Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. The term comes from greek κληρος (fortune, or metaphorically, heritage).
Depending on the religion, clergy usually take care of the ritual aspects of the religious life, teach or otherwise help in spreading the religion's doctrine. They often deal with life-cycle events such as childbirth, circumcision, coming of age ceremonies, marriage, and death. Clergy of most faiths work outside formal houses of worship, and can be found working in hospitals, nursing homes, missions, armies, etc.
There is a significant difference between clergy and theologians; clergy have the above-mentioned duties while theologians are scholars of religion and theology, and are not necessarily clergy. A lay-person can be a theologian. The two fields, of course, often overlap.
Clergy are protected by special laws in many countries.
In some cases clergy are financed (or co-financed) by the nation they work in, but usually they are financially supported by the donations of individual members of their religion.
In Christianity there is a wide range of formal and informal clergy positions, including priests, deacons, bishops, and ministers. In most streams of Islam the religious leader is known as an Imam, and in the Shiite branch of Islam there are other leaders, such as an Ayatollah.
Ordained Catholic clergymen are deacons, priests, or bishops, i.e., they belong to the diaconate, the presbyterate, or the episcopate. Among bishops, some are metropolitans, archbishops, or patriarchs, and the Pope is a bishop. With rare exceptions, cardinals are bishops, although it was not always so; formerly, some cardinals were unordained laymen and not clergymen. The Holy See supports the activity of its clergy by the "Congregation for the Clergy" ([1]), an organ of Roman curia.
Canon law indicates (canon 107) that "by divine institution, there are in the Church [Latin: Ecclesia] clergy [Latin: clerices] distinguished from laics". This distinction of a separate class was formed in the early times of Christianity; one early source reflecting this distinction is the writings of St. Ignatius of Antioch. The original clerics were the bishops (the Twelve Apostles) and the deacons (their seventy appointed assistants); the presbyterate actually developed as a sort of semi-bishop (cf. the disused chorepiskopos, "rural bishop").
Catholic clerical organisation is hierarchical in nature: After the tonsura (by which a man formally becomes a clericus), are the 4 minor orders (ostiary, lectorate, order of exorcists, order of acolytes), the 3 major orders (subdiaconate, diaconate, and presbyterate) and finally the episcopate, which is defined in Catholic doctrine as "the fullness of Holy Orders". Minor orders are today mainly a symbolic passage and a requirement for the major orders, and have no special power.
Stricto sensu only those who have been consecrated to the holy ministry after the tonsura are part of the clergy, but in time the term has been used with wider meanings; in common language it includes all the people consecrated to God. Questions regard monks and nuns as eventually part of clergy, after a consolidated habit of the same Roman Catholic Church (especially in recent times and even in formal acts) of simply sharing God's people in clergy and laics only, and certainly monks and nuns are not laics having being consecrated and having had their tonsura (for nuns there is an equivalent ceremony).
The administration of sacramentss seems to be the real distinguishing element, and in this sense monks should be considered part of clergy, while nuns would not. Ordination to Holy Orders is considered one of the Seven Sacraments of Divine institution by Catholic doctrine, in many ways directly comparable to Holy Matrimony (i.e., marriage).
During the Middle Ages however, the term was used to indicate all the people with an education (having education been an exclusive privilege of clergy for long epochs) and the term also survives in some students' organisations in some ancient universities (such as Goliardia, where they are often called clerici vagantes).
The term clerici vagantes comes indeed from the clerics that before 12th century were commanded at the service of a determined church (incardinatio); after that time, they were not forced any more to reside in the church (if they had no privileges or other related rights), and they could go living and residing wherever they liked (then vagantes, wandering).
The Council of Trent vainly tried to abolish this use, and only in recent times the rule was restored that a clericus has a perpetual and absolute obligation to serve the diocese or the Order to which he is assigned; only with a special authorisation he can be accepted in the jurisdiction of another diocese or of another Order.
Current canon law prescribes that to be ordained a priest, an education is required of two years of scholastic philosophy study, and 4 years of theology; dogmatic and moral theology, the Holy Scriptures, and canon law have to be studied inside a seminary. This reflects the scholastic and intellectual traditions of the Latin Church.
Oaths of celibacy and obedience are required as a condition for admittance (and persistence) in the Catholic Latin Rite; this is a disciplinary and administrative rule rather than a dogmatic and doctrinal one. Celibacy has taken many forms in different times and places. The Council in Trullo (Quinisextum Concilium) in 692 barred bishops from marrying, but did not prevent married men from becoming priests and excommunicated those deacons who would have divorced because ordained. This rule is still followed for ordained deacons in the Latin Rite, as well as for priests in the Eastern Rites. Married men are not ordained priests in the Latin Rite, although some married priests do exist who were ordained in the Anglican church and later received into the Roman Catholic Church.
