ordination, in Christian churches, a rite for the dedication and commissioning of ministers. The essential ceremony consists of the laying of hands of the ordaining minister upon the head of the one being ordained, with prayer for the gifts of the Holy Spirit and of grace required for the carrying out of the ministry. The service also usually includes a public examination of the candidate and a sermon or charge concerning the responsibilities of the ministry.
Christianity derived the ceremony from the Jewish custom of ordaining rabbis by the laying on of hands (the Semikha). In the Hebrew Scriptures, Moses ordained Joshua (Numbers 27:18, 23; Deuteronomy 34:9), and in the New Testament the seven were ordained by the Twelve Apostles (Acts 6:6) and Barnabas and Paul were commissioned by prophets and teachers at Antioch (Acts 13:3). According to the Pastoral Letters (1 Timothy 4:14; 2 Timothy 1:6), ordination confers a spiritual gift of grace. The oldest ordination prayers extant are contained in the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus of Rome (c. ad 217). In medieval times the Latin rites were elaborated by the addition of various prayers and of such ceremonies as the anointing of hands, clothing the ordinand with the appropriate vestments, and presenting him with the symbols pertinent to his rank; e.g., the Gospels to a deacon and the chalice and paten with the bread and wine to a candidate for the priesthood. The rites of ordination in the Roman Catholic church were considerably simplified in 1968.
In churches that have retained the historic episcopate, the ordaining minister is always a bishop. In Presbyterian churches, ordination is conferred by ministers of the presbytery. In the Reformed Protestant tradition lay persons are ordained to be ruling elders and deacons by the minister joined by others so ordained previously. In Congregational churches ordination is conducted by persons chosen by the local congregation.
According to Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic theology, ordination (holy orders) is a sacrament essential to the church, and it bestows an unrepeatable, indelible character upon the person ordained. See also holy order.