Posted on by Fr. Brench

The Prayer of a new Rector / Minister

Having been invested with the symbols of the office of Rector (or whatever other ministry position is being celebrated with this rite), the minister now turns to prayer.  It is a rare example of a long-form 18th-century prayer in a modern Prayer Book where brevity typically wins the day.

The Address

1789 through 19281979 & 2019
O Lord my God! I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof;
yet thou hast honoured thy servant with appointing him to stand in thy House, and to serve at thy holy Altar.		O Lord my God, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof;
yet you have called your servant to stand in your house, and to serve at your altar.
To thee and to thy service I devote myself,
mind, body, and spirit, with all their powers and faculties.		To you and to your service I devote myself, body, soul, and spirit.

It begins with a sort of prayer of humble access referencing Matthew 8:8 / Luke 7:6, artistically contrasting the minister’s unworthiness to have God enter his or her own (earthly) house with God’s invitation to us to stand in his (heavenly) house.  This is paired with the service at the altar, as the default use of this rite is for the installation of a Rector.  If this rite is celebrating the beginning of a different sort of ministry, this prayer either should be omitted or substantially rewritten.  Furthermore, the reference to the “altar” instead of the “holy table” is unusual in classical Prayer Book language.  But, noting that this is an 18th-century composition, we rest assured that this was written a generation before the controversies of the Oxford Movement, thereby demonstrating that the terminology of an Altar is compatible with Anglican tradition and doctrine, in parallel to the terminology of “holy table”.

Unlike most prayers written before the 20th century and changed into modern idiom, the opening of this prayer retains the 3rd person self-reference – a feature that adorned most of the prayer Book collects (“O God, who has…”) that have been grammatically transformed (“O God, you have…”).  Nevertheless, some of the exalted phraseology has been trimmed: “honored… with appointing him” has been reduced to “called”, God’s house and altar now stand in parallel without the latter being described as “holy”, and all the “powers and faculties” of the human person are left unmentioned.  The tripartite description of the human person (in Greek, sarks, psyche, pneuma) is also reordered, and psyche is now rendered as “soul” instead of “mind”.

The First Petition

The prayer continues with an oblation (“To you and your service I devote…”), and petitions to fulfill that oblation (“Fill my memory… enlighten”).  In order to be fully devoted to God and his service, the minister needs to have a mind filled with the divine truth of Sacred Scripture, with a full understanding and a conformed heart and will.  All Christians are called be submitted to the Lord Jesus and his written word, the Bible, so the ministers of the Gospel are called to a heightened form of such submission.

1789 through 19281979 & 2019
Fill my memory with the words of thy Law; enlighten my understanding with the illumination of the Holy Ghost; and may all the wishes and desires of my will centre in what thou hast commanded.Fill my memory with the record of your mighty works; enlighten my understanding with the light of your Holy Spirit; and may all the desires of my heart and will center in what you have me do.

The first petition is substantially the same in both old & new versions: that God would fill the minister’s memory with the Scriptures, providing enlightenment to the understanding and centering for the heart and will.  The reference to the Scriptures has changed from “Law” to “record of your mighty works”. This reflects changes in English language and terminology: “law” used to denote a more general sense of order, or the way things work, compared to the more rules-specific use of the word over the course of the 20th century.  By referring to the Bible as the record of God’s mighty works instead, it re-expands our focus from only the propositional teachings, or the Books of the Law of Moses, to include the whole gamut of scriptural revelation.

The Second Petition

Next, this prayer addresses the relationship between the minister (specifically a priest) and the congregation.  Matching the language of the Articles of Religion, especially XXVII, the priest is likened to an “instrument” of God’s salvation.  Although abhorrent to the broader evangelical world as it stands today, this sacramental language of the ministry is fully Catholic, classically Protestant, and properly Anglican.  As this prayer goes on to describe, the priest must faithfully preach the Gospel and administer God’s holy Sacraments, and set forth God’s Word “by my life and teaching”.  Although Anglican doctrine does not commit to referring to Holy Orders as a Sacrament on an equal level as Baptism and Holy Communion, it is “commonly called” a sacrament (Article XXV), and this prayer (along with the Ordinal) describes how the ministry of Word and Sacrament is embodied in the ordained ministry.  The nature of Holy Orders therefore is what some today would term “a salvation issue”, as the priest is an instrument of God’s salvation for the immediate congregation.

