Consecration of Bishops (1928 BCP)

Consecration of Bishops (1928 BCP) is the rite in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer by which an elected bishop is publicly examined, prayed over, and ordained or consecrated by bishops through the laying on of hands. In the 1928 Ordinal, episcopal office is not defined chiefly by dignity or jurisdiction. It is defined by apostolic doctrine, pastoral oversight, discipline, mercy, and the charge to feed the flock of Christ.

The office should be read with Ordination of Deacons (1928 BCP), Ordination of Priests (1928 BCP), The Litany (1928 BCP), Holy Communion (1928 BCP), and Article XXXVI. Together they show a classical Anglican pattern: bishops stand in the Church's ancient ministry, but their authority is received through public prayer, ordered doctrine, Scripture, and service to Christ's people.

The 1928 Offices of Instruction give a compact catechetical definition of episcopal office. That definition names pastoral headship, Holy Orders, and Confirmation before the Ordinal fills out the same office through examination, prayer, and consecration.

What orders of Ministers are there in the Church? Answer. Bishops, Priests, and Deacons; which orders have been in the Church from the earliest times. Question. What is the office of a Bishop? Answer. The office of a Bishop is, to be a chief pastor in the Church; to confer Holy Orders; and to administer Confirmation.

Place in the 1928 Ordinal

The 1928 rite is titled "The Form of Ordaining or Consecrating a Bishop." It begins in the Communion service, with the Presiding Bishop or another appointed bishop beginning the office after the church has been prepared. This setting matters because episcopal ministry is ordered toward Word, Sacrament, discipline, and the visible communion of the Church, not toward private status.

The collect gives the rite's first theological summary. Bishops are called "Pastors of thy Church"; their work is to preach the Word, administer godly discipline, and lead the people toward everlasting glory.

Almighty God, who by thy Son Jesus Christ didst give to thy holy Apostles many excellent gifts, and didst charge them to feed thy flock; Give grace, we beseech thee, to all Bishops, the Pastors of thy Church, that they may diligently preach thy Word, and duly administer the godly Discipline thereof; and grant to the people, that they may obediently follow the same; that all may receive the crown of everlasting glory; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The collect connects the office directly to Christ's charge to feed his flock. It also refuses to separate preaching from discipline. In Anglican use, episcopal oversight is pastoral and doctrinal at once: the bishop is to guard the Church by proclaiming the Word and administering discipline in a godly way.

Appointed Scripture

The appointed Epistle may be 1 Timothy 3:1-7 or Acts 20:17-35. The first gives moral qualifications for episcopal office; the second shows St. Paul charging the elders of Ephesus to watch over the flock. The Acts lesson is especially important because it joins oversight, preaching, warning, humility, and care for the weak.

Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.

The appointed Gospels are John 21:15-17, John 20:19-23, or Matthew 28:18-20. They interpret the episcopate under the risen Christ: feed the sheep, receive the mission and peace of Christ, and teach all nations to observe what he commanded.

Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.

The rite therefore frames a bishop first as one who is under Scripture before he is over clergy or congregations. He must be a watchman over doctrine and morals because the flock belongs to God and was purchased by Christ's blood.

Presentation and Promise of Conformity

After the Gospel, Nicene Creed, and sermon, the elected bishop is presented by two bishops near the Holy Table. The Presiding Bishop demands testimonials and requires a promise of conformity to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America.

In the Name of God, Amen. I, N., chosen Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in N., do promise conformity and obedience to the Doctrine, Discipline, and Worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. So help me God, through Jesus Christ.

This promise is one of the places where the American character of the rite appears plainly. The 1662 form includes obedience to the archbishop and metropolitical church; the American 1928 form speaks instead of conformity and obedience to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of the Episcopal Church. The change does not make episcopacy congregational or self-made. It locates the bishop's office within the Church's public formularies and canonical order.

Common Prayer Before Consecration

Before the Litany, the Presiding Bishop recalls Christ's night of prayer before choosing the Twelve and the apostles' prayer before Matthias was numbered with them. This keeps consecration from becoming mere succession by ceremony. The Church asks God to confirm a call that is trusted to be from the Holy Ghost.

Let us, therefore, following the example of our Saviour Christ, and his Apostles, offer up our prayers to Almighty God, before we admit and send forth this person presented unto us, to the work whereunto we trust the Holy Ghost hath called him.

The proper suffrage asks for grace to execute the office for the edifying and well-governing of the Church. The prayer after the Litany then asks that the bishop-elect be replenished with true doctrine and adorned with innocent life.

