Eaptism and ordination: understanding the priesthood of baptism

132 Pages·2016·5.74 MB·English

2
/
o
Université de Montréal
Eaptism and ordination: understanding the priesthood
of baptism
par
Janos G. Glaser
Faculté de théologie et des sciences des religions.
Mémoire présenté à la Faculté des études supérieures
en vue de l’obtention du grade de Maîtrise ès arts
en études théologiques
Décembre 2004.
© Janos G. Glaser, 2004
ç
Q
Université
de Montréal
Direction des bïbliotlièques
AVIS
L’auteur a autorisé l’Université de Montréal à reproduire et diffuser, en totalité
ou en partie, par quelque moyen que ce soit et sur quelque support que ce
soit, et exclusivement à des fins non lucratives d’enseignement et de
recherche, des copies de ce mémoire ou de cette thèse.
L’auteur et les coauteurs le cas échéant conservent la propriété du droit
d’auteur et des droits moraux qui protègent ce document. Ni la thèse ou le
mémoire, ni des extraits substantiels de ce document, ne doivent être
imprimés ou autrement reproduits sans l’autorisation de l’auteur.
Afin de se conformer à la Loi canadienne sur la protection des
renseignements personnels, quelques formulaires secondaires, coordonnées
ou signatures intégrées au texte ont pu être enlevés de ce document. Bien
que cela ait pu affecter la pagination, il n’y a aucun contenu manquant.
NOTICE
The author of this thesis or dissertation has granted a nonexciusive license
allowing Université de Montréal to reproduce and publish the document, in
part or in whole, and in any format, solely for noncommercial educational and
research purposes.
The author and co-authors if applicable retain copyright ownership and moral
rights in this document. Neither the whole thesis or dissertation, nor
substantial extracts from it, may be printed or otherwise reproduced without
the author’s permission.
In compliance with the Canadian Privacy Act some supporting forms, contact
information oc signatures may have been removed from the document. While
this may affect the document page count, it does flot represent any loss of
content from the document.
I
Université de Montréal
FacuIt des études supérieures
Ce mémoire intitulé
Baptism and ordination: understanding the priesthood of baptism
présenté par
Janos G. Glaser
a été évalué par des personnes suivantes:
président rapporteur
M. Jean-Marc Gauthier
directeur de recherche
membre du jury
II
RÉSUMÉ
Nous vivons un temps de transition, en particulier dans la vie ecclésiale; il est
donc important de saisir et de déterminer dans quel sens évoluent les communautés
chrétiennes. Cela n’est pas possible sans comprendre, entre autres, deux fonctions ou
réalités fondamentales dans l’Église: le sacerdoce baptismal et le ministère ordonné.
Dans l’Église primitive, les communautés étaient diversement structurées et
organisées, et il y avait entre les membres, en principe, une égalité fondamentale. Les
diverses fonctions étaient affectées en tenant compte du charisme approprié des
personnes et de la volonté de l’ensemble des membres de la communauté. La direction de
la communauté était collégiale. Le baptême était compris comme une incorporation à la
communauté en tant que disciple de Jésus-Christ après qu’on eut reçu l’enseignement
approprié et qu’on s’y soit engagé pleinement. Au cours de l’histoire, des changements
multiples se sont produits dans la compréhension et la pratique de ces deux sacrements, le
baptême et l’ordre, dans les fonctions ou responsabilités reconnues aux personnes
baptisées et/ou ordonnées, et dans les coutumes de l’Église. Tous ces changements n’ont
pas la même valeur ou la même signification: ils peuvent être superficiels ou profonds,
être le résultat d’une évolution normale de la communauté ou de forces extérieures, être
bénéfiques ou portant préjudice au bien-être de l’Église. Le deuxième concile du Vatican
a eu comme objectif, entre autres, de débarrasser l’Église catholique de choses inutiles ou
même nocives qui se sont accumulées dans la tradition ecclésiale pendant les siècles.
Ce mémoire vise à découvrir les changements qui témoignent d’une déviation
significative par rapport à la compréhension et la pratique des premiers temps, et à
déterminer leurs causes et leurs conséquences. Ce parcours historique vise à faire
ressortir un certain nombre de points qui mériteraient encore d’être revus et traités par
une réflexion théologique appropriée: le sens du sacerdoce baptismal; une définition du
ministère ordonné; la différence d’essentia et non gradum ( différence de nature et non de
degré... entre le sacerdoce baptismal et le ministère ordonné).