1789 through 192819792019
And, to make me instrumental in promoting the salvation of the people now committed to my charge, grant that I may faithfully administer thy holy Sacraments, and by my life and doctrine set forth thy true and lively Word.Make me an instrument of your salvation for the people entrusted to my care, and grant that I may faithfully administer your holy sacraments, and by my life and teaching set forth your true and living Word.Make me an instrument of your salvation for the people entrusted to my care, and grant that I may faithfully preach the Gospel and administer your holy Sacraments, and by my life and teaching set forth your true and living Word.

The largest change to this prayer is found in the second petition.  Originally, the minister prays to be made “instrumental in promoting the salvation of the people”, but in 1979 this switched to “make me an instrument of your salvation.”  This subtle shift may be considered to be a red flag of sacerdotalism: the priest becoming a vehicle of dispensing God’s grace, rather than an instrumental promotor of God’s grace.  Although the change of language and meaning in this prayer from 1928 to 1979 is real, it does not represent a substantial change in the Anglican doctrine of Holy Orders; the text of the Ordinal has always retained the language of the priest forgiving and remitting the sins of the people, which is very much an instrumental role in the dispensing of God’s grace.  Furthermore, the rest of the petition provides clarification as to the minister’s role – both as an instrumental promoter and as an instrument of God’s grace.  Faithful administration of the Sacraments and the setting forth of God’s Word through one’s life and teaching are named as the means of the minister’s instrumentality in the salvation of God’s people.  The addition of “that I may faithfully preach the Gospel” in the present book introduces a redundancy with the final phrase which is slightly awkward, but it does serve to broaden the meaning of the instrumentality of the priest if the 1979 text went a little too far.

The Third Petition and Doxology

With this terrible responsibility in mind, the Rector then prays for God’s help: prayer with “quickened” (that is, enlivened) devotion, higher love and thankfulness with which to praise God, readiness of thought and expression in preaching, and zeal for godly preparation for times and offices of worship.  In short, the priest’s entire life needs to be transformed by the Holy Spirit in order for the ministry to be carried out.  The petition concludes with a mission-oriented prayer: that the message of the Bible may be presented so clearly and brightly that “all the world may be drawn” into the Church.  Obviously this is beyond the scope of any individual priest’s ministry, and thus sets it (and every individual church and ministry) within the context of the Church Catholic – the whole blessed Kingdom of God whose work in this world is inexorable and inevitable.

1789 through 192819792019
Be ever with me in the performance of all the duties of my ministry; in prayer, to quicken my devotion; in praises, to heighten my love and gratitude; and in preaching, to give a readiness of thought and expression suitable to the clearness and excellency of thy holy Word.Be always with me in carrying out the duties of my ministry. In prayer, quicken my devotion; in praises, heighten my love and gratitude; in preaching, give me readiness of thought and expression; and grant that, by the clearness and brightness of your holy Word, all the world may be drawn into your blessed kingdom.Be always with me in carrying out the duties of my ministry. In prayer, quicken my devotion; in praises, heighten my love and gratitude; in preaching, give me readiness of thought and expression; in worship, increase my zeal for godly preparation; and grant that, by the clearness and brightness of your holy Word, all the world may be drawn into your blessed kingdom.
Grant this for the sake of Jesus Christ thy Son our Saviour.All this I ask for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ.

The third and final petition is largely the same as its original form, differing primarily in the details of its expression rather than its substantial meaning.  The grammar, too, has been restructured, favoring shorter sentences over the older constructions which strung together several phrases into one sentence.

The most notable change is the addition of the “in worship…” phrase.  Classically, the overlap between prayer, praise, and worship has been so great that to list them separately would be redundant and artificial.  Having added “worship” alongside “prayer” and “praises”, the 2019 Prayer Book may be suggesting more particular definitions of all three than would be historically recognizable.

The final phrase concerning the clearness and brightness of your holy Word was originally part of the minister’s prayer for his preaching.  It was first separated in 1979, attached instead to a missiological prayer where it remains today.

Lastly, this is not for the glory of the priest, or of the priesthood, or of the church, but for the sake of Jesus.  His name only is worth proclaiming through all of this.

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The Bishop: What he is and isn’t

It’s no secret that the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is going through the wringer right now. We’ve got two bishops under disciplinary investigation or trial, one special diocesan jurisdiction that just got ripped apart in an authority crisis between multiple bishops, and controversy over how each of these cases is being handled. Even some bishops and administrators not currently under scrutiny are being called into question over their alleged or apparent complicity with how various issues and cases have been mishandled in the past. There is a lot of heartache, a lot of broken trust, and a lot of confusion.

Archbishop Wood celebrating Eucharist at his installation as Archbishop, 2024

Fixing this will take more than slapping a canonical revision to Title IV onto the Province; it will take vulnerability and transparency; hard questions must be asked and hard answered given; liars must confess; sinners must repent; the disobedient must conform and the leaders must lead rightly.

yeah I made a meme

Apologia

I’m just a parish priest with a writing habit, sitting in a quiet spot in New England, safely distanced from pretty much everyone involved in provincial matters. I have no personal stakes for or against Archbishop Wood or any of the other men filling in for him in their various capacities, and I have no insider knowledge concerning who’s done what sins and who’s covering up what secrets. So I am very far from being able to offer any solutions; my place largely is to pray for them from my safe distance and strive to live up to the expectations placed upon me and the vows that I have taken as a priest in God’s Church.

As a writer, though, and specifically as a commentator on the Prayer Book that binds us together, I do have some observations on the nature of the episcopacy and how different understandings of that great office may be coming into play in the present crises.

The Bishop’s Vows

As with deacons and priests, one of the best ways to understand the ministry and identity of a bishop is to look at the questions posed to a bishop-elect at his ordination / consecration service. The Examination questions are answered by vows: the clergyman makes promises to his superior(s) that he will live accordingly. So let’s take a look at what the Bishop vows at his consecration.

  1. Are you persuaded that you are truly called to this ministry, according to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Order of this Church? I am so persuaded.
  2. Do you believe that the Holy Scriptures contain all things necessary for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ? And are you determined out of the Holy Scriptures to instruct the people committed to your charge, and to teach or maintain nothing as necessary to eternal salvation but that which may be concluded and proved by the Scriptures? I do so believe, and I am so determined, the Lord being my helper.
  3. Will you then faithfully study the Holy Scriptures, and call upon God by prayer for the true understanding of them, so that you may be able by them to teach and exhort with wholesome doctrine, and to withstand and convince those who contradict it? I will, the Lord being my helper.
  4. Are you ready, with all faithful diligence, to banish and drive away from the Church all erroneous and strange doctrine contrary to God’s Word, and both privately and publicly to call upon others and encourage them to do the same? I am ready, the Lord being my helper.
  5. Will you renounce all ungodliness and worldly lusts, and live a godly, righteous, and sober life in this present world, that you may show yourself in all things an example of good works for others, that the adversary may be ashamed, having nothing to say against you? I will, the Lord being my helper.
  6. Will you maintain and set forward, as much as you are able, quietness, love, and peace among all people, and diligently exercise such discipline as is, by the authority of God’s Word and by the Order of this Church, committed to you?  I will, the Lord being my helper.
  7. Will you be faithful in examining, confirming, ordaining, and sending the people of God? I will, the Lord being my helper.
  8. Will you show yourself gentle, and be merciful for Christ’s sake, to poor and needy people and to all strangers destitute of help? I will, the Lord being my helper.