Almighty God, giver of all good things, who by thy Holy Spirit hast appointed divers Orders of Ministers in thy Church; Mercifully behold this thy servant, now called to the Work and Ministry of a Bishop; and so replenish him with the truth of thy Doctrine, and adorn him with innocency of life, that, both by word and deed, he may faithfully serve thee in this Office, to the glory of thy Name, and the edifying and well-governing of thy Church; through the merits of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen.

The words "truth of thy Doctrine" and "innocency of life" are not ornamental. They summarize the Prayer Book's expectation that episcopal teaching and episcopal example must cohere.

Examination of the Bishop-Elect

The Presiding Bishop introduces the examination by citing Holy Scripture and the ancient canons against haste in laying on hands. The congregation is not merely watching ceremonial succession; it is given public trial and witness concerning how the bishop-elect intends to behave himself in the Church of God.

The examination begins with vocation and then moves immediately to Scripture. The bishop-elect must confess that Scripture contains all doctrine required as necessary for salvation through faith in Christ, and he must teach or maintain nothing as necessary to salvation unless it may be concluded and proved by Scripture.

Are you persuaded that the Holy Scriptures contain all Doctrine required as necessary for eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ? And are you determined out of the same Holy Scriptures to instruct the people committed to your charge; and to teach or maintain nothing, as necessary to eternal salvation, but that which you shall be persuaded may be concluded and proved by the same?

The following questions require prayerful study, wholesome doctrine, resistance to false teaching, godly life, peace, discipline, faithful ordination of others, and mercy toward the poor and strangers.

Will you maintain and set forward, as much as shall lie in you, quietness, love, and peace among all men; and diligently exercise such discipline as by the authority of God's Word, and by the order of this Church, is committed to you?

The 1928 examination thus guards against two distortions. It does not reduce episcopacy to administrative management, because the bishop must teach, pray, ordain, correct doctrine, and shepherd. It also does not detach episcopacy from the gospel, because Scripture and Christ's saving doctrine govern the office.

Laying on of Hands

After the examination, the bishop-elect kneels, and the Veni Creator Spiritus is sung or said. The consecratory prayer draws on Ephesians 4, asking that the bishop may spread the Gospel and use authority "not to destruction, but to salvation."

Grant, we beseech thee, to this thy servant, such grace, that he may evermore be ready to spread abroad thy Gospel, the glad tidings of reconciliation with thee; and use the authority given him, not to destruction, but to salvation; not to hurt, but to help.

The Presiding Bishop and the bishops present then lay hands on the elected bishop. The form names the office explicitly and recalls 2 Timothy 1:6-7.

Receive the Holy Ghost for the Office and Work of a Bishop in the Church of God, now committed unto thee by the Imposition of our hands; In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. And remember that thou stir up the grace of God, which is given thee by this Imposition of our hands; for God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and soberness.

For classical Anglican theology, the words do not imply that bishops possess the Holy Ghost as a private power. The prayer and manual act are ministerial means by which the Church asks and trusts God to give grace for the office. For High Church and traditional Anglican Catholic theology, the same rite visibly preserves episcopal succession by bishops through prayer and laying on of hands.

Delivery of the Bible

Immediately after the laying on of hands, the Presiding Bishop gives the newly consecrated bishop the Bible. This action interprets episcopal authority through Scripture, teaching, and pastoral care. The bishop is not given a sword, ring, or political commission in the text of the 1928 rite; he is given the book by which he must read, exhort, teach, and shepherd.

Give heed unto reading, exhortation, and doctrine. Think upon the things contained in this Book. Be diligent in them, that the increase coming thereby may be manifest unto all men; for by so doing thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. Be to the flock of Christ a shepherd, not a wolf; feed them, devour them not. Hold up the weak, heal the sick, bind up the broken, bring again the outcasts, seek the lost.

This is the rite's sharpest pastoral sentence. It applies the scriptural images of shepherd and flock to episcopal ministry and names both firmness and mercy. A bishop is to feed, heal, restore, and seek; discipline is to be exercised without forgetting mercy.

Communion and Final Prayer

The newly consecrated bishop communicates with the Presiding Bishop and others in the Communion service. Immediately before the Benediction, the rite asks that the bishop be endowed with the Holy Spirit so that his preaching and example may continue faithfully.

Most merciful Father, send down, we beseech thee, upon this thy servant thy heavenly blessing; and so endue him with thy Holy Spirit, that he, preaching thy Word, may not only be earnest to reprove, beseech, and rebuke, with all patience and doctrine; but also may be, to such as believe, a wholesome example in word, in conversation, in love, in faith, in chastity, and in purity.

The final prayer echoes 2 Timothy 4:2 and 1 Timothy 4:12. It shows the bishop as preacher, reprover, patient teacher, and visible example. The office is therefore both doctrinal and ascetical: the bishop's public doctrine and personal life must reinforce one another.

