Apologeticae sive Theologiae Fundamentalis, Tomus II (Pars Altera): Demonstratio Catholica

Hierarchy (ἱερὰ ἀρχή) etymologically is a sacred principate, or sacred rule. Hence, abstractly (objectively) it designates the sacred power itself; concretely (subjectively), the body of persons who hold and exercise the sacred power.

In correspondence with the twofold power, a twofold hierarchy is distinguished. One power regards the public governance of the Church; the other, the private sanctification of the individual members. The former is called the power of jurisdiction and is conferred by a simple injunction or mission; the latter is called the power of order, because it is conferred by a certain ordination or sacramental consecration.¹ By some, the hierarchical power is divided into three: the power of order (ministry), of governance (rule), and of teaching; whereas according to the more common division the power of teaching is comprised under the power of jurisdiction or governance, as we shall show in another place.² In our dissertation, although by concomitance there is sometimes also talk of the teaching and the ministry of the Church, per se and essentially it is concerned with the rule of the Church, that is, with the power of jurisdiction strictly taken. The teaching office will be treated specially in the second part of the Catholic demonstration; the ministry, in dogmatic and moral theology.

Hence the question arises, whether Christ granted the power of governing the Church to such a restricted body of sacred persons, or whether He gave that power to the whole body of the Christian people. If the former, the Church is a hierarchical, that is, unequal, society; if the latter, the Church is a democratic, that is, equal, society. That the former is held by Catholics, the latter by several heresies, history and the state of the question teach.

1°. History of the question. In the fourteenth century, Marsilius of Padua together with John of Jandun, in the book "Defensor pacis", contended that all ecclesiastical jurisdiction resides in the Christian people, and that the Christian people, either immediately or through its vicar, namely the emperor, transfers jurisdiction to ecclesiastical superiors. John XXII (a. 1327) condemned this opinion as heretical.³

In the sixteenth century the reformers rehashed the error of Marsilius. Luther, in the book "De abroganda missa privata", claimed that the Christian people is a simple people, in which there should be absolutely no difference of persons: "no cleric, no layman, no anointed, no shaven, no monk". Calvin also⁴ and all other Protestants, except the Anglicans, maintained that all Christians are priests, and that the superiors of the Church obtain authority not by Christ's institution, but by the election and deputation of the people. The Council of Trent exploded this error in these words: "But if anyone affirms that all Christians promiscuously are priests of the New Testament, or that all are endowed with equal spiritual power among themselves, he seems to do nothing else than to confound the ecclesiastical hierarchy, which is as an army set in array ... If anyone says that in the Catholic Church there is not a hierarchy instituted by divine ordination, which consists of bishops, priests and ministers, let him be anathema."⁵ In the seventeenth century, with the Febronians, Jansenists, Gallicans and Josephinists applauding, the Synod of Pistoia repeated almost the same error, asserting that the sacred power was delivered immediately to the whole community of the faithful, and from there is derived to the ministers of the Church, who exercise it in the name and stead of the people. Pius VI (a. 1794) and the other supreme pontiffs rejected this opinion.⁶ Finally, in the nineteenth century, the modern rationalists boasted⁷ that the whole hierarchy arose from human institution and the natural development of the Christian cause.

From the beginning, the followers of Christ were united only by a certain common divine impulse and were stirred only by charismatic teachers and prophets. When at last the first fervor had cooled and the number of the faithful had increased, the necessity of public offices pressed, by which the Church might be administered. And so, little by little, against the will and ordinance of Christ, the functions and offices of bishops, priests and deacons were introduced. From this historical summary it is already fully understood:

2°. State of the question. While non-Catholics demur (except the Anglican Protestants and the eastern "Orthodox"), the Catholic faith does not admit that the Church is a democratic, that is, equal, society, whose members, namely, all have the same offices,⁸ but conceives the Church as a hierarchical, that is, unequal, society, in which by divine institution some are superiors, others subjects, some teaching and commanding with authority, others obliged to hear and obey.⁹ The former are also called, by a more usual word, the clergy,¹⁰ the latter, the laity.¹¹ The division therefore into clergy and laity, or people, is of divine origin. Christ Himself constituted the hierarchy, which, begun in the college of the apostles and fully ordered ("organisata") in the apostolic age, is to last until the end of the world. The truth of this Catholic doctrine is established by the evangelical, apostolic and patristic testimonies.

