks about how the first and highest degree of the church hierarchy is obtained - the episcopal degree. “Without a bishop, neither a church can be a church, nor a Christian can not only be, but even be called a Christian. For the bishop, as the apostolic successor, by the laying on of hands and the invocation of the Holy Spirit, having received the power to decide and knit successively given to him from God, is the living image of God on earth and, according to the sacramental power of the Holy Spirit, the abundant source of all the sacraments of the universal church by which salvation is acquired. The bishop is as necessary to the church as breath is to man, and the sun is to the world.” This is what the fathers of the Jerusalem Council of 1672 say about the importance of the bishop in the church, and the same thing is repeated in the 10th clause of the letter of the Eastern Patriarchs of 1723 104. The bishop must be appointed by a council of bishops; in any case, according to the canon, there must be three, or at least two. This should be so because all bishops are equal in their spiritual power, just as the Apostles, whose successors the bishops are, were equal in power. Consequently, no bishop personally can transfer to another all the power that he himself has, while at the same time retaining this power for himself, and this can only be done by a council of bishops, i.e. joint authority of several bishops. This is established by divine law, expressed in the books of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament. The Founder of the Church, Jesus Christ himself, several times clearly pointed out the equality between His Apostles, and solemnly condemned even the very thought of some of them who wanted to be elders and have greater power. At the same time, Jesus Christ told them that he would be with them only when they were in unity, and when, with equality of power between them, they would work together in the church (Matthew 18:20; 20:22–27; 23:8–12; Mark 9:34–35; 10:42–45; John 18:36; 1 Peter 5:2–4; Heb. 13:20, etc.). Just as among the Apostles there was not and could not be any preferential power that one of them possessed in relation to the others, so there certainly is not, and cannot be, advantages among the apostolic successors - bishops, but they all have exactly the same spiritual power and dignity, and only their general assembly can transfer to the new bishop the power that each of them individually has 105. Many examples indicate that this was also fulfilled during the time of the Apostles. The Apostle Paul, in his letter to Bishop Timothy, advises to keep the gift he received through the laying on of hands of the priesthood (I Tim. 4:14) 106. In the Acts of St. Apostles (Acts 13:1–3) it is mentioned that Paul and Barnabas, at the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, were ordained to their service by the council of apostolic successors. The Apostolic Decrees (III, 20) in the matter of appointing bishops require the same thing as this Ap. Rule 107. This rule has been general and unchanged throughout all centuries of the Christian Church, and it is strictly adhered to today by our Orthodox Church. Usually the three or two bishops who have the opportunity to appoint a new bishop belong to the metropolitan region in which the new bishop is to occupy the see. In case of need, when in such an area there is not the required number of bishops, one can be invited from the nearest area, and he, together with one or two bishops of the given area, will install a new bishop. This order is completely canonical 108. The original text of this rule says: χειροτονείσθω, which we translated: “let them supply” (Serbian “neka suppliedjajy”), guided by the Slavic translation of our Helmsman, although at present only ordination is called χειροτονία, i.e. the dedication of one over whom the bishop, blessing him, extends his hand (τείνειν την χείρα). We did not use the word “ordination” because in the rules the mentioned Greek word sometimes means “election” (“election”) (for example, Antioch. 19), as a result of which it seemed to us better to adhere to the translation of the Helmsman in this case. Zonara, in his interpretation of this rule, explains: “In ancient times, the election itself was called consecration, as they say, because when citizens were allowed to elect bishops, and when they all gathered together to cast their vote for one or another, they, in order to find out on whose side the majority of votes were, stretched out their hands (τεινειν τάς χείρας) and The voters of each candidate were counted with outstretched arms. The candidate who received the majority of votes was considered elected bishop. This is where the word consecration comes from. This word, in the indicated sense, was also used by the fathers of various councils, calling the election itself consecration.” 109 This rule does not deal with the election of a bishop, but only with ordination, i.e. about that church ritual through which the chosen one receives divine grace. This sacred rite is performed by bishops at the altar of St. throne according to the legalized rank 110. Harduini, Conciliorum coliectio. Parisiis, 1715. XI, 240.– Ε. J. K. immel, Monumenta fidei ecclesiae orient. Jenae, 1850. I, 437–438. – J ο n Μ ichalcescu, Die Bekenntnisse und die wichtigsten Glaubenszeugnisse der gr.-or. Kirche. Leipzig, 1904. S. 164. – On the Message of the Eastern Patriarchs. Moscow, 1848, p. 22. – See μο e “Right. Tsrkveno Pravo”, p. 210 et seq. [cf. rus. trans., pp. 218 et seq.]. Wed. Syntagmu M. Vlastara E, 17 (Af. Synt., VI, 271). Cyprian., De unitate ecclesiae, n. 4 [Migne, s. l., t. 4, col. 408–501]. – Hieronym., ep. 146 [Migne, s. l., t. 22, col. 1192–1195]. – Coelestini papae ep. ad concil. Ephes. [Migne, s. l., t. 50, col. 505–512]. – Clement. rom, ep. l. ad Corinth. c. 1, 5, 17, 44, 47 [Migne, s. l., t. 1, col. 201–210, 217–220, 241–245, 296–300, 305–308]. – Ignat., ep. ad Ephes. c. 4, 5, 6 [Migne, s. g., t. 5, col. 647–650] – ad Magnes. c. 3, 4,6, 7 [ibid., col. 665–666, 667–669] – ad Trallianos, c. 2, 3, 7, 12, 13 [ibid., col. 675–686]. The Greek text uses the word πρεσβυτεριον, which in this place, according to the interpretation of Chrysostom (in 1 Tim. hom. 13. p. 1), denotes the senior shepherds of the church - bishops, among whom the Apostle Paul himself occupied the first place. See archim. John, mentioned cit., I, 139, approx. 294, and Met. Macarius, Dogma. God. (St. Petersburg 1857), II, 380, approx. 83. Dgey, mention. cit., S. 25. Arch. John, I, 139, gave several examples of this from apostolic times. Syntagma M. Vlastar, X, ch. 5, indicating 49 Karf Ave. (in Af. Synth., VI, 501, or in the Russian translation of Synth. Vlastar, ed. 1892, pp. 398–399). Af. Synth., II, 3 [Cf. Russian translation in ed. “Rules with interpretations”, I, pp. 13–14]. See Archbishop. Benjamin, New Tablet. St. Petersburg, 1853. III, 39 et seq. You might be interested in: