Ordinal (1928 BCP)

Ordinal (1928 BCP) is the form for making, ordaining, and consecrating bishops, priests, and deacons in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer. It gives Anglican ministry a public and scriptural order: candidates are called, tried, examined, prayed for, admitted by laying on of hands, and placed under the Word of God and the discipline of the Church.

The Ordinal is not an appendix to private clerical piety. It is one of the places where the Prayer Book most clearly joins doctrine, worship, and ecclesial order. Its rites make ministry accountable to Holy Scripture, the public congregation, episcopal oversight, and the Church's mission of preaching, sacraments, pastoral care, and discipline.

Place in the Prayer Book

The 1928 Ordinal bears the older American title, "The Form and Manner of Making, Ordaining, and Consecrating Bishops, Priests, and Deacons." Its preface repeats the classical Anglican claim that three ministerial orders are received from apostolic and ancient usage, and that no one may exercise them without lawful calling, examination, public prayer, and the imposition of hands.

It is evident unto all men, diligently reading Holy Scripture and ancient Authors, that from the Apostles' time there have been these Orders of Ministers in Christ's Church, Bishops, Priests, and Deacons.

The preface is important for Anglican theology because it refuses two opposite reductions. Ministry is not merely a congregational function created by local usefulness, since the rite appeals to apostolic and ancient order. Yet ministry is also not treated as magic or private status, since the candidate must be known, examined, publicly approved, and admitted for the service of Christ's Church.

Calling, Examination, and Public Consent

Each order begins with public presentation and inquiry. For deacons and priests, a priest presents the candidates to the bishop, who asks whether they are apt and meet in learning and godly conversation. The bishop then addresses the people and invites objection if any impediment or notable crime is known. The same pattern, adapted for episcopal consecration, places the bishop-elect before the Church with testimonials and a promise of conformity.

This public testing gives the Ordinal its pastoral realism. The Church prays for grace, but it also asks about character, doctrine, canonical calling, and fitness for office. Ordination is not self-authentication; the candidate's inward sense of call is received through the Church's outward discernment.

Deacons

The making of deacons is ordered around service, Scripture, catechesis, assistance at the Holy Communion, and care for the poor and sick. The collect interprets the order through Acts 6 and St. Stephen, asking that the candidates be replenished with true doctrine and adorned with innocent life.

Mercifully behold these thy servants now called to the like Office and Administration: so replenish them with the truth of thy Doctrine, and adorn them with innocency of life, that, both by word and good example, they may faithfully serve thee in this Office.

The bishop's examination asks whether the ordinand trusts that he is inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost, believes himself called according to Christ's will and the canons of the Church, is persuaded of the sufficiency of Scripture for salvation, and will read Scripture to the people. The office is then defined in practical terms:

It appertaineth to the Office of a Deacon, in the Church where he shall be appointed to serve, to assist the Priest in Divine Service, and specially when he ministereth the Holy Communion, and to help him in the distribution thereof; and to read Holy Scriptures and Homilies in the Church; and to instruct the youth in the Catechism.

The laying on of hands gives authority for the office in Trinitarian form, and the delivery of the New Testament binds the deacon's ministry to the Gospel. This makes the diaconate both liturgical and evangelical: service at the altar, instruction in the Catechism (1928 BCP), care for the needy, and proclamation of the Gospel belong together.

Priests

The ordering of priests places special weight on preaching, sacramental ministry, pastoral cure, and scriptural doctrine. Its lessons include Ephesians 4 on Christ's gifts to the Church and Matthew 9 on the scattered sheep and the Lord's harvest. The alternative Gospel from John 10 places the priestly office under Christ the Good Shepherd.

The exhortation is one of the strongest statements of pastoral responsibility in the Prayer Book. Priests are not merely ceremonial officers. They are charged as messengers, watchmen, and stewards, responsible to teach, warn, feed, and seek Christ's sheep.

Ye have in remembrance, into how high a Dignity, and to how weighty an Office and Charge ye are called: that is to say, to be Messengers, Watchmen, and Stewards of the Lord; to teach, and to premonish, to feed and provide for the Lord's family.

The same exhortation immediately grounds priestly diligence in the redemption of Christ and the identity of the Church as his body and spouse:

For they are the sheep of Christ, which he bought with his death, and for whom he shed his blood. The Church and Congregation whom you must serve, is his Spouse, and his Body.