Clergy have four classical rights:
The clergy of the Orthodox Church are the bishops, priests, and deacons, the same offices identified in the New Testament and found in the early church. Bishops include archbishops, metropolitans, and patriarchs.
Priests (also called presbyters or elders) include archpriests and hieromonks (priest-monks).
Deacons also include archdeacons; subdeacons however are not deacons, they comprise a separate office that is tonsured but not ordained, as do readers, acolytes and others. Bishops are required to be celibate, but priests and deacons may be married, provided that they are married prior to their ordination.
If they are later divorced or remarried, they are not permitted to remarry unless they first leave the clergy and return to lay status.
All Orthodox clergy must be male.
There are records of deaconesses in the New Testament and in the early church; the consensus today is that this office was never equivalent to that of deacon, but had separate responsibilities.
The typical progression of ordination is: reader, subdeacon, deacon, priest, bishop. Each ordination must take place in order, although it is possible to ordain a layman to all five offices in the course of a weekend.
The organization of the Orthodox Church is both hierarchical and conciliar.
It is hierarchical in that priests, deacons, and laymen are expected to follow their bishop and to do nothing without their bishop, and in that Jesus Christ is the head of every bishop.
It is conciliar in that there is no single Pope whom all the bishops follow (the Pope of Alexandria functions as a patriarch), but rather the bishops meet together in synods or councils and reach binding agreements through consensus. A council with representatives from all the churches is an ecumenical council.
Although Orthodox clergy are given considerable honor by the Orthodox Church, each ordination is also viewed as a kind of martyrdom.
The Orthodox cleric agrees to be a servant of both Jesus Christ and of the people of the church; many of the vestments are intended to remind him of this. Much is expected of the clergy, both practically and spiritually; consequently, they also have a special place in the litanies that are prayed, asking God to have mercy on them.
In the Anglican churches clergy is comprised of deacons, priests and bishops, in ascending order of seniority. Canon, Archdeacon, Archbishop, and the like are specific titles within these divisions. Bishops are typically overseers, presiding over a diocese composed of many parishes, with Archbishops presiding over an archdiocese, which is a group of dioceses. A parish (generally a single church) is looked after by one or more priests, although one priest may be responsible for several small parishes. New clergy are ordained deacon. Those seeking to become priests are usually ordained priest after a year of satisfactory service. During the 1960s, some Anglican churches reinstituted the diaconate as a permanent, rather than transitional, order of ministry focused on ministry that bridges the church and the world, especially ministry to those on the margins of society.
For the forms of address to be used with Anglican clergy, see Forms of Address in the United Kingdom.
During the 1980s, before the acceptance of women as equal members of the clergy, women could be ordained as 'deaconesses', who were technically distinct from deacons but carried approximately the same privileges and responsibilities. This title has now been abolished.
In the Anglican church all clergy are permitted to marry. In most branches women may become deacons or priests, but not bishops. Celebration of the Eucharist is reserved for priests and bishops.
Each branch of the Anglican church is presided over by one or more archbishops. The senior archbishop of the Anglican Communion is the Archbishop of Canterbury, who acts as leader of the Church of England and 'first among equals' of the archbishops of all Anglican churches.
The status of deacon, priest or bishop is a function of the person and not the job. A priest who retires is still a priest, even if they no longer have any role of religious leadership.
Many Protestant denominationss reject the idea that church leaders are a separate category of people. Many dislike the word clergy and do not use it of their own leaders. Often they refer to their leaders as pastors or ministers, titles that, if used, apply to the person only as long as he holds a particular office.
In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there is no professional clergy at the congregation level, where all clergy are part-time volunteers.
Admission to the Latter-day Saint priesthood requires no training; to be a member of the Latter-day Saint clergy, one must (1) be male, (2) be at least 12 years old, and (3) be morally worthy, as determined in a confidential interview with a local biship (pastor). Anyone who meets these requirements is ordained to the priesthood as a matter of course. See Priesthood (Latter-day Saint).
The Church does not require formal training in theology. In practice, however, most in-born Latter-day Saint men have significant theological training, in the form of Latter-day Saint "seminaries" established for high-school students, and the fact that a large proportion of Latter-day Saint men serve two-year full-time missions (unpaid) in various parts of the world.