These are, naturally, very similar to the questions posed to deacons and priests, but there are some important differences too. The 5th question, for example, is markedly more severe than what is asked of other clergymen. Renouncing “all ungodliness and worldly lusts… that the adversary may be ashamed, having nothing to say against you” is more than we ask of our priests and deacons. And this reflects the teaching 1 Timothy 3:7, which says an overseer, or bishop, “must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.” Note this is not just about holiness of life, but also of reputation! This suggests that even if a man is innocent but has a tarnished reputation, we should think twice before putting a miter on him and calling him Bishop.

my diocesan bishop, Andrew Williams, standing before Archbishop Beach upon his consecration, 2019

A Context of Recent Historical Confusion

Although these eight vows are the same historic questions and answers put to Anglican bishops since 1662 (and since 1549 with the exception of #7), there is one influential Prayer Book that broke from this pattern: the Episcopalian Prayer Book of 1979. And since that book was the most widely-used among American Anglicans for forty years before the ACNA’s Prayer Book was published, it is worth wrestling with the questions it asked of bishops. Here’s a comparison of the historic Anglican vows against the 1979 rewrite, lined up for comparison by subject matter:

15491662 through 19281979
1. “Are you persuaded that you be truly called…?”1. “Are you persuaded that God has called you to the office of bishop?”
2. “Will you accept this call and fulfill this trust in obedience to Christ?”
2. “Are you persuaded that the holy Scriptures contain sufficiently all doctrine required…?”3. “Will you be faithful in prayer, and in the study of Holy Scripture, that you may have the mind of Christ?”
4. “Will you boldly proclaim and interpret the Gospel of Christ, enlightening the minds and stirring up the conscience of your people?”
3. “Will you then faithfully exercise yourself in the said holy Scriptures…?”5. “As a chief priest and pastor, will you encourage and support all baptized people in their gifts and ministries, nourish them from the riches of God’s grace, pray for them without ceasing, and celebrate with them the sacraments of our redemption?”
4. “Be you ready, with all faithful diligence, to banish and drive away…?”6. “Will you guard the faith, unity and discipline of the Church?”
7. “Will you share with your fellow bishops in the government of the whole Church; will you sustain your fellow presbyters [priests] and take counsel with them; will you guide and strengthen the deacons and all others who minister in the Church?”
5. “Will you deny all ungodliness, and worldly lusts…?” 
6. “Will you maintain and set forward (as much as shall lie in you) quietness, peace, and love among all…?” 
 7. “Will you be faithful in ordaining, sending, or laying hands upon others?” 
7. “Will you shew yourself gentle, and be merciful for Christ’s sake, to poor and needy people…?”8. “Will you shew yourself gentle, and be merciful for Christ’s sake, to poor and needy people…?”8. “Will you be merciful to all, show compassion to the poor and strangers, and defend those who have no helper?”

It is worth noting that the departure in 1979 from the historic examination indicates a view of the episcopacy that is considerably more authoritarian and clericalist than what is found in the historic Anglican tradition:

  • there are two questions on his calling instead of one,
  • it spells out his sharing in collegial episcopal authority,
  • it gives him the responsibility of “interpreting the Gospel to” and supporting all baptized people as “chief priest and pastor”.

All this makes the Bishop considerably more involved in various avenues of ministry. 

A word for our leaders today

If we are to receive correctives from the classical tradition, which is restored and taught in our 2019 Prayer Book, we are inevitably pointed to a different picture. Instead of a busy bureaucratic micromanager, the Anglican Bishop is to be a man of God who renounces ungodly and worldly lusts more clearly and publicly than the priest is ever asked to do; the Bishop is to be faithful to carry out the episcopal ministry of examining, confirming, and ordaining his people; he is to be an apt teacher of the Word.

We don’t have to spend two questions dwelling on his sense of calling; his vocation has been made clear through the lengthy process of diocesan searching and examination and confirmed by the approval of the College of Bishops.

We don’t have to remind bishops that they are “chief priests and pastors” who need to sustain their priests and support their deacons; they are to be “faithful in ordaining, sending, or laying hands upon others” and be capable teachers of God’s Word for them and diligent exercisers of godly discipline.