The priestly examination is explicitly scriptural and doctrinal. The ordinand must be persuaded that Holy Scripture contains all doctrine required as necessary for eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, and must teach nothing as necessary to salvation except what may be concluded and proved by Scripture. The vow therefore joins the Ordinal to Article VI and to the Prayer Book's broader pattern of praying, reading, and preaching Scripture.

Will you then give your faithful diligence always so to minister the Doctrine and Sacraments, and the Discipline of Christ, as the Lord hath commanded, and as this Church hath received the same, according to the Commandments of God?

The laying on of hands is accompanied by either the older "Receive the Holy Ghost" form or the alternative "Take thou Authority" form. In both, the priest is made a dispenser of the Word of God and the holy Sacraments, and is then given the Bible with authority to preach and minister the sacraments in the congregation to which he is lawfully appointed.

Bishops

The form for ordaining or consecrating a bishop begins within the Communion service. Its collect asks that bishops, as pastors of the Church, may diligently preach the Word and administer godly discipline. The lessons are drawn from 1 Timothy 3, Acts 20, John 21, John 20, and Matthew 28, so that episcopal oversight is framed by moral qualification, apostolic vigilance, feeding Christ's flock, the mission of the risen Lord, and the Great Commission.

The bishop-elect promises conformity and obedience to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. He is examined about his calling, Scripture, doctrine, prayer, discipline, ordaining others, and mercy toward the poor and needy. The rite is therefore both catholic and reformed: episcopal succession and public consecration stand together with the sufficiency of Scripture and the correction of false doctrine.

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?

After the Veni Creator and prayer, the presiding bishop and the bishops present lay hands upon the bishop-elect. The words recall 2 Timothy 1:6-7 and locate episcopal authority in the gift of the Holy Ghost for office and work in the Church.

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.

The delivery of the Bible gives the clearest pastoral image of the episcopate. A bishop is to read, exhort, and teach; to shepherd rather than devour; to heal, seek, and restore; and to hold discipline together with mercy.

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.

Scripture and Sacramental Order

The Ordinal's theology is carried by Scripture at every major point. Deacons are linked to Acts 6 and 1 Timothy 3. Priests are linked to Ephesians 4, Matthew 9, and John 10. Bishops are linked to 1 Timothy 3, Acts 20, John 21, John 20, and Matthew 28. These lessons do not decorate the rite; they identify the ministries being conferred.

The rites are also eucharistic. Ordination takes place in the setting of Holy Communion, and those ordained receive Communion with the bishop. This matters because Anglican ministry is ordered toward the Church's worship and mission, not toward clerical self-display. Word, Sacrament, discipline, and pastoral cure are held within the Church's common prayer.

Anglican Theological Use

For classical Anglican and Reformed Episcopal theology, the 1928 Ordinal is a compact statement of ordered ministry under Scripture. It affirms bishops, priests, and deacons without separating their authority from examination, public prayer, holy living, canonical order, and fidelity to the Word of God. Its repeated language about Scripture containing all doctrine necessary to salvation guards the ministry from becoming an independent source of doctrine.

For High Church and traditional Anglican Catholic use, the Ordinal also preserves the visible continuity of ordered ministry. Bishops ordain by laying on of hands, priests share in that laying on for priestly ordination, and the Church receives ministers through solemn public rites rather than informal commissioning. This catholic form is joined to Prayer Book restraint: the rite does not require later Roman definitions of priesthood, sacrifice, or jurisdiction, but uses biblical and patristic language ordered by the formularies.

The Ordinal should therefore be read with the Holy Communion (1928 BCP), Catechism (1928 BCP), Confirmation (1928 BCP), The Litany (1928 BCP), and the Articles of Religion. Together they show a Prayer Book vision of ministry as Christ-given service in his Church: evangelical in doctrine, catholic in order, pastoral in purpose, and accountable to the Word of God.

See Also

• Book of Common Prayer (1928)
• Occasional Offices (1928 BCP)
• Ordination of Deacons (1928 BCP)
• Ordination of Priests (1928 BCP)
• Consecration of Bishops (1928 BCP)
• Litany and Suffrages for Ordinations (1928 BCP)

External Links

• The Ordinal in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer at Justus Anglican
• 1928 Book of Common Prayer at Justus Anglican