Presently, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has no official female clergy; however, women have historically played important semi-clerical roles in the church, particularly as part of the Relief Society, a women's organization that until the 1970s was run nearly autonomously by women. Historically, women also have performed certain Latter-day Saint ordinances (rituals), including healings, blessings of other women, and certain rituals performed in Latter-day Saint temples.
At the upper levels, the Church is managed by paid clergy, who make money from various businesses operated by the Church, and work full-time.
In ancient Judaism there was a formal priestly tribe known as the Kohanim; each member of the tribe, a Kohen had priestly duties, many of which centered around the Temple in Jerusalem.
Since the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE, their role has largely been rendered superfluous.
Since that time the religious leaders and clergypeople of Judaism have been the rabbis.
Since the early medieval era an additional form of clergy, the Hazzan (cantor) has existed as well.
The rabbi is not an occupation found in the Torah (Five books of Moses); the first time this word is mentioned is in the Mishnah.
The modern form of the rabbi developed in the Talmudic era.
Rabbis are given authority to make interpretations of Jewish law and custom.
Traditionally, a man obtains smicha (rabbinic ordination) after the completion of an arduous learning program in Torah, Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), Mishnah and Talmud, Midrash, Jewish ethics and lore, the codes of Jewish law and responsa, theology and philosophy.
Orthodox Judaism maintains all of these traditional requirements.
Women are forbidden from becoming rabbis or cantors in Orthodoxy.
One does not need a bachelor's degree to enter most Orthodox rabbinical seminaries.
Conservative Judaism maintains all of these traditional requirements.
Women are allowed to become rabbis and cantors in the Conservative movement. Conservative Judaism differs with Orthodoxy in that it has somewhat less stringent study requirements for Talmud and responsa as compared to Orthodoxy.
However, the academic requirements are just as rigorous, as Conservative Judaism adds the following subjects as requirements for rabbinic ordination: one must first earn a bachelor's degree before entering the rabbinate.
In addition studies are mandated in pastoral care and psychology, the historical development of Judaism; and academic biblical criticism.
Reconstructionist Judaism and Reform Judaism do not maintain the traditional rquirements for study. Both men and women may be rabbis or cantors. The level of Jewish law, Talmud and responsa studied in five years of these denominations is similar to that learned in the first year of Orthodox Jewish seminaries.
The rabbinical seminaries of these movements hold that one must first earn a bachelor's degree before entering the rabbinate.
In addition studies are mandated in pastoral care and psychology, the historical development of Judaism; and academic biblical criticism. Emphasis is placed not on Jewish law, but rather on sociology and modern Jewish philosophy.
Rabbis are not an intermediary between God and man: the word "rabbi" means "teacher."
The Sangha, democratic order of Buddhist monks and nuns, was founded by Gautama Buddha during his lifetime of missionary work over 2500 years ago. Established to preserve the doctrine and discipline now known as Buddhism, they are a living example for the laity.
A monk, known as a Bhikkhu in Pali, firstly ordains as a Samanera (novice) for a year or until the ripe age of 20. If deemed acceptable and able by the order, he then receives full ordination and now lives by the 227 monastic rules, called the Patimokkha, which are stated in the Tripitaka.
Once a year as a novice monastic, and if 20 years old, the female Samaneri becomes a nun or Bhikkhuni and will adhere to 311 rules of discipline. Monastics eat one vegetarian meal at noon and fast until sunrise the follwing day.
Between midday and the next day, a strict life of celibacy, scripture study, chanting, meditation and occasional cleaning forms most of the duties.
It is necessary for not only monks but the laity to practice with intuitive insight, in a state of mindfulness and concentration, here and now, to benefit from the experience. Only then is Enlightenment possible.
The distinction between Sangha and lay persons has always been important and forms the Purisa, Buddhist community.
Here, monastics teach and counsel the laity at request while laymen and laywomen offer donations for their future support.
This inter-connectedness serves as a marriage and has sustained Buddhism to this day.
Orthodox Islam is non-clerical. The term Imam is generically used to refer to various forms of religious leadership, ranging from the leader of a small group prayer to a scholar of religion, none of which involve any sort of religious ordination.
In other branches of Islam, the term Imam has more specific meanings.
(To be written. Please contribute.)
See also:
Catholic clergy
The extent to which these rights are recognised at law varies dramatically from country to country, with traditionally Catholic countries being more inclined to respect these rights.
Orthodox Clergy
Anglican Clergy
Protestant Denominations
Lay Clergy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Judaism
Buddhism
Islam
Clergy of other faiths