At least one small part of our present troubles taking place at the provincial level of the ACNA can be accounted for due to these 1979-style conceptions of the episcopacy carrying over into a system that charitably assumes classically-Anglican bishops. The Bishop’s chief posture is not to be huddled up “with your fellow bishops in the government of the whole Church”, but instead to be ministering God’s Word to his people. I have seen a couple different articles popping up in recent weeks arguing for a reform of ACNA governing polity that takes the College of Bishops down a notch. At first I was indifferent to the idea, but having reviewed the Ordinal as I have presented it above I now see the wisdom in those proposals. Bishops are not meant to be bureaucrats, governors, or senators leading from an office building; the College of Bishops is not meant to be a College of Cardinals meeting in secret. The Anglican ideal, rather, is choosing a Bishop who evidently lives a holy life and has a reliable gift of teaching. If he doesn’t have great administration skills, that’s fine; that’s what the synods, canons to the ordinary, and other assemblies are for.

I don’t write this to condemn any Bishop or leader in particular – like I said before, I don’t know any of the provincial leaders personally. I write this to warn against false perceptions of the episcopacy that have permeated (and perhaps poisoned!) our Church. We mustn’t look to the clericalist authoritarianism of Rome; we mustn’t look to the business-success models of the megachurch movement; we mustn’t look to the cults of personality that surround many men of charisma. Rather, as Anglicans, we should be looking among our priests for the quiet, meek, holy, and faithful teachers whose lives and words proclaim the Gospel with equal measure and integrity.

This is, by the way, why many of our greatest bishops and archbishops throughout history were monks – not because of the early-medieval favoritism often given to the monastic life, but because that is where the men most devoted to a holy life and the Word of God were most often found. Many of the great leaders of the Church had no episcopal aspirations whatsoever – John Chrysostom, Augustine of Hippo, Anselm, and many others much preferred the monk’s habit to the episcopal miter. If we are to rebuild a healthy provincial leadership paradigm, these are the sorts of men we need to be seeking, electing, and consecrating as our diocesan bishops.

No more bureaucrats and mega-pastors! Give me that old time religion! Give me a man who is above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. These are the bishops whose discipline and authority will not only be respected by their flocks, but loved.

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An Ember Day Hymn

If you’re following this Customary’s plan for Daily Hymnody from The Book of Common Praise 2017, then you’ll find that the hymn appointed for this Ember Day is “Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire.”  In the 2017 hymnal this is set to the Sarum Plainsong tune VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS, which is a bummer for me because I’m used to it being sung to COME HOLY GHOST.  And the way the lyrics are matched to the notes in the 2017 hymnal is different from how it’s done in the 1940 hymnal, so that’s just confusing to me as a musician who has paid attention to that in the past.

Tune-related issues, aside, the text of this hymn is very significant.  It is appointed in the Ordinal to be sung or said at the ordination of a priest and bishop!  This is true for the 1662 as well as the 2019 book, so it’s pretty standard Anglican fare.  And it’s a 9th century text, so it’s a piece of our Western/Latin heritage as well! Let’s take a look at these words.

COME, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire,
And lighten with celestial fire.
Thou the anointing Spirit art,
Who dost thy sevenfold gifts impart.
Thy blessed unction from above,
Is comfort, life, and fire of love.

Prayers addressed to the Holy Spirit are rare in the liturgical tradition.  Confirmations and Ordinations are among the few times we actually do this.  The seven-fold gift of the Spirit is a long-standing image in Church literature, stemming from the New Testament itself, and includes an Old Testament precedent that is not often in favor with Protestant interpretation.  You can read more about that here if this is unfamiliar to you.

Enable with perpetual light
The dulness of our blinded sight.
Anoint and cheer our soiled face
With the abundance of thy grace.
Keep far our foes, give peace at home;
Where thou art guide, no ill can come.

These are the primary specific petitions of this hymn.  Open our eyes, cheer us, grant us peace… if you think back to one of the titles our Lord gave for the Holy Spirit – The Comforter – these all make perfect sense.  Christ has won the victory, Christ has redeemed us; it falls to the Holy Spirit to apply these truths to our hearts and minds, to point us back to Jesus.  Such sight, cheering, and peace are all thereby ministries of comfort and help.

