A consecrator is a

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the

canon law of the Catholic Church The canon law of the Catholic Church ("canon law" comes from Latin ') is "how the Church organizes and governs herself". It is the system of laws and ecclesiastical legal principles made and enforced by the hierarchical authorities of the Cathol ...

Lutheran Church Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

es, in Anglican communities, and in the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...

History

The church has always sought to assemble as many bishops as possible for the election and consecration of new bishops. Although due to difficulties in travel, timing, and frequency of consecrations, this was reduced to the requirement that all comprovincial (of the same province) bishops participate. At the Council of Nicæa it was further enacted that "a bishop ought to be chosen by all the bishops of his province, but if that is impossible because of some urgent necessity, or because of the length of the journey, let three bishops at least assemble and proceed to the consecration, having the written permission of the absent." Consecrations by the Pope were exempt from the three bishop requirement. The reason for the three bishop requirement was stated by St. Isidore: " he customthat a bishop should not be ordained by one bishop, but by all the comprovincial bishops, is known to have been instituted on account of heresies, and in order that the tyrannical authority of one person should not attempt anything contrary to the faith of the Church."

Catholic Church

Validity

Although for validity, only one bishop is needed to raise a priest to the episcopacy, it remains a strict rule of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

that there should at least two co-consecrating bishops; with the sole exemption being made in

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

countries where it is very difficult to bring three bishops together. In those cases, the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

allows two priests to act as assistants to the consecrator. As three bishops take part, the Church is more certain of the validity of the ordination which requires only one of them for validity.

Principal co-consecrator

The term "principal co-consecrator" is used to designate the bishop who assists the principal consecrator in the ordination of a new bishop. Co-consecrators are not mere witnesses to the fact that the consecration has taken place; rather, by taking part in it, they make themselves responsible for its taking place. The consecrator and the two assistant bishops impose hands upon the head of the ''consecrandus'' saying "''Accipe spiritum sanctum.''"

Lutheran Churches

In the

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden ( sv, Svenska kyrkan) is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.6 million members at year end 2021, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sw ...

, bishops are ordained at

Uppsala Cathedral Uppsala Cathedral ( sv, Uppsala domkyrka) is a cathedral located between the University Hall of Uppsala University and the Fyris river in the centre of Uppsala, Sweden. A church of the Church of Sweden, the national church, in the Lutheran t ...

with the

Archbishop of Uppsala The Archbishop of Uppsala (spelled Upsala until the early 20th century) has been the primate (bishop), primate of Sweden in an unbroken succession since 1164, first during the Roman Catholic Church, Catholic era, and from the 1530s and onward un ...

serving as the principal consecrator. The first Lutheran bishops of Estonia and Latvia were consecrated by Nathan Söderblom, the Archbishop of Uppsala.

Anglican Communion

In the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

, the co-consecrator takes part in the

consecration Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

, so that if the principal consecrator has failed to convey the

episcopate A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

to the bishop being

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

, the episcopate can be given by the co-consecrator.

Eastern Orthodox Church

In the

, "The plurality of consecrators of a local bishop also clearly expresses

conciliarity Conciliarity is the adherence of various Christian communities to the authority of ecumenical councils and to synodal church governance. It is not to be confused with conciliarism, which is a particular historical movement within the Catholic ...

: as co-consecrators, bishops from neighbouring local churches witness to the faithfulness to the apostolic faith of the church in which the new bishop will in turn be guaranteeing this faithfulness." The presence of the additional bishops also ensures

apostolic succession Apostolic succession is the method whereby the ministry of the Christian Church is held to be derived from the apostles by a continuous succession, which has usually been associated with a claim that the succession is through a series of bisho ...

.{{Cite web , title=Apostolic Succession , url=https://discovertheearlychurch.org/apostolicsuccession.html , access-date=2022-09-01 , website=discovertheearlychurch.org

References

Ecclesiastical titles Sacramental law

History

Catholic Church

Validity

Principal co-consecrator

Lutheran Churches

Anglican Communion

Eastern Orthodox Church

See also

References