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Letters concerning the Establishment of the Holy Synod (1723)
Eastern Patriarchs, tr. King, 1865
10. Article 10
We believe that the so-called, or rather which is the Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, in which we have been taught to believe, contains all the faithful in Christ, who, manifestly, up to this time and now, being in their earthly pilgrimage, have not departed to their (heavenly) country.
But we do not at all confound this Church in its pilgrimage with that in the (heavenly) country, because it happens, as certain heretics say, that the members of both are sheep of the Chief Shepherd, God, and sanctified by the same Holy Spirit. For this would be at the same time improper and impossible. Because the one is still struggling and is in the way; but the other is victorious and established in the (heavenly) country and has received the prize.
As a mortal man cannot always be the head of the Catholic Church, our Lord Jesus Christ himself is the head, and having the helm in the government of the Church, he himself holds it and steers, by means of the Holy Fathers. And for this reason, in all the Churches, which are authoritatively Churches, and which consist of proper members, the Holy Ghost has placed the bishops, rulers, and shepherds, not abusively, but rightly, authorities and heads, who have in full view the Author and Finisher of our salvation, and who ascribe to him the power given. But as, among other impious things, this has also been maintained by the heretics, namely, that it is perhaps the same to be simply a priest or a high-priest, and that it is possible for the Church to be governed through certain priests without a high-priest, and that not only a high-priest but also a priest can ordain a priest, and that several priests can ordain a high-priest, yea, they even boast that the Eastern Church participates in this error.
We reply, against the above generally received opinion concerning the Eastern Church, that the Episcopal office is necessary to the Church, and without him (a Bishop) no Church can exist, nor can any one be called or be a Christian. For he, (the Bishop,) as a successor of the apostles, having received, by way of succession, the grace given to him by the Lord, both to bind and loose by the imposition of hands and invocation of the Holy Ghost, therefore he is a living image of God upon earth, and, by the fullest energy of the consecrating Spirit, is the source of all the mysteries of the Catholic Church, through which (mysteries) we obtain salvation. We consider him as necessary to the Church as breath is to man, and as the sun is to the world. Whence it has been elegantly said, in praise of the office of a high-priest: “That as God in the heavenly Church of the first-born, and the sun in the world, the same is each high-priest in every Church, as by him the flock shines forth, is nourished, and becomes the temple of God.”
That the great mystery and office of a bishop has been transmitted successively up to our time, is manifest. For the Lord has told us that he is with us for ever, and although he is with us by other means of grace and divine benefits, yet in a more positive manner he brings us into relation with himself, and is with us through episcopal consecration, and he is joined to us through the sacred mysteries of which the bishop is the first author and consecrator through the Spirit, and does not permit us to fall into heresy. And for this reason, Damascenus, (John,) in his fourth letter to the African, (churches,) says that the whole Church has been intrusted in general to the bishops, and Clemens the first Bishop of the Romans, and Euodius in Antioch, and Marcus in Alexandria, are acknowledged successors of Peter; and St. Andrew placed Stachys on the throne of Constantinople, and in this great and holy city of Jerusalem, the Lord placed James, (Bishop,) and after James there was another, and after him another till our day, and for this reason, Tertullian, in his letter to Papianus, calls all bishops successors of the apostles, and Eusebius, surnamed Pamphilus, testifies to the successorship of these and the apostolic office and authority; the Fathers also testify to this, whose names it is unnecessary to enumerate, and, furthermore, the general and most ancient custom of the Catholic Church confirms this. But that the episcopal office differs from that of the simple priest is manifest. For the priest is ordained by the bishop; but a bishop is not ordained by a priest, but by two or three high-priests as the apostolic canon enjoins. And, indeed, the priest is chosen by the bishop, but the high-priest is not chosen by the priests, that is to say, by the elders, nor is he chosen by civil authorities, even though they are distinguished for virtue, but by the synod of the highest Church of that country in which the city is situated, which is to receive the person ordained; or at least by the synod of that province in which it is necessary that the bishop should be appointed.
And if at any time the city should make choice of an individual, the choice is referred to the synod, and if it appears that this choice is according to the canons, the person chosen is installed by the imposition of the hands of the bishops, and by the invocation of the Holy Ghost. But if not, whom the synod desires, he is ordained, and the priest indeed retains the power which he has received, and the grace of the priesthood; but the bishop imparts it also to others, and he who has received the office of priesthood from the bishop performs only the holy ordinance of baptism and chrism, administers the bloodless sacrifice, and gives to the people the all-holy body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, anoints the baptized with holy oil, unites the pious who marry according to law, prays for the sick, and that all may come to a knowledge of the truth and be saved, and especially for the remission and forgiveness of the sins of those who are pious, both living and dead. Although he differs in experience and virtue, yet having received power from the bishop, he corrects the pious who come to him, guides them in the way of attaining the heavenly kingdom, and becomes a preacher of the sacred Gospel. But the High-priest is the minister of all these, (because he is, as has been said, the source of the sacred mysteries and gifts, by means of the Holy Ghost,) and he, entirely alone, consecrates the holy oil, and the ordination of all orders and grades in the Church is peculiar to him, and in the first and higher sense, he binds and looses, and his decisions are well received by God, as the Lord has said, and the Holy Gospel teaches, and he fights in behalf of the pious faith, and he rejects from the Church, as heathen and publicans, those who disobey, and subjects heretics to excommunication and a curse, and lays down his life for the sheep. From which it is very clear that a bishop most uncontrovertibly differs from one who is simply a priest, and all the priests in the world, without him, cannot feed the Church of God, or at all govern it. But it has been well said by some one of the Fathers, that it is not easy to find a reasonable heretic. For they, having left the Church, have been left by the Holy Ghost, and there remains in them neither understanding nor light, but darkness and hardness. For had they not suffered such things, they would not have opposed things most manifest, of which things is also indeed the great mystery of Episcopacy taught by the Scripture, which also is described and testified to by every Ecclesiastical History and every writing of the saints, and ever received and acknowledged by the Catholic Church.