Anglican Orders and Ministry: What the Articles Say About Priests and Bishops

The question of Anglican orders — whether Anglican bishops, priests, and deacons constitute a valid continuation of apostolic ministry — has been one of the most contested in ecumenical theology. Pope Leo XIII declared Anglican orders “absolutely null and utterly void” in 1896. The Thirty-Nine Articles themselves take a functional rather than metaphysical view of ordained ministry, which helps explain both Anglican confidence and ecumenical controversy.

What the Articles Say About Ministry

The Articles do not offer an elaborate theology of orders. Article XXIII states that it is not lawful for any man to take upon him the office of public preaching or ministering the Sacraments before he be lawfully called and sent to execute the same. The emphasis falls on lawful authorization by the church rather than on an unbroken chain of episcopal hands. Ministry is valid because it is ordered, not because it flows from a sacramental pipeline.

The Historic Threefold Order

Despite minimal doctrinal elaboration in the Articles themselves, the Church of England maintained the threefold order of bishops, priests, and deacons through the Reformation. Article XXXVI affirms the consecration of bishops and ordering of priests under Edward VI as done “in a most godly and devout manner.” Anglicanism preserved the historic structure while allowing divergent theological interpretations of what that structure means sacramentally.

The Priestly Function in Anglican Thought

Anglican usage of the word “priest” is revealing. The English term derives from the Greek presbyteros (elder) rather than hiereus (sacrificing priest). Anglican theology generally understands the ordained minister as one who presides over Word and Sacrament, not as one who offers sacrifice. Article XXXI explicitly rejects the idea of the Eucharist as a propitiatory sacrifice, though the Articles do not reject the language of priesthood for the ordained ministry itself.

Anglican Orders in Ecumenical Context

The question of Anglican orders remains significant in ecumenical discussions. Roman Catholic and some Eastern Orthodox bodies do not recognize Anglican ordinations as valid, while the Porvoo Communion links Anglican and Lutheran churches in a shared episcopate. The broader Anglican Communion is itself divided on who may be ordained. The Thirty-Nine Articles provide a framework of ordered ministry without resolving every question about what that order ultimately means.