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A.D. 46. Ordination of priests.

This[4] is the first mention we have of the ordination of Elders, or Presbyters (or Priests[5], as we are most in the habit of calling them), though the fact of the existence of such officers has already been hinted at[6] as well-known and recognized. Thus we see that, as when at first "the number of the disciples was multiplied," the Apostles delegated part of their work to the Order of Deacons, so afterwards, when the Church continued to grow and increase, they provided for her needs by instituting the Order of the Priesthood, conferring on others, in God's Name and by His Authority, a larger portion of the ministerial grace they had themselves received from Him. Functions of the Priesthood. The distinguishing Grace given to those who were called to the Office of Elder or Presbyter by the "laying on of hands," was, as it still is, the power of consecrating and offering the Holy Eucharist, that so, according to St. Paul's words to the Elders of Ephesus, they may "feed the Church of God[7]," not as in the case of the Deacons, with "the meat that perisheth," but with "the Bread of God, which cometh down from Heaven."

Consecration of Bishops

Of the Ordination of Bishops[8], apart from the Apostolate, we have no mention in the Book of the Acts; but that the Apostles did ordain successors to themselves, so far as their office was to be perpetual in the Church, we have ample proofs in the Epistles of St. Paul to St. Timothy and St. Titus. Their functions. To both these holy men, Bishops or Overseers of the Church in Ephesus and Crete respectively, St. Paul gives injunctions as to their duties, particularly in ordaining Elders or Priests, the distinguishing work of a Bishop[9].