Les mots clés: Église, histoire, clergé, laïcs, ministère ordonné, baptême.
111
ABSTRACT
We live in a time of transition which has brought about rapid changes in the
Church. It is therefore necessaiy to determine the direction of the development of the
Christian communities. To do so, it is important to understand two fundamental
functions in the Church: the priesthood ofbaptism and ordained priesthood.
The early Church was characterized by diversity of structure and a fundamental
equality ofrnembers. Functions were assigned according to the evidenced and recognized
gifis ofthe Spirit; and aiways included the consensus ofthe cornmunity. Leadership was
practiced in a collegial form. Baptism was understood as incorporation into the
fellowship in consequence ofhaving accepted the teaching ofJesus Christ and implied a
total comrnitment.
During the course of history many changes occurred in the understanding ofthe
two sacraments, in the functions accorded to persons by virtue of them, and in the
practice of the Church. This paper atternpts to discover which of these changes show a
significant alteration ofthe original thinking and practice, what prompted them, and what
were the consequences. The chapters trace important historical eras:
I- The persecuted Church
II- The Church in the Middle Ages
III- The Church under siege
IV- The post-modern Church
V- Conclusions
This review ofhistory points to issues that ment consideration by theologians:
• the meaning of the priesthood of the faithful;
• the definition ofordained priesthood;
• the difference in essentia et non gradum ( the difference between ordained
and baptismal pniesthood is of essence and flot in degree)
Key words: Church, history, hierarchy, ciergy, iaity, ordainedpriesthood, baptisrn.
TABLE 0F CONTENTS
L’IDENTIFICATION DU JURY/MEMBERS 0F THE JURY j
RÉSUMÉ EN FRANÇAIS ET LES MOTS CLÉS ii
ENGLISH ABSTRACT AND KEY WORDS iii
TABLE 0F CONTENTS iv
SIGLES, ABRÉVIATIONS, PONCTUATION
ACRONYMS, ABBREVIATIONS, PUNCTUATION
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vi
INTRODUCTION 1
I. TEE PERSECUTED CHURCH 3
1. THEORY AND PRACTICE IN THEHRST AND SECOND
CENTURY CHURCH 3
A. The primitive Christian community 3
B. Baptism, initiation into the new people ofthe covenant 6
C. Episkopoi, presbyteroi, diakonoi: leaders ofthe comrnunity 12
D. Installation and succession 1$
2. THE TIME 0F CHANGE: THE3RD AND 4TH CENTURIES 27
A. Baptism in the pre-Constantine era 27
B. Baptism after the Edict ofMilan 30
C. From ministry to clergy 34
II. THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLEAGES 49
1. FROM CONSTANTINE TO CHARLEMAGNE 49
A. Historical background 49
B. Changes in the understanding ofbaptism 51
C. Ordination, priesthood and the organization of the Church 5$
2. IRE FEUDALISTIC CHURCH 69
A. Church and society 69
B. Clergy and laity
3. THEOLOGY AND SACRAMENTS IN TEE MIDDLEAGES 74
III. THE CHURCH UNDER SIEGE 78
1. THE COUNCIL 0FTRENT AND ITS ANTECEDENTS 7$
2. SACRAMENTS IN TEE COUNC1L 0F TRENT $1
A. Baptism $2
B. Orders 87
IV. IRE POST-MODERN CHURCH 96
1. TEE WORLD IN TRANSITION 96
2. BAPTISM IN THE DOCUMENTS 0F VATICAN II 9$
3. ORDERS IN TEE DOCUMENTS 0F VATICAN II 100
V. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 104
WORKS CONSULTED 113
V
SIGLES, ABRÉVIATIONS. PONCTUATION
Afin que la lecture soit facilitée, l’utilisation des sigles et des abréviations a été
évitée saufpour les abréviations d’usage courant (par exemple idem., e.g., c.f,
i.e., etc.).
Les citations directes sont indiquées par
Les citations qui font partie d’une citation directe sont indiquées par’
‘;
Les guillemets « » sont utilisés dans les autres circonstances.
