Religion and Theology

Ministry of Jesus.

The ministry of Jesus Christ that lay the foundation of modern Christianity was instituted by the Old Testament prophesies. Consequently, church ministry is considered to be commissioned by Gods spirit so as to provide for the spiritual needs of the populace. The ministry of love is a service that is render with the fore motive to save mankind from mortal condemnation due to evil and sin.
The ancient church was condemned under the idea of hierarchy that was stipulated in the sacrament of Holy Orders that allowed only threefold form of church leadership that recognized the Bishop of Rome as the unquestionable divine head of the church with other bishops, followed in by priests and deacons. Over time the divinity of the threefold leadership was questioned and the rest of the clerical workers such as cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops, archdeacons and presbyters.
Presbyters are ordained priests responsible for offering of divine matters pertaining to God for the cleansing of sins. The institution of presbyters was instituted by Moses in the desert before the foundation of the nation of Israel in order to offer sacrifices. Though later during the time of Christ and the New Testament the presbyters remained in the temple as elders of the church, their functions were diffused by the dead of Jesus Christ that in return declared a shift of the paradigm of worship from sacrificial mission to preaching of the good news of forgiveness through Christ Jesus. Therefore the modern day priest replaced the former presbyter functions of nourishing human souls spiritual without the inclusion of the sacrificial mission that accompanied the presbyter. Jesus Christ was the first among leaders of the church who instituted the hierarchy of apostles and disciples that were meant to aid the leader in perform sacred functions pertaining to saving mankind from the fury of sin.
According to the Sacrament of Holy orders that confers bishops, priests (presbyters) and deacon as the only acceptable leaders of the early church a presbyter is described as an ordained appointee of the bishop who is charged with the responsibility of teaching, governing and performing sacraments rituals of the church. Under the leadership of the presbyter was a deacon who oversaw the administrative chores of the church. Bishops are recognized as the overall leaders of the church to control and discipline the presbyters and deacons for they are given the divine power to appoint, ordain and dismiss deacons and presbyters. Timothy and Titus are seen as the first century bishops. Ignatius of Antioch specifically introduces the threefold personalities in his letter to the Magnesians Ignatius of Antioch Take care to do all things in harmony with God, with the bishop presiding in the place of God and with the presbyters in the place of the council of the apostles, and with the deacons, who are most dear to me, entrusted with the business of Jesus Christ, (Letter to the Magnesians 6 1 A.D. 110) (Holy Orders, 2000). Therefore a presbyter who is also referred to as elder is the same person as a priest in English that is also in tune with the Greek term presbuteros.

Presbyterian Ministry 27-110 A.D.
During this era the church was still in its foundation process thus apostles and disciples were regarded as the highest ranking officials of the church. Though the term apostle can be found in later decades especially in reference to Didache who refers to their activities as Now concerning the apostles and prophets, deal with them as follows in accordance with the rule of the gospel (Didache 113). Didache claims that the prophets and the apostles were the presbyterspriest of the day (Didache 133.) as cited in (McKellar, 2009). The wide held difference between teachers, bishops and presbyters were not distinguished apart during this early church development period. Later the bishops were to replace the apostles with presbyters as their assistants while before an apostle like apostle Paul was accompanied by leaders of regional church such as Timothy and Silas (McKellar, 2009) who also appointed other leaders within the churches in order to establish law and order in during ministry of the word of Jesus Christ. Moreover, Ignatius of Antioch states that Pay attention to the bishop and to the presbytery and deacons. . . . the Spirit itself was preaching, saying these words Do nothing without the bishop. . . . .(Ignatius) as cited in (McKellar, 2009).  Therefore he introduces the concept of bishops and presbyters at an early age of around 70 A.D. Before 50 A.D, a presbyter must have been strictly a Jewish priest therefore the new church coined the term after the death of the first apostles and disciples of Jesus Christ in order to harmonies leadership just like in the Jewish ordinance. Women priest were discouraged by Apostle Paul, but if prophets are to be considered as priests as Didache claims the scenario will take a positive turn. According to Timothy an elderpresbyter is directs the affairs of the church, some preach, teacher and distributing food (1 Tim. 517). Presbyterian Ministry 90-210 A.D.

During this era that overlaps with the immediate foundation of the church, elders become more recognized in their daily church duties of preaching, administering sacraments and teaching. The presbyter was well placed in the second command after the bishop with the prestige assigned to the former arch-leadership of the apostles having faded though the usage of the apostolic term continued, the power of spirit attached to them was severally reduced to as the bishops took over the eminent power of delegating church activities. The presbyter power to offer liturgical functions was impaired.
   
Presbyterian Ministry 210 to 600 AD
The leadership of the church was made more formal with the bishop assuming the powers of the overall leader of the church and the presbyter as the attendant to look after an individual church while deacons were servants of the bishops. Consequently, the (bishop) were charged with the function of protecting holy teachings and rituals from heresies. The power of baptism and confirmation, laying of hand for the spirit to ascend and ordaining of presbyters and deacons were ascribed to the post of the bishop. Hippolytus detailed the ordination of Deacons as a bishops divinity right and Stated that the presbyter has only the power to receive the Spirit, and not the power to give the Spirit. That is why a presbyter does not ordain the clergy for at the ordaining of a presbyter, he but seals while the bishop ordains. (The Apostolic Tradition 9 A.D. 215) as cited in (Holy Orders, 2000). At the same time some women were allowed to take part in church leadership plans and mostly in order to attend to the basic needs of the women fraternity. Later the priests were allowed to offer the Eucharist while deacons were admonished from undertaking the same. In the year 234 A.D, Origen made a statement to the effect that marriage just like fornication made bishops, presbyters and deacons alike ceremoniously unclean to conduct ecclesiastical functions. The Council of Nicaea I admonished the self-elevated role of deacons in offering Eucharist that was against the command of the threefold hierarchy and consequently allowed the presbyters to administer Eucharist to the deacons. During this time the presbyters started wearing special clothes as a result of offering Eucharist services.

In conclusion, today presbyters are priests that perform common church function that range from teaching, preaching and sacrament offering.