Teach us to know the Father, Son,
And thee, of both, to be but One;
That, through the ages all along,
This may be our endless song:
Praise to thy eternal merit,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Finally our plea is that we would know God the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that in this knowledge we would be able to worship and praise him forever.  Knowledge and worship, doctrine and doxology, teaching and liturgy, these are pairs that should never be separated.

Interesting that this hymn doesn’t actually mention anyone getting ordained, huh?  Yes, its function in the ordination liturgy makes it into a prayer especially for the candidate for ordination, but but textually it need not be so limited.  By all means, sing this and pray for your clergy.  But you can pray this for yourself, for all the Church, just as easily and honestly.  In the context of ordination, it makes sense that we should pray for clarity, for sight, for knowledge – not just for the candidate but for the whole congregation.  Calling a new minister of the Gospel, in any Order, is a “big deal” – one that will impact many lives for many years to come.  The Church needs to be in her right mind when placing the collar of recognizable authority upon another servant.

So on these Ember Days, be sure to pray for your Bishop and his clergymen, as well as for those individuals considering or seeking Holy Orders and the congregations in discernment with them.  The process is useless if the aspirant is surrounded by “Yes Men” whose eagerness to support blinds them from asking any hard questions about his true calling.  So pray this hymn with them and for them.

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Consecrating a Bishop

Perhaps the least-often-used portion of any Prayer Book is the liturgy called “The Form and Manner of Ordaining and Consecrating a Bishop“.  Granted, the original Prayer Books actually did not include the Ordinal (saving those liturgies for a separate volume), and perhaps the nomenclature has varied a little over the centuries, but it remains consistently true that the least-often-observed liturgy is that for the consecration of a new bishop.

The Lenten Ember Days are upon us (today, Friday, and Saturday), which are a set of days, quarterly throughout the year, set aside for fasting and prayer for those preparing for ordination.  And because we in my diocese (the Anglican Diocese in New England) are on the cusp of consecrating our second diocesan bishop, this seemed like a good opportunity to look at the liturgy for such an occasion.

The liturgy begins, as for other ordinations and for Confirmation, and even as an option for Holy Matrimony, with a presentation of the candidate: the Bishop-Elect is announced and he is asked to re-state his commitment to the Scriptures and the Church.  The Archbishop (or other Bishop serving as the Chief Consecrator) then makes this statement:

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, it is written in the Gospel of Saint Luke that our Savior Christ continued the whole night in prayer, before he chose and sent forth his twelve Apostles. It is written also in the Acts of the Apostles, that the disciples at Antioch fasted and prayed before they sent forth Paul and Barnabas by laying their hands upon them. Let us, therefore, following the example of our Savior and his Apostles, offer up our prayers to Almighty God, before we admit and send forth this person presented to us, to do the work to which we trust the Holy Spirit has called him.

What follows is the Litany for Ordinations, common to the Ordination liturgies for Deacons, Priests, and Bishops, but it should be noted that the repeated Scriptural references to fasting and praying are things that the people should have been undertaking before this point.  If you’re in the New England diocese, you’ve got only a couple days left to meet this biblical expectation before the consecration service is upon us.  If you’re resident elsewhere, you’re certainly welcome to fast and pray for us and with us, also!

The Propers (Collect and Lessons) follow the Litany:

Almighty God, who by your Son Jesus Christ gave many excellent gifts
to your holy Apostles, and charged them to feed your flock;
give your grace to all Bishops, the Pastors of your Church,
that they may diligently preach your Word, duly administer your Sacraments,
and wisely provide godly Discipline;
and grant to your people that they may obediently follow them,
so that all may receive the crown of everlasting glory,
through the merits of our Savior, Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen.

Isaiah 61:1-11; Psalm 100;
1 Timothy 3:1-7 or Acts 20:17-35
John 21:15-19 or John 20:19-23 or Matthew 28:18-20

A Major Feast Day or Sunday may override those lessons, but in our case in New England, with a Saturday ordination scheduled, no such exception applies.