Les parenthèses ()sont utilisées quand elles font partie d’une citation directe;
dans les autres circonstances les crochets f] sont utilisés.
ACRONYMS. ABBREVIATIONS. PUNCTUATION
For easier readability the use of acronyms and special abbreviations has been
avoided (with the exception of such generally accepted abbreviations as idem., e.g., c.f,
i.e., etc.)
Double guotation marks are used to denote direct qztotations;
(“ “)
single guotation marks ‘)denote quotations used within directly quoted material;
(‘
guillemets (inverted commas « » ) are used at other times.
Parentheses t ) are used whenever they appear in the text ofdirect quotations; at
other times brackets [1 are used.
vi
ACKWOWLEDGMEMTS
Given my age, if were to attempt to mention ail those who helped me to
accomplish this work, the iist wouid contain hundreds of names, and even so, I
would probabiy have ieft out some very deserving persons. While I am gratetul to
them ail, I will restrict myseif to those who were directly invoived in this effort.
Sincere thanks are due to:
Sr. Miriam Martin, Patty Fowier and ail the “leading learners”
0f the Summer institute in Pastoral Liturgy
of the St. Paul University
who enabled me to concretize my questionings;
M. Jean-Marc Gauthier, my directeur de recherche
who so patiently and with such knowledge and understanding
ied me through the process;
the professors of the Faculty of Theology
0f the Université de Montréal, from whom I iearned so much;
Fr. Marc Mignauit and Dominique Marucchi Foino
for their unstinting interest and support;
two
my chiidren,
who aiways believe in me,
even if they overestimate my abilities;
and in the first place
my wife,
without whose love I wouid not be haif of who I am.
THANK YOU ALL!
INTRODUCTION
The world is changing. This ofien-heard statement could be a mere cliché,
because afler ail, it is true for ail times and ail places in the histoiy of mankind, except
that now it signifies more than just the adaptation of forms and ways of behaviour to
shiffing conditions. What is changing now is fundarnental to the meaning of human
existence: the underlying reasons why we are acting in a certain way are changing. Our
beliefsystem [whether theist or atheistJ, our ethics, our society, our understanding ofthe
world, ail are changing. It would then be more accurate to say that we are in a period of
transition.
The Church, living in the world, is part ofthis transition. This shouid be a farniliar
situation to a cornmunity that daims to iive Christ’s Pasch, his «passing over», the
transition from the rnerely hurnan to the God-becoming-human, in which we “come to
share in the divinity ofChrist, who hurnbled hirnselfto share our humanity”.
Transition, however, is neyer easy. It requires the constant dying to things and
habits we are used to and being rebom to new and untried things. While it disturbs our
comfort and endangers our security ,transition is part ofparcel ofbeing Christian.
Many aspects ofthe iife ofthe Church are part of this transition, flot the least of
which is the «full, active and conscious» participation of the laity, cailed for by the
Second Vatican Councii, flot oniy in the iiturgy, but in every aspect of the life of the
Church. There is also, at least in the Western world, the phenornenon of a growing
shortage of ordained priests at a time when there is an increasing need for sacraments
expressed by the faithful.
The resolution ofthese questions requires a careful analysis ofthe processes that
have led to the present situation. Such an analysis wiii enable us to detennine what is
fundamental in being a Christian and in being a priest. It wiil assist us, in other words,
better understand what is the nature ofthe sacraments that make us Christians and priests,
namely baptism and ordination. The task is cornplicated by the fact thatthe term «priest»
or «priesthood» is used in two different senses in Christian writing and thinking: that
status that is given tbrough the sharing in the priesthood of Christ in eveiy baptisrn, and
the one that is given in ordination to a seiect group ofmen. Tins paper intends to examine
how the Church’s understanding of the two sacraments developed throughout the ages,
with particular attention being paid to the effect these developments have had on the
concept ofthe universal priesthood ofail baptized persons.
Due to the lirnits imposed by the nature ofthis paper, this investigation will focus
on periods in the history of the Church that may be termed «transitional» or «turning
points», that is, moments which signaled changes that within a relatively short time
affected the fundamental structure and practices ofthe Church.
In order to properly understand the changes, thefr importance and meaning, the
presentation ofa sketch ofthe socio-historical background will be presented. This sketch