The Orthodox Church has three major orders of clergy: bishop, priest, and deacon. These aren’t just job titles. They’re sacramental offices that go back to the Apostles themselves, conferred through ordination by the laying on of hands.
The Three Major Orders
A bishop is the successor to the Apostles. He oversees a diocese (a geographic region with multiple parishes), ordains all clergy, and consecrates churches. Only a bishop can ordain. When Fr. Michael at St. Michael’s was ordained, Metropolitan Joseph laid hands on him because that’s how it works. The grace flows through apostolic succession from Christ through the Apostles down to today. Bishops can do everything liturgically, there’s no restriction on their ministry.
A priest (we also call him a presbyter, from the Greek) serves a parish under his bishop’s authority. He celebrates the Divine Liturgy, hears confessions, anoints the sick, marries couples, baptizes, and basically does everything except ordain people and consecrate church buildings. Those two things belong to the bishop alone. When you see Father at the altar on Sunday morning, he’s exercising the priesthood given to him by his bishop.
A deacon assists the priest and bishop during services. The word means “servant,” and that’s what he does. He can’t celebrate the Liturgy by himself or hear confessions. But he proclaims the Gospel, leads litanies, and helps distribute Holy Communion. Some deacons serve full-time at parishes. Others work regular jobs (plenty of guys in Beaumont work at the refineries during the week and vest on Sundays) and serve part-time.
Married or Monastic?
Here’s something that surprises people coming from other backgrounds: Orthodox priests can be married. But there’s a catch. You have to get married before you’re ordained. Once you’re ordained, that’s it. Can’t get married after. Can’t remarry if your wife dies.
Bishops are different. They must be celibate monastics. That’s why you’ll notice all our bishops are monks. Metropolitan Joseph is a monk. So was St. John Chrysostom. So was St. Basil the Great. The tradition goes way back.
The Minor Orders
Before someone becomes a deacon, he usually serves in what we call the minor orders. These aren’t sacramental ordinations like the major orders, but they’re real roles in the Church.
A reader (or lector) reads the Epistle during services and leads certain prayers. When a man is made a reader, the bishop tonsures him by cutting his hair in the shape of a cross. It’s the first step toward ordained ministry for many men, though plenty of readers never go further and that’s fine.
A subdeacon assists the bishop during the Divine Liturgy, helping him vest and preparing the holy vessels. You’ll only see a subdeacon when the bishop serves. It’s a specifically episcopal ministry.
There are other minor orders too, acolytes who serve at the altar, cantors who lead the singing, but reader and subdeacon are the ones you’ll encounter most often.
Honorific Titles
You might hear a priest called “Archpriest” or a deacon called “Protodeacon.” These are honors given by the bishop for years of faithful service. An archpriest is usually a senior priest, maybe the dean who oversees other priests in a region. A protodeacon is the leading deacon, often serving at the cathedral.
If a priest is also a monk, he’s called a hieromonk. If he’s a senior monastic priest, he might be an archimandrite. These titles can seem confusing at first, but they’re just ways the Church recognizes different kinds of service.
What This Means for You
When you walk into St. Michael’s, you’re seeing this ancient structure in action. The bishop ordained the priest. The priest celebrates the Mysteries. The deacon assists and proclaims the Gospel. Everyone has a role, and it all flows from the apostolic ministry Christ gave to His Church.
You don’t need to memorize all the titles right away. Just know that when Father stands at the altar, he’s not there by his own authority. He’s there because he was ordained into an unbroken line that goes back two thousand years to the Upper Room. That’s what we mean by apostolic succession, and it’s why the clergy aren’t just religious professionals. They’re bearers of a grace that’s been handed down from the beginning.
