Since I'm genuinely curious - what's the point of bishops? Why do we still have them? What do they do that any other priest can't? There are essentially three levels of ministry in Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox churches: Deacon, Priest and Bishop. If I remember correctly, deacons can assist at the Eucharist (but can't perform all the relevant rituals themselves), priests can celebrate the Eucharist, baptise people, hear confession (in those churches which go in for that sort of thing) and the like, and bishops can (amongst other things) ordain new priests and deacons.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2009-03-09 09:02 pm (UTC)There are essentially three levels of ministry in Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox churches: Deacon, Priest and Bishop. If I remember correctly, deacons can assist at the Eucharist (but can't perform all the relevant rituals themselves), priests can celebrate the Eucharist, baptise people, hear confession (in those churches which go in for that sort of thing) and the like, and bishops can (amongst other things) ordain new priests and deacons.