The Role of Bishops in the Church
We had a big moment in the life of our diocese this past month with the consecration of Justin S. Holcombe as our new diocesan bishop. I am so grateful for those of you who made the drive and came to represent our parish as we celebrated this joyous event. The feeling in the room was electric, and it was wonderful to worship together with the other parishes in our diocese.
I just thought I’d take a moment to remind you of the theology of bishops. This is an important distinctive for us as Anglicans, the fact that we have bishops who stand in the Apostolic Succession; and for this reason, we are called The Episcopal Church. “Episcopal” means “having bishops.” This is what sets us apart from other Protestants, the fact that we have bishops who can trace their lineage back to one of the Apostles.
Since the days of the early Church, the bishops were seen as the continuation of the apostolic office. Before Peter, Paul, and the other Apostles died, they appointed successors to carry on their ministry. The first consecration of a bishop that we read about in the Scriptures is the appointment of St. Matthias to take the place of Judas in Acts 1. We also read about Timothy and Titus being appointed by Paul, and how he left behind elders or overseers along his missionary journeys. This is why the Prayer Book says, in the Preface to the Ordination Rites (p. 510), “The Holy Scriptures and ancient Christian writers make it clear that from the apostles’ time, there have been different ministries within the Church. In particular, since the time of the New Testament, three distinct orders of ordained ministers have been characteristic of Christ’s holy catholic Church. First, there is the order of bishops who carry on the apostolic work of leading, supervising, and uniting the Church.”
The “uniting” component may not have occurred to you; but it has been an important concept to me since I discerned a call into this corner of Christendom. The bishops unite us together, and I think those who were present at the consecration had a felt sense of this. In the early Church, the bishops were those who guarded the faith which Christ handed down; and that’s why they were a safeguard of unity. In the days before the New Testament had been compiled, in matters of doctrine, it was the bishops who had the final say, because they were the ones who stood in continuity of teaching with the Apostles before them. For this reason, St. Ignatius of Antioch, one of the earliest Christian martyrs, said, “Let no one do anything of concern to the Church without the bishop.”
As Bp. Holcomb begins his episcopal ministry, please remember him in your prayers. Let me suggest the following, from BCP p. 521:
To you, O Father, all hearts are open; fill, we pray, the heart of this your servant whom you have chosen to be a bishop in your Church, with such love of you and of all the people, that he may feed and tend the flock of Christ, and exercise without reproach the high priesthood to which you have called him, serving before you day and night in the ministry of reconciliation, declaring pardon in your Name, offering the holy gifts, and wisely overseeing the life and work of the Church. In all things may he present before you the acceptable offering of a pure, and gentle, and holy life; through Jesus Christ your Son, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and power and glory in the Church, now and for ever.
