In Christianity, a minister is a person authorised by a church or other religious organization to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guidance to the community. The term is taken from Latin minister. In some church traditions the term is usually used for people who have been ordained, but in other traditions it can also be used for non-ordained.
A Lutheran minister wearing a Geneva gown and bands. In many churches, ministers wear distinctive clothing, called vestments, when presiding over services of worship.
Francis of Assisi with the ecclesiastical tonsure. Francis was an ordained deacon.
Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev, the first bishop to be martyred at the time of the Russian Revolution
Scene of baptism. Stained glass from the Sainte-Chapelle of Paris, last quarter of the 12th century.
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 to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination vary by religion and denomination. One who is in preparation for, or who is undergoing the process of ordination is sometimes called an ordinand. The liturgy used at an ordination is commonly found in a book known as an Ordinal which provides the ordo for celebrations.
Ordination of a Catholic deacon, 1520 AD: the bishop bestows vestments.
Ordination of a Catholic priest (pre-1968 form of the Roman Rite).
Ordination of an Orthodox. The deacon being ordained is kneeling with the bishop's omophorion over his head as the bishop blesses him immediately before the Cheirotonia.
Eastern Orthodox subdeacon being ordained to the diaconate. The bishop has placed his omophorion and right hand on the candidate's head and is reading the Prayer of Cheirotonia.