According to the testimony of the Gospels, Jesus Christ first signified the hierarchical power to the apostles, afterwards promised it, and finally conferred it.

1. Jesus Christ first signified the hierarchical power to the apostles. Already from the beginning of his public life he chose twelve from among his disciples, whom he also called apostles, i. e. legates. He sent them to preach and gave them the power of working miracles, by which they might prove their divine legation. "And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, and he said to them: Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men."¹ "And he called to himself whom he himself would, and they came to him, and he made that twelve should be with him, and that he might send them to preach."² "And it came to pass in those days, he went out into the mountain to pray, and he was passing the night in the prayer of God. And when day was come, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles."³ "And calling together the twelve apostles, he gave them power and authority over all devils, and that they should cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick."⁴

To the apostles he joined "and other seventy-two, and he sent them two and two before his face into every city and place whither he himself was to come".⁵ While, however, he employs these seventy-two as forerunners and auxiliary "laborers",⁶ he continually kept the twelve⁷ apostles with himself. He educated them in a special manner,⁸ openly explaining the parables, which the crowd did not grasp: "Because to you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven; but to them it is not given."⁹ He gave them ample instructions on rightly discharging the apostolic office.¹⁰ By this manner of acting Christ indicated clearly enough that the apostles were to exercise hierarchical power over the rest of the faithful. Indeed:

2. Jesus Christ afterwards promised the hierarchical power to the apostles in these words: "If thy brother shall sin against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother; but if he shall not hear thee, take with thee still one or two, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. And if he shall not hear them: 'tell the church; and if he shall not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican. Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven.'"¹¹ These words implicitly presuppose and explicitly declare that the hierarchical power was to be given to the apostles.

The prior words, which deal with the correction of the guilty one, implicitly presuppose that the hierarchy is to be given to the apostles. The guilty one, if incorrigible after private correction, is to be denounced to the church. If he shall not hear her, he is to be excommunicated from the assembly of the faithful, just as the heathens and publicans were excluded from the synagogue, namely the religious assembly of the Jews. By speaking thus, the Savior certainly presupposes that to the church belongs the supreme hierarchical power of judging, coercing, and punishing the faithful. But that by the name of church is designated not the multitude of the faithful, but the ecclesiastical rulers and, in the first place, the apostles, is evident from the fact that Christ immediately addresses the apostles with weight: "Amen I say to you ..."

The later words, which concern the right of binding and loosing, explicitly declare that the hierarchy is to be given to the apostles. By these words there is promised to the apostles an authority of binding and loosing contained within no limits ("whatsoever you shall bind ... whatsoever you shall loose") and divine ("shall be bound ... shall be loosed also in heaven"). But to bind and to loose in the mouth of Christ are the same as to exercise spiritual power. For it is evident that the apostles are not commanded to bind or loose bodies with physical bonds, but to bind or loose souls with moral bonds, by teaching the faith, proposing laws, remitting or retaining sins.¹² Therefore, by the cited words Christ promised to the apostles an unlimited and divine authority of teaching, ruling, and sanctifying the faithful, i. e. he promised them hierarchical power taken in the strict sense.

