religious order (Latin ordo - order)

According to the teaching of the Catholic church it is the spiritual power which one can gain through ordination (Latin ordinatio). At the same time, religious order is a group of individuals who own this power to a certain degree. There were eight grades in the order. The initiation of order was preceded by the tonsure (Latin tonsura - crown of hair). The so-called smaller orders were: the doorkeeper (ostiarius), the reader (lector), the exorcist (exorcista), and the altar servant (acolythus), these people usually helped at liturgical services. The so-called bigger orders were: the subordinated priest (subdiaconus), the service priest (diaconus, the direct assistant to the bishop and the priest in church activities), the confessional priest (presbyter) and the bishop (episcopus). The four smaller orders and the subdiaconus from among the bigger orders were not holy orders, while the last three orders were holy orders, that is irrevocable. In the Roman Catholic church there are only holy orders, while in the Protestant churches there is no order at all.

MA