'Endue thy Ministers with righteousness': the absence of sacerdotalism in the historic Anglican pastoral experience

Endue thy Ministers with righteousness.

It has been prayed daily at Prayer Book Matins and Evensong since 1549.  The petition of the wording, of course, differs from its source in Psalm 132:9: "Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness". The change echoes throughout the Prayer Book. The 'Prayer for the Clergy and People' at Matins and Evensong prays for "our Bishops and Curates". PECUSA 1789 revised this to read "our Bishops, and other Clergy", while Ireland 1878 had "our Bishops and Clergy". In the Prayer for the Church Militant at the Holy Communion, 1549, 1552, and 1559 interceded for "all Bishops, Pastors, and Curates". In 1662 this became "all Bishops and Curates". The 1689 Liturgy of Comprehension restored the 1559 usage, while PECUSA 1789 had "all Bishops and other Ministers". The prayers for the Ember Weeks refer to "the Bishops and Pastors of thy flock", while those about "to be admitted into Holy Orders" are referred to as serving "in the sacred Ministry of thy Church", "any office and administration in the same".

Missing from all these petitions is the language of priesthood. As we know, there is very good precedent for this in Hooker's famous statement: 

in truth the word Presbyter doth seeme more fitt, and in proprietie of speech more agreeable then Priest with the drift of the whole gospell of Jesus Christ (LEP V.78.3).

What is more, this was also reflected in Laudian usage. Consider, for example, Laud's 1635 visitation articles:

Whether doth your parson, vicar, or curate, distinctly and reverently say Divine Service upon Sundays and Holydays, and other days appointed to be observed by the Book of Common Prayer ... 

Doth your minister bid Holydays and Fasting Days, as by the Book of Common Prayer is appointed?

Doth your minister use to pray for the King's Majesty, King Charles ... and all magistrates in authority under him? And doth he also pray for all Archbishops, Bishops, and other ecclesiastical persons?

Doth your minister use such decency and comeliness in his apparel, as by the 47th Canon is enjoined?

The same approach is seen in Jeremy Taylor's 1661 'Rules and Advices' to his clergy, in which the recurring phrase "every Minister" appears 26 times. The word 'priest' occurs once.

All of this is significant because it captures an important characteristic of the Anglican pastoral and communal experience: the absence of sacerdotalism. The ministry of clergy is neither defined nor experienced in mediatorial terms. This is given expression by the consistent use of the terms minister, parson, vicar, rector, and curate, rather than priest. Such titles of office and administration make no sacerdotal claims.

The absolution at Matins and Evensong in many ways exemplifies this: 

and hath given power, and commandment, to his Ministers, to declare and pronounce to his people, being penitent, the Absolution and Remission of their sins: He pardoneth and absolveth all them that truly repent, and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel.

The High Church Thomas Secker - Archbishop of Canterbury 1758-68 - noted that this was no exercise of "sacerdotal power" but, rather, "solemn Proclamation of Pardon on [God's] Behalf". Such is the ministry of clergy in Word and Sacrament, in blessing and absolution: it is a proclamation which, when received by faith, edifies and encourages, restores and renews. In itself, it has no mediatorial power or virtue, and makes no claim to such. 

There is another aspect of the absolution at Matins and Evensong which points to this. The 1662 rubric states, "The Absolution or Remission of sins to be pronounced by the Priest alone". The rubric employs the term 'Priest', but the text of the absolution itself uses 'Ministers'. The language of order is used in the rubric, ensuring that the one pronouncing absolution is, in the words of Article 23, "lawfully called and sent". The language of the text, however, uses 'Ministers' because this is language of common prayer, of the common life and piety of Anglican churches.

This also is evident in the one Prayer Book petition - outside the Ordinal - in which we do pray for priests. Three times each week, we do so in the Litany:

That it may please thee to illuminate all Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, with true knowledge and understanding of thy Word; and that both by their preaching and living they may set it forth and shew it accordingly ...

This petition is placed in the context of prayers for the public life of church and state. It is, in other words, a prayer for the Church as a public, duly ordered corporation amongst other public, duly ordered bodies. Here the language of order is called for: Bishops, Priests, and Deacons. Note, however, how their ministry is described in distinctly non-sacerdotal terms: "with true knowledge and understanding of thy Word ... by their preaching and living". One would be very hard-pressed indeed to offer a sacerdotal interpretation of this. The petition is, in other words, a reflection of the absolution at Matins and Evensong. The language of order to describe a lawfully, duly ordered corporation; the language of ministry to describe the Anglican pastoral and communal experience.

It is this which explains why the language of the Ordinal is not reflected in the text of common prayers and in historic Anglican experience and piety. The language of order has a role different to the language which shapes common prayer, pastoral ministry, and communal life. William White, PECUSA's first presiding bishop, stated this in suitably Hookerian terms:

Priesthood is the office or ecclesiastical standing of a person of the order of priests; for when it is taken in a more extensive sense ... there is a use of the word not warranted by the practice of early antiquity, or of the Church of which we are members.

An officious desire - or, even worse, insistence - that the language of order should displace the language of common prayer, piety, and pastoral experience is to the detriment of Anglicanism. The terms minister, parson, vicar, rector, and curate embody traditions of Anglican prayer, piety, and pastoral relationships in a way quite different to sacerdotal terminology. There is a sense in which these titles are a corollary to the idea of a Book of Common Prayer: one book for all divine services, fully possessed by the laity with and alongside "Ministers in the Congregation" (cf. Cranmer in 'Concerning the Service of the Church'), in the vernacular, with no separate text for sacerdotal duties, "no rules called the Pie", and no prayers uttered by the clergy sotto voce. Common prayer because the difference between the ordained and the laity is one of function, not of essence: it is a relationship best described not by sacerdotal terminology, but the titles minister, parson, vicar, rector, and curate - titles which speak of office within and for the service of a community. These are terms to be cherished, celebrated, and commonly and confidently used, carrying with them a quiet, modest, faithful vision of pastoral ministry and relationships, within and amidst the parish.