3. Jesus Christ finally conferred the hierarchical power on the apostles both after the resurrection and before the ascension. After the resurrection, appearing to the college of apostles, he said: "As the Father hath sent me, I also send you ... Receive ye the Holy Spirit: whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained."¹³ Just as Christ was sent with the full authority of the Father to teach, sanctify, and rule men, so the apostles are sent with the full authority of the Son. Nay, the likeness of the authority of Christ and of the apostles is so perfect that, after the manner of the Savior, the apostles are possessed of that most divine power of remitting and retaining sins.¹⁴

Before the ascension Christ again addressed the apostles, and them alone, saying: "All power is given to me in heaven and in earth: going therefore, teach ye all nations: baptizing them (μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, βαπτίζοντες αὐτούς) in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things (διδάσκοντες αὐτοὺς τηρεῖν πάντα), whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world."¹⁵ Appealing to the fullness of his divine power, Christ sends the apostles into the world, that as teachers they may teach (μαθητεύσατε) and make disciples (διδάσκοντες) of all peoples. And that they themselves, both individually and through their successors, may be able to discharge in due manner this teaching office, ministry, and sacred authority, Christ promises that he will preside over and assist the ecclesiastical hierarchy for all time until the end of the world.¹⁶

That the disciples understood the words of the Lord in this way is proved by:

The apostles exercise the hierarchy received from God by their deeds, assert it by their words, and communicate it to other men.

1. The apostles exercise the hierarchy received from God by their deeds both collegially and individually. Collegially they act immediately after Pentecost as presidents of the Church. First of all, completing the apostolic college itself, in the place of Judas the traitor, under God's auspices, they choose Matthias "to take part in this ministry and apostleship".¹ Straightway they preach the Christian religion, wash believers with baptism, and preside over the Church growing day by day.² When the number of Gentile converts had grown, certain Jewish Christians attempted to impose the Mosaic law upon all. The controversy thence arising the apostles authoritatively settle in the council of Jerusalem and prescribe a peremptory decree to be observed by all the faithful.³ Individually, too, each of the apostles exercises the sacred primacy. Peter constantly increases the assembly of the faithful by preaching and baptizing⁴ and, passing through, visits "all".⁵ Paul, traversing a great part of the Roman empire, everywhere founds and governs churches, giving various precepts,⁶ rooting out abuses,⁷ excommunicating the unworthy.⁸ In a word, the apostles act both collegially and individually as having hierarchical authority over the faithful.

2. The apostles assert the hierarchy received from God by their words. The disciplinary decree of the apostolic college begins: "It has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us ..."⁹ With these words they proclaim the divine origin and authority of the hierarchy. Peter names himself "an apostle of Jesus Christ".¹⁰ Paul insists many times that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the will of God,¹¹ chosen not by men, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father.¹² He discharges a legation in the place of Christ;¹³ he does not speak in persuasive words of human wisdom,¹⁴ but in the name and power of God; what he himself commands, the Lord commands;¹⁵ what he writes are the commandments of the Lord;¹⁶ what he works, Christ effects;¹⁷ the power which he uses he has received from God.¹⁸ And he says the same of all the ministers of the Church: "He (Christ) himself gave some indeed as apostles, some as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and doctors, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ."¹⁹ Whence he concludes: "Let a man so esteem us as ministers of Christ and dispensers of the mysteries of God."²⁰

3. The apostles communicate the hierarchy received from God to others, constituting in the individual churches a local clergy and handing over to it its own authority. The supreme authority in the churches the apostles indeed reserve for themselves, and either themselves immediately²¹ or mediately through their vicars²² they exercise it. Yet through all the churches they constitute a local clergy, that is, a college of presbyters, who together with the apostles, or even in the place of the apostles, should feed the flocks of the faithful.²³ In Jerusalem already in the first days deacons are chosen²⁴ and soon (at least after the Herodian persecution about the year 46) presbyters or elders,²⁵ so that with the apostles as leaders they might rule that primitive church.²⁶ At Philippi bishops and deacons presided.²⁷ At Ephesus there was found a college of presbyters²⁸ or of bishops.²⁹ "In each of the churches" founded on his first journey Paul appointed "presbyters".³⁰ That presbyters were present also in the Jewish-Christian churches of the first period, Peter and James testify. Peter: "Elders (presbyters), feed the flock of God which is among you;"³¹ James: "Is any one sick among you, let him bring in the presbyters of the church."³² Finally, so that clergy might be at hand everywhere, the apostles moreover command their disciples to appoint presbyters in all the cities. Thus Paul writes to Titus: "I left thee in Crete, that ... thou shouldst appoint presbyters in every city",³³ namely bishops³⁴ and deacons,³⁵ whose qualities the teacher of the Gentiles delineates.

