The dialogue on ministry and priesthood between the Lutheran and the Orthodox Churches is very different from the dialogue between Lutherans andRoman Catholics on this topic. In the Middle Ages the main stream of scholastic theology understood the ministry of the priest as the ministry of the one man who consecrates the eucharistic gifts as the highest rank ofthe priesthood. Therefore some of the popes allowed abbots (i.e. priests) to ordain priests. At the same time the unction of the hands or the presentation of the holy vessels with bread and wine and the formula "accipe potestatem offerre sacrificium Deo tam pro vivis quam pro defunctis" were considered as forma and materia of the ordination to the priesthood. This was altered by Pope Pius XII. Only the IInd Vatican Council definitely declared the ordination to the episcopal ministry as sacramental, whereas for the orthodox theology and practice it was always understood that the priest serves the liturgy only on behalf of the bishop and that prayer and laying on of hands have to be seen as the main actions of the ordination to the priesthood. The Eucharistic Ecclesiology contains elements for a prolific dialogue on ministry and priesthood between Lutheran and Orthodox Churches.

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Personen: Felmy, Karl Christian

Schlagwörter: Ekklesiologie Katholische Kirche Orthodoxe Kirche Priester Amt Ordination Bischof Weihe Amtsverständnis