In the first three centuries of the church’s existence, everything was different. The presbyter, whom the pagans began to call a priest, a hierarch, from the Greek πρεσβύτερος means – elder, head of the community, elder. The bishop, who in a pagan manner also received the name archbishop, from the Greek επίσκοπος – overseer (the one who oversees), guardian. In the times of the apostles, bishops were often called presbyters and vice versa, bishops – presbyters (see Acts 20, 17-18, 28; 1
Peter. 5, 2; Titus 1, 5, 7; 1 Tim. 3, 1, 2, 7; 5, 17, etc.). Since the church is a community consisting of people (often very sinful, with various vices, passions, shortcomings – a gathering of sinners who repent, heal – everything as in a regular Hospital). Therefore, as in any community (community) of people, in order to ensure order, it is necessary that there be a hierarchy, that is, that someone be responsible for the order and act at Eucharistic gatherings. There were in the communities charismatic gifts of apostleship, teaching, prophecy, healing, etc. (in the community each has their own gift for service: not all are teachers, not all prophets, not all have the gift of tongues, not all are healers…’). Therefore, presbyters and bishops in the church have one ministry – to ensure order and act of Eucharistic feasts, which Christ performs. That is, the task of the presbyter (bishop) – to create the appropriate conditions for the performance of the Sacrament (or sacraments: baptism, chrismation, anointing of the sick, etc.), for the manifestation of the God-man Reality and to prepare the faithful (or the announced, if it is about baptism), creating the best conditions for them to contemplate and be able to acknowledge Reality, the Grace of the Holy Spirit! And the Sacraments are performed by the only High Priest – Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit!!! At the beginning of the liturgy, the presbyter or deacon says the words: ‘It is time for the Lord to act’, meaning we, as people, have done everything: we have gathered in the church, prepared our hearts, prepared bread and wine, and now it’s time (turn) for the Lord to act – to send the Holy Spirit on us and on the gifts we have offered, to make us partakers of the Kingdom of God, the blessing of which begins the act of the Liturgy: ‘Blessed is the Kingdom…’. Therefore, it is not the presbyter, nor the bishop who perform the sacraments, but Christ, and they only respond to preparing the faithful (and the announced) to participate in the sacraments, for the performance of the acts of the sacraments, and for the order in the gathering of the faithful. The presbyter or bishop is not above the community, but one of the community, who has been ordained for ministry in the community, previously chosen and recognized by it as worthy (axios) of such service. The difference between episcopal and presbyteral service lies in the ‘quantitative’ (not qualitative) administrative responsibility: the presbyter oversees the order in his community, and the bishop – in his and in all communities of his diocese. The bishop and presbyter differ in service only administratively, but in no way in the degree of ‘gracefulness’. The presbyter is responsible for the properly and by order performing the Eucharist (the Sacraments and the whole life of the community) in a particular community, and the bishop, in addition to this, has the duty to oversee the order of performing the sacraments in the parishes of his diocese and, of course, to ensure communication between the communities (for more details on church hierarchy, talk to Metropolitan John Zizioulas, Christos Yannaras). As for presiding at the Liturgy – they are equal (bishop at the liturgy presbyter!).
Let’s also say something about presbyteral service. A presbyter (bishop) in the community is the same as a speaker in parliament. The chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (unofficial colloquial name – parliament speaker) is elected by the Verkhovna Rada for the term of its powers from among the people’s deputies by open voting, i.e., is the same deputy as the others. The presbyter (bishop) is elected by the community from the members of the same community (or in extreme cases (now, unfortunately, the norm) of another), which testifies to the dignity of the candidate for service during the ordination with the word ‘axios’ (worthy) and is ordained (by a bishop performed the act of ordination to the rank of presbyter, or by several bishops to the rank of bishop) from among the people of God (God’s elect, who responded to God’s call to come to His Kingdom Feast), the royal priesthood, that is, the presbyter (bishop) is the same priest as all other Christians (he has no special priesthood!). The duties of the speaker: leads the sessions of the Verkhovna Rada observing the requirements of the regulations; organizes the work of the Verkhovna Rada, coordinates the activities of its bodies; signs the acts adopted by the Verkhovna Rada, thereby certifying the content of their decisions, etc. Therefore, the speaker (chairman, who heads, sits at the head; presbyter – president, stands at the head of the assembly of the faithful in prayer, leads it and also chairman in teaching and organizational matters of community life; unfortunately, now the presbyter (who calls himself a priest or archbishop) rarely or never presides in the community – it’s a disaster in the church!) has his duty – organizing the work of the parliament: opens (presbyter: Blesses the beginning of the Service with the exclamation: ‘Blessed is our God…’, ‘Blessed is the Kingdom…’, ‘Glory to the Holy…’ etc.), closes (presbyter: makes the dismissal, completes the service and dismisses the people of God: ‘Christ… the true God…’) the council sessions, announces the agenda (presbyter: determines which service (e.g., which rite of the Liturgy to take – John Chrysostom or Basil the Great, depending on the time available to the faithful; if, for example, according to the typikon it is necessary to serve the liturgy of Basil the Great, and the faithful are rushing to work, because it is a working day, then the presbyter (creative and not a legalist) can (and should) transfer the longer rite to a weekend, and in this feast take the shorter rite – the liturgy of John Chrysostom), how many prayers, canons, akathists to take…), gives the floor to deputies (presbyter: blesses one to read the parable (fragment from the Old Testament Scripture), another – from the Apostle, another – from the Gospel, someone to carry a candle, someone to wash hands…), deprives of the floor, announces bills, for which it is necessary to vote, and votes equally with all deputies, and his vote is neither more valuable nor counts as two, because he is a speaker – just like all deputies (presbyter: calls for prayer – and prays with everyone, says for whom to pray ‘… let us pray to the Lord’, ‘Let us pray further…’ and prays with everyone, says what to do: ‘Let us lift up our hearts to heaven’, ‘Let us give thanks to the Lord’ – everyone thanks and he, ‘Let us bow our heads…’ – and he bows with everyone, prayerfully uttering the head-bowing prayer) and so on. In a word, the speaker – organizer-supervisor, but he also has the duty to sign (or not sign) acts, laws, for which the Council voted, i.e., without his signature the law is not valid (without the presbyter the act of the Sacrament is not effective, the Sacrament is not performed (no manifestation of Reality, even if the entire rite was performed to the smallest details (like magic, incantation), will not take place – one of the reasons for the fiasco of paganism), but we do not at all assert that if there will be a presbyter (‘legitimate’, not under prohibition) and he reads everything and does everything by the book, then a manifestation will occur – and then maybe no one will see anything! The Sacrament is not magic! Without the presbyter the Sacrament is not effective not because he is special – he does not perform the Sacrament, – it is the prerogative of Jesus Christ – the only High Priest, but because it is such an order, a pedagogy of the Church in History (II sec.). Those who have felt at least a little what God-Love is, the Church as an organism of Love, which in the II sec. is inconceivable without the hierarchy of the priesthood and unity (and not individualism, egoism, self-sufficiency) – should understand what this is about. And also: the Sacraments (the acts of the Sacraments and everything that follows them), which in the Church have their own order, established by it – these are auxiliary means (which need to be used according to the prescriptions of the Church: one of the necessary conditions of effectiveness – the presence of the presbyter or bishop; otherwise to use the rites, neglecting the necessary conditions, – absurdity and self-deception!). If you don’t need them and you can unite, communicate with Christ outside the church assembly (like, for example, Mary of Egypt or other venerable desert hermits), then may the Lord strengthen you and