After these readings, the homily, and the Creed, follows the Exhortation and Examination.  Where the Deacon and Priest get a somewhat-lengthy exhortation first, which outlines the definition and duty of those Orders, the Bishop-Elect is brought almost immediately to the Examination.  Curiously the Examination for the new bishop is almost but not quite the same as the Examination for a new priest.  In brief the questions are about:

  1. The supremacy of the Scriptures for doctrine and teaching
  2. The study of the Scriptures in order to teach and correct
  3. The diligent removal of false doctrines
  4. The renunciation of ungodly desires and commitment to being an example of life
  5. The maintenance of peace among all people
  6. The faithful preparation and conferral of Holy Orders upon others
  7. The merciful posture towards the poor and needy

For contrast, the Priest’s vows are

  1. basically the same as #1 above
  2. minister the doctrine, sacraments and discipline of the Church
  3. mostly the same as #3 above
  4. diligence in prayer and study of the Scriptures, like #2 above
  5. personal and family life as examples, like #4 above
  6. mostly same as #5 above
  7. obedience to the bishop and other ministers as appointed

So a progression of duty can be discerned by this comparison.  The authority of the Scriptures, and the teaching thereof, is the utmost priority of the ordained minister.  That is then applied to the correction of false teachers and the living of a godly life to be an example to others and an agent of peace.  The final vow(s) are the most specific to the particular Order.  In general, the Bishop-Elect is subjected to greater scrutiny and stricter vows than the Priest, and it should be remembered that the Bishop has already undertaken the Priestly and Diaconal vows.

Just like in Holy Baptism and Holy Communion, and most (if not all) of the other sacramental rites, the heart of the Ordination liturgy is summarized in a central prayer and declaration (or speech-act).  The Archbishop prays:

Almighty God, and most merciful Father, of your infinite goodness you have given your only Son Jesus Christ to be our Redeemer, and to be the author of everlasting life. After he had made perfect our redemption by his death and resurrection, and was ascended into heaven, he poured down his gifts abundantly upon his people, making some Apostles, some Prophets, some Evangelists, some Pastors and Teachers, for edifying and perfecting his Church. Grant to this your servant such grace, that he may be ever ready to propagate your Gospel, the good news of our reconciliation with you; and use the authority given to him, not for destruction, but for salvation; not for hurt, but for help; so that, as a wise and faithful steward, he will give to your family their portion in due season, and so may at last be received into everlasting joy.

This, more than anywhere else in the liturgy up to this point, summarizes the Order of Bishop: he is to be a minister of the propagation of the Gospel, and receives authority that is meant to help people attain to salvation.  The words of consecration are what some call a speech-act, a pronouncement or declaration in God’s name:

Receive the Holy Spirit for the Office and Work of a Bishop in the Church of God, now committed to you by the Imposition of our Hands; in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

which is then followed by a further prayer:

Most merciful Father, send down upon this your servant your heavenly blessing; so endue him with your Holy Spirit, that he, in preaching your holy Word, may not only be earnest to reprove, beseech, and rebuke, with all patience and Doctrine; but may he also, to such as believe, present a wholesome example in word, in conversation, in love, in faith, in chastity, and in purity; that, faithfully fulfilling his course, at the Last Day he may receive the crown of righteousness, laid up by the Lord Jesus, our righteous Judge, who lives and reigns with you and the same Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.

The new Bishop is then handed a copy of the Bible, accompanied by further words of exhortation for his new ministry.  Traditionally (provided for in our liturgy, though not required) he also receives a crosier (pastoral staff) symbolizing the shepherding role, anointing with holy oil on his forehead symbolizing the grace of God upon him as a Spirit-endued leader, a pectoral cross symbolizing the authority whom he will continue to serve, an episcopal ring symbolizing his marriage to Christ, and a miter symbolizing the authority he bears and whence it comes.

The celebration of Holy Communion follows, and that’s that!