The special Year for Priests was inaugurated a few weeks ago by His Holiness Benedict XVI (and not a moment too soon!). I read his letter and a few other things to get myself in a receptive mode for the graces I expect will be cascading down upon me every day of this year. I also thought I ought to take a look at the Rite of Ordination for the priesthood in the Byzantine tradition, just to make sure I remember what I signed up for! In a couple months it will be 18 years since that blessed day of my ordination. (I had been in the monastery 9 years previous to that.) The full story of my priestly vocation can be found on the link in the pages column to your right, entitled (appropriately) My Priestly Vocation.
One must humble oneself, said the Lord, if one is to be exalted. There’s plenty of that in the ordination rite. The devout deacon prostrates three times (with prayers said over him each time) 
as he approaches the bishop just before the sanctuary, and then after the ordination he prostrates again before the sanctuary while a litany of petitions is prayed. But for the actual Prayer of Ordination he kneels at the altar. There’s a little symbolic indication that a priest must be humbler than a deacon: when the deacon is ordained, he gets down on one knee before the altar; when the priest is ordained he has to be on both knees!
More humbling to come. The Prayer of Ordination begins: “Divine Grace, which always heals the infirm and supplies what is lacking…” So I was immediately informed that I was infirm and inadequate! Well, it was (and is) true, so it’s good to get all the cards on the table when entering the presence of the Holy God, the Searcher of Hearts. The prayer goes on: “…elevates the devout deacon _____ to the priesthood. Therefore let us pray for him, that the grace of the Holy Spirit may come upon him.” Then the whole congregation says, “Lord, have mercy!” The humbling precedes the exaltation (or elevation), though once elevated the priest must still continue to humble himself. I guess that’s why he prostrates again after he is ordained.
There are other prayers that are said, and here is one of them: “O Lord God, whose power is great and wisdom is unfathomable, whose counsels are more wonderful than those of the sons of men: fill your servant, whom You have chosen to be ordained to the priesthood, with the gifts of your Holy Spirit, so that he may stand worthily and blamelessly before your holy altar, preach the Gospel of your Kingdom, sanctify the word of your truth, offer gifts and spiritual sacrifices and renew your people in the bath of regeneration. Grant also that, at the time of the Second Coming of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, your only-begotten Son, he may meet Him and receive the reward of a good stewardship, according to the fullness of your goodness. For blessed and glorified is your most honored and sublime name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and forever and unto ages of ages.”
The newly-ordained priest has risen from his prostration by this time, but only to his knees (still humbled!). Then the bishop gives him the “insignia of office”: the various parts of his priestly vestments and the sacred vessels, etc. With each one, after the appropriate prayer or blessing, the bishop declares, and the people respond: Axios! (Greek for “worthy”—in the early Church, it was a question, and the people either affirmed his worthiness or declared him anaxios, unworthy; it is more or less a formality these days, so at least I didn’t have to sweat that one out!)
Among the prayers at the giving of insignia, the one I found most striking was the one that accompanied the giving of the chalice and diskos (paten): “Receive the power to offer sacrifice to God, and to celebrate the Liturgy for the living and those who have fallen asleep in the Lord.” This is really of the essence of the Catholic priesthood: to offer the sacrifice of Christ to the Father, for the sake of the living and the dead. Without this sacrificial element, the priesthood would be little more than a “service profession.” But it is the “elevation” mentioned above which configures the priest in his very being to Christ the High Priest (“who offers and is offered,” as we say in the Liturgy) and thus grants him “the power to offer sacrifice to God.” Earlier in the rite, after making the Profession of Faith, the one about to be ordained must additionally profess (among other things): “I further believe that in the Sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist bread is changed into the Body and wine into the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is sworn upon the Holy Gospel. The Church wants to get it clear that she is not admitting any doubters to the priesthood!
I’ve not gone over the whole rite and all its prayers and details, but that is the essence of it. I remember my ordination Liturgy well. Even though I had been a deacon for 16 months and was used to serving at the altar, nothing quite prepared me for receiving the grace to offer the Sacrifice, putting on the priestly vestments, extending my hand and saying: “Take, eat, this is My body… this is My blood,” and imploring God the Father to “make this bread the body of your Christ, and that which is in this chalice the blood of your Christ, changing them by your Holy Spirit. Amen, amen, amen!” The experience of that day cannot really be communicated in words, for the awareness of the grace of the mystery is ineffable. But it is good to recall it from time to time, so that I can remember both the humbling and the elevation—and to remember that both are required to be a true priest.
I hope and pray that this Year for Priests will be the occasion of the bearing of much spiritual fruit in the Church, and of a genuine renewal of the priesthood, which is so beleaguered and so torn from strife and scandal. Yet it is still the priesthood of Jesus Christ, and He will not cease to purify and heal, admonish and encourage his own to be faithful icons of his sacrificial life and love. He has entrusted much to the priests, for your salvation. Pray for us, that we may be found axios when the Lord will require an account of our stewardship. We are both humbled and exalted by this extraordinary grace from God—and may God enable us to fulfill this demanding but rewarding vocation, for his glory and the salvation of souls.
