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In Christianity, an elder is a person who is valued for wisdom and holds a position of responsibility and authority in a Christian group. In some Christian traditions (e.g., Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, Methodism) an elder is an ordained person who serves a local church or churches and who has been ordained to a ministry of word, sacrament and order, filling the preaching ...
[1] [2] The word presbyter is used many times in the New Testament, referring both to the Jewish leadership and the "tradition of the elders", [3] and to the leaders of the early Christian community. [4] In modern Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican usage, presbyter is distinct from bishop, and in English it is synonymous with priest. [5]
Elders are not appointed by any authority; they are simply recognized by the faithful as being people "of the Spirit". An elder, when not in prayer or in voluntary seclusion, receives visitors (some who travel very far) and spends time conversing with them, offering a blessing (if the elder is an ordained cleric) and confession, and praying ...
A plurality of elders is considered desirable in some (esp. reformed) traditions, preferring two or more officers in the local church. The contrasts with singular models often found in Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglican churches, or the "pastor/president" system of some Protestant churches.
Since 1970, the number of Catholic priests in the world has decreased by about 5,000, to 414,313 priests as of 2012. [16] but the worldwide Catholic population has nearly doubled, growing from 653.6 million in 1970 to 1.229 billion in 2012. [16] This has resulted in a worldwide shortage of Catholic priests.
Religious institute (Catholic) Religious order; Religious priest – see: Regular clergy (above) Rite to Being – the rite of being left alone to pray to Jesus Christ; Religious sister – see: Sister (below) Right of Option – a way of obtaining a benefice or a title, by the choice of the new titulary; Roman Catholic – the Roman rite of ...
The Bible adds that Joshua was thereby "filled with the spirit of wisdom". Moses also ordained the 70 elders (Num 11:16–25). The elders later ordained their successors in this way. Their successors in turn ordained others. This chain of hands-on semikhah continued through the time of the Second Temple, to an undetermined time.
[22] In 2012, there were 5,133 Catholic bishops; [23] at the end of 2021, there were 5,340 Catholic bishops. The Pope himself is a bishop (the bishop of Rome) and traditionally uses the title "Venerable Brother" when writing formally to another bishop. The typical role of a bishop is to provide pastoral governance for a diocese. [20]