Thus the apostles set over all the churches local and stable hierarchs, who are called either simply presbyters, or expressly bishops, presbyters, and deacons.³⁶

The clerics, however, thus constituted receive hierarchical authority not by mandate of the people, but by the imposition of the hands of the apostles and their disciples. By the imposition of hands already in the Old Testament there were conferred rights, privileges, and offices proper to the one imposing.³⁷ In the same way to the presbyters of the New Testament the power of order and of jurisdiction is handed over through the imposition of the hands of the apostles and their successors.³⁸ Thus the first seven men, already to be ordained, they "appointed before the face of the apostles, and praying they imposed hands upon them".³⁹ They ordained Paul and Barnabas, "fasting and praying, and imposing hands upon them … And they indeed, being sent by the Holy Spirit, went away".⁴⁰ Again Paul and Barnabas, "imposing hands, appointed presbyters in each of the churches".⁴¹ And those upon whom he had imposed hands Paul addresses: "Take heed to yourselves and to the whole flock, in which the Holy Spirit has placed you as bishops, to rule the church of God".⁴² Paul admonishes Timothy: "Do not neglect the grace that is in thee, which was given to thee … with the imposition of the hands of the presbytery … I admonish thee, that thou stir up the grace of God, which is in thee by the imposition of my hands".⁴³

"Impose not hands hastily on any man [when ordaining a presbyter]".⁴⁴

The apostles therefore, taught by Christ himself on this matter, understood without hesitation that the Church must at all times consist of clergy and people, of superiors and subjects, that is, that the hierarchical constitution was established in perpetuity. Whence they exercised the hierarchy received from God by their deeds, asserted it by their words, and communicated it to others.

In like manner they proclaim that the hierarchical constitution of the Church was conceived by all Christians of the already primitive age:

The adversaries concede that the hierarchy of the Church existed in the middle of the second century, or at least toward its end, but they deny that it existed before that. Hence, to refute them fully, we summon only the ancient apostolic fathers, who wrote about the hierarchy already as the first century was drawing to a close, or certainly at the beginning of the second century: namely, the author of the Doctrina duodecim apostolorum, Clemens romanus, Ignatius, and Polycarpus.

1. The Doctrina duodecim apostolorum (written in Syria in the last decades of the first century), after it made mention of the eucharistic sacrifice, continues: "Appoint¹ therefore for yourselves bishops and deacons worthy of the Lord, men who are meek and not covetous of silver and truthful and proven; for they themselves also minister to you the ministry of the prophets and teachers. Do not therefore despise them; for they are the honored ones among you together with the prophets and teachers".² For in what precedes the Doctrina had commanded that itinerant teachers or "apostles" and charismatic prophets be received and honored "as the Lord",³ whose gospel they announce and whose knowledge they increase. Now it is added that the stable clerics, namely bishops and deacons, are also to be treated with the same honor, who exercise in the churches not only the teaching office of the teachers and prophets, but also the priestly office, which the teachers and prophets do not possess. From this it is perceived that bishops and deacons presided over the individual churches of Syria in that time contemporaneous with the apostles.

2. Clemens romanus (a. 81-96) wrote an epistle at Rome to the Corinthians, in order to check the sedition which some, more powerful in knowledge and wiser in judgment,⁴ had stirred up against the presbyterium of the church. This faction of pride against authority he sharply attacks in this way: "Shameful, brethren, exceedingly shameful to hear and unworthy of the Christian manner of life are the things we have learned: that the very firm and ancient church of the Corinthians, because of one or two men, stirs up sedition against the presbyters".⁵ This struggle of certain faithful against the presbyterium is unheard of and illicit among Christians for this reason, that the ecclesiastical hierarchy was instituted by God and has come down by apostolic succession to its present possessors: "The apostles were made preachers of the gospel to us by the Lord Jesus Christ; Jesus Christ was sent by God. Christ therefore from God, and the apostles from Christ; and both came to be in an orderly way from the will of God. Therefore, having received the commandments and, filled with full certainty through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and confirmed by the word of God, they went forth with the sure confidence of the Holy Spirit, announcing the coming of the kingdom of God. Preaching therefore the word through regions and cities … they appointed bishops and deacons for those who were to believe … And what wonder, that those to whom this office was committed by God in Christ should have appointed the aforesaid? Therefore those who were appointed by them [the apostles], or afterwards by other eminent men with the consent of the whole church … we judge are not justly cast out from their office. For our sin will not be light, if we cast out from the episcopate those who offered the gifts [the sacrifice] holily and without reproach".⁶ "Let us reverence our superiors (τοὺς προηγουμένους ἡμῶν) … We ought to do all things in order, which the Lord commanded us to perform at the appointed times. Namely, the oblations and the sacred services are to be performed where and by whom He wills them to be celebrated; He Himself defined this by His most exalted will … For to the high priest his own offices have been assigned, to the priests their own place has been appointed, and upon the Levites their own ministries (διακονίαι) devolve. The layman is bound by the precepts of the laity".⁷

"You therefore, who have laid the foundations of the sedition, be subject to the presbyters in obedience and receive correction unto repentance, bending the knees of your hearts. Learn to be submissive, laying aside the glorious and proud arrogance of your tongue; for it is better for you to be found small and of good repute in the flock of Christ, than, being excessively splendid, to be cast out from His hope".⁸

Thus s. Clemens, a disciple of the apostles and the successor of Peter in the Roman see, teaches: 1°. that the churches both of the West, from which he writes, and of the East, to which he writes, were hierarchically constituted in such a way that the subjects are subordinate to the superiors and the laity to the clerics. 2°. that the presbyterium of the church embraces the bishops and deacons, or rather, after the model of the Old Testament, the bishops, the presbyters of the second grade, and the deacons. 3°. that this hierarchical constitution of the church was already in force in the time of the apostles, indeed that it owes its origin to Christ and God Himself.

3. Ignatius († c. 107), a distinguished martyr, certainly a disciple of the apostles and the successor of Peter at Antioch, in his epistles is almost wholly occupied with urging obedience and submission toward the ecclesiastical hierarchy. He describes the form of the hierarchy, moreover, as composed of the bishop, the presbyters, and the deacons. He entreats the Magnesians: "I exhort you to strive to do all things in the concord of God, with the bishop presiding in the place of God, and the presbyters in the place of the apostolic senate, and the deacons, most dear to me, entrusted with the mystery of Jesus Christ … Just as therefore the Lord did nothing without the Father, being united with Him, neither through Himself nor through the apostles: so neither should you do anything without the bishop and the presbyters … Strive therefore to be confirmed in the doctrines of the Lord and of the apostles … with your most worthy bishop and the spiritual crown of your presbyterium worthily woven together, and with the deacons pleasing to God".⁹

He admonishes the Trallians: "Let all reverence the deacons as Jesus Christ, and likewise the bishop, who is the type of the Father, and the presbyters as the senate of God and the council of the apostles. Without these the church is not called".¹⁰ "Guard yourselves from such [heretics]. This, however, will come about if you are neither puffed up nor torn away from God, Jesus Christ, the bishop, and the precepts of the apostles. He who is within the altar is clean; he who is outside the altar, however, is not clean; that is, he who does anything without the bishop and the presbyterium and the deacons is not clean in conscience".¹¹

He bids the Philadelphians to be united "with the bishop and his presbyters and the deacons appointed according to the mind of Christ, whom He confirmed in stability through His Holy Spirit according to His own will".¹² And to the same he recalls: "I cried out while I was present, I spoke with a loud voice, with the voice of God: Obey the bishop and the presbyterium and the deacons".¹³

S. Ignatius therefore testifies: 1°. that a hierarchy consisting of the bishop, the presbyters, and the deacons necessarily presides over the individual churches. And indeed 2°. that this hierarchical constitution existed from the time of the apostles; for he mentions the grades of the hierarchy not as new or recently introduced, but as well known and received by use already in the past apostolic decades, to which Ignatius was a contemporary. Indeed, the bishops, presbyters, and deacons, he says, are "appointed according to the mind of Christ" and confirmed "according to His own will", in such a way that "without these the church is not called".

4. Polycarpus, martyr (a. 107), immediately after the death of Ignatius, his friend, wrote a letter to the Philippians¹⁴ admonishing the same: "It is necessary to abstain from all these [covetousnesses], but to be subject to the presbyters and deacons as to God and Christ".¹⁵ But he also mentions the presbyterium of the church of Smyrna and implicitly designates himself bishop of this church by inscribing his epistle in this way: "Polycarpus and the presbyters who are with him, of the church of God which sojourns at Philippi".¹⁶ That he was in truth the bishop of the Smyrnaeans, both s. Ignatius¹⁷ and the Martyrium s. Polycarpi¹⁸ and Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus,¹⁹ relate. Finally Irenaeus testifies that in his early age he knew Polycarpus to have been constituted bishop by the apostles themselves.²⁰ If these things are compared, it is clear that, according to the testimony of Polycarpus, a disciple of the apostles, the churches were so ordered that they were directed by a presbyterium composed of the bishop, the presbyters of the second grade, and the deacons.

With all these things considered, the falsity of the opposing opinion on the origin of the ecclesiastical hierarchy escapes no one. They keep asserting that the hierarchy is an invention and contrivance of the men of the second century of the Christian era. On the contrary, the fathers writing around the year one hundred testify not only that the hierarchy was already flourishing in the church, but that it flourished from ancient times, from the age and will of the apostles and of Christ. And in truth the apostles exercised by deeds, asserted by words, and communicated to others the hierarchy received from Christ. Christ Himself signified, promised, and conferred the hierarchical power upon the apostles. Therefore they err enormously who, denying the distinction between clerics and laity, superiors and subjects, imagine the church of Christ to be constituted democratically.

This one thing must be conceded: that the hierarchical organism gradually grew while Christ and the apostles were living. While Christ was living, He alone was the hierarch of the nascent church. After the departure of the Lord, the apostles held the supreme governance of the church, yet with other clerics chosen as helpers and successors. When at last the apostles had died, the threefold hierarchical order of bishops, presbyters, and deacons continued to administer the churches, just as it had been taught by the apostles. Hence the council of Trent rightly pronounces "the hierarchy instituted by divine ordination, which consists of bishops, presbyters, and ministers".²¹ The laity never delegated the power of governing the church to the clerics, nor did they themselves possess it.

The adversaries do indeed adduce the ancient practice by which the people of the faithful elected the clerics. But even if the lay people had had and exercised the right of election, it would be wrong to conclude from this that the people also conferred the office and the hierarchical power. In truth, the hierarchical power, as we have abundantly seen, was conferred not by the faithful, but by the apostles and their delegates and successors.²² Yet neither did the right of suffrage, or of election properly so called, belong to the people; rather, a mere judgment about the good repute and the qualities of those to be elected was sometimes granted to the faithful. In this sense the multitude of the faithful took part in the election of Matthias and of the first deacons;²³ in this sense the superiors of the church of the Corinthians were constituted "with the consent of the whole church", as Clemens romanus testifies.²⁴ In this sense Cyprianus writes: "Priestly ordinations ought to take place only under the knowledge of the assisting people, so that, with the people present, either the crimes of the wicked may be disclosed or the merits of the good may be proclaimed, and the ordination may be just and legitimate, having been examined by the suffrage and judgment of all".²⁵ But just as at the beginning of the Christian cause the practice of consulting the people in the election of clerics was not constant,²⁶ so neither did it prevail always and necessarily in later times, and at length, on account of the fault of the people abusing it and other inconveniences, it was almost entirely abolished.²⁷