Historical Continuity

The official Church of England 1662 text has the same basic pattern: Communion, appointed readings, public presentation, prayer, Litany, examination, Veni Creator, laying on of hands, delivery of the Bible, and Communion. Its Scripture-sufficiency question is close to the 1928 American form:

Are you persuaded that the holy Scriptures contain sufficiently all doctrine required of necessity for eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ? And are you determined out of the same holy Scriptures to instruct the people committed to your charge, and to teach or maintain nothing as required of necessity to eternal salvation, but that which you shall be persuaded may be concluded and proved by the same?

The American rite adapts English forms to American ecclesial order while retaining the scriptural and episcopal core. E. Clowes Chorley summarized the 1792 American development by noting both the general revision of the Ordinal and the particular changes made in the bishop's promise and discipline question:

At the General Convention of that year the House of Bishops revised the three services for the ordering of deacons, the ordination of priests and the consecration of bishops. ... In the Form for the Consecration of Bishops a pledge to render "all due reverence and obedience to the Archbishop" was changed to a promise of "conformity and obedience to the doctrine, discipline and worship of the Protestant "Episcopal Church in the United States of America." The further promise to "correct and punish all such as be unquiet, disobedient and criminous within your diocese" was changed to "diligently exercise such discipline, as by the authority of God's word, and by the order of this Church, is committed to you."

Chorley's account helps explain why the 1928 American form is neither a new invention nor a simple English transplant. It belongs to the American Prayer Book tradition established after independence, with local political oaths removed, ecclesial conformity expressed in American terms, and episcopal discipline tied explicitly to God's Word and the order of this Church.

Anglican Interpretation

Procter and Frere, discussing the English Ordinal, identify the bishop's examination as a distinctive feature of the consecration service. The importance of episcopal office required public testing as well as legal election.

But there is one special feature which distinguished the service of the consecration of a bishop from the other services, viz., the long and minute examination with which the service opened.

They continue by explaining why the examination belongs to the rite itself:

The importance of the episcopal office made it necessary that additional precautions should be taken, both to ascertain and to assure the people of his worthiness to be consecrated.

Browne's exposition of Article XXXVI gives the doctrinal logic behind Anglican confidence in the Ordinal. He argues that the essential pattern of ordination is not later ceremonial additions, but scriptural laying on of hands with prayer.

To this we answer, first, that Scripture gives no authority for all these forms. All that we read of there, is laying on of hands with prayer.

Browne also explains why the Ordinal's "Receive the Holy Ghost" language need not be read as a personal power claimed by the bishop:

Not that the Apostles or their successors could from themselves send forth the Spirit of God, or the gifts of the Spirit; but that, as our Lord had appointed ordination to be the means of receiving the grace of ordination, so the Church in undoubting faith believes, that, whensoever ordination is rightly ministered, the proper gift of orders flows down direct from the ordaining Spirit.

These historical and theological witnesses fit the 1928 rite closely. The rite retains catholic order through episcopal consecration and laying on of hands, while also retaining the Reformation insistence that the bishop's doctrine, discipline, and teaching must be governed by Holy Scripture.

Doctrinal Status

Article XXXVI, printed with the American 1928 BCP, gives the Ordinal formal doctrinal standing. It declares that the Book of Consecration and Ordering contains what is necessary for such consecration and ordering and rejects the claim that the form is superstitious or ungodly.

The Book of Consecration of Bishops, and Ordering of Priests and Deacons, as set forth by the General Convention of this Church in 1792, doth contain all things necessary to such Consecration and Ordering; neither hath it any thing that, of itself, is superstitious and ungodly. And, therefore, whosoever are consecrated or ordered according to said Form, we decree all such to be rightly, orderly, and lawfully consecrated and ordered.

Consecration of Bishops in the 1928 BCP is therefore a doctrinally serious office. It teaches that episcopal ministry is ancient, public, scriptural, sacramental in setting, pastoral in purpose, and accountable to the Church's received doctrine and worship. The bishop is ordained to guard and feed Christ's flock, not to replace Christ's authority over it.

See Also

• Book of Common Prayer (1928)
• Occasional Offices (1928 BCP)
• Ordinal (1928 BCP)
• Ordination of Deacons (1928 BCP)
• Ordination of Priests (1928 BCP)
• Litany and Suffrages for Ordinations (1928 BCP)
• Holy Communion (1928 BCP)
• Articles of Religion (1928 BCP)

External Links

• The Ordinal in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer
• The Offices of Instruction in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer
• Articles of Religion in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer
• The Consecration of Bishops in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer
• E. Clowes Chorley, The New American Prayer Book, chapter V
• Procter and Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, chapter XVI
• E. H. Browne, An Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles