In the church lexicon, the word pastor is well known. As a rule, it is used in relation to priests playing the role of spiritual mentors and educators of members of their community. We will talk about who the pastor is, what are his functions and what are the features of this ministry in various Christian denominations in this article.
Sources of the image of the pastor
There is a unique shepherd tradition in the Middle East. Since ancient times, sheep were grazed there in a way different from Russian and European realities. If we are accustomed to the image of a shepherd walking behind the herd and supervising him, then in the East the guardian of the flock goes ahead and calls the herd, casting his voice. The sheep distinguish voices well and will not follow the stranger, while they implicitly follow the voice of their master. This image formed the basis of the biblical image of religious shepherding. Initially, back in the Old Testament, God was called a shepherd, and the people of Israel acted as a flock.
Pastor Image History
Later this analogy was attributed to the Old Testament priesthood, which was authorized by the Almighty to teach the people religious truths and morality. In addition, shepherding was considered the responsibility of the Israeli and Jewish kings, since they were the anointed of God, and, accordingly, were his representatives in the political and economic life of the state. Then the pastor’s ministry was learned by a Galilean preacher named Jesus, who had nothing to do with the priesthood, but who claimed to be a special sonship of God.
If you believe what is written in the Christian gospels included in the code of the New Testament, then Jesus said about himself that he is a true good shepherd whom the sheep know and listen to. In this, he contrasted himself with the Pharisees and Sadducees - groups of Jewish leaders and priests of that time, who discredited the religion of the fathers in the eyes of both the people and the Roman authorities. In addition, very important words were said by Christ, which later will become a characteristic of the ideal of pastoral service, without which it is impossible to understand who the pastor in Christianity is.
Pastoral Tasks
So, we found out that in Christianity Jesus is the perfect pastor. Who is this man, if we leave out the faith of Christians that he was an incarnate God? By profession, Christ was a craftsman, and by life a wandering preacher. But teaching is not pastoralism. He took care of and cared for the community that accompanied him on his journeys and shared with him all the sorrows and joys of his fate. But this is quite natural and also does not answer the question of who the pastor is.
According to Jesus himself, a true shepherd is such a mentor who is ready to sacrifice his life for the salvation of the flock. This is the key point that distinguishes a true pastor from what Christ called mercenaries. The latter, he said, flee in a moment of danger, leaving the herd to be torn to pieces by wolves, and the true shepherd protects his sheep until his last breath. In addition, they were told that the pastor enters the shepherd through the gate directly, and the thieves undermine or climb over the fence. Therefore, anyone who seeks the status of a mentor in the Christian community not in harmony with the will of the flock, but in a roundabout way, is not a pastor, but a thief.
Christ also spoke of wolves that come to the herd in sheep's clothing. This refers to leaders who use the flock to their advantage, profit from it, satisfy their vanity and thirst for power, not really caring about its well-being and needs. These three points need to be learned in order to understand who the pastor of the church is.
Catholic pastor
In the Catholic Church , three categories of people play a pastoral role - priests, bishops of all ranks, and the Pope. In general, the Pope is also essentially a bishop. But in Catholicism, his role is so unique and his position is so especially in all respects that one can speak of his functions as a completely independent ministry. The pope is considered neither more nor less, but the viceroy of Christ on earth. Therefore, being a confidant of the Son of God, he extends his pastoral authority to the whole church. At least for the part that recognizes him in this capacity, and this is a billion and a quarter people.
Bishops, which in Greek means "overseers," are pastors within the dioceses - church areas. Priests - within the parish, that is, a specific community. The duties of all of them include the service of the mass, the performance of other ordinances (baptism, confirmation, confession, etc.), the preaching and spiritual guidance of believers. This is who the pastor is in the church, according to the general ideas of Catholics.
Pastor in Orthodoxy
Orthodoxy is not far from Catholicism. At least in relation to the concept of "pastor." Who is the Pope, it is, however, a separate issue, since the Orthodox do not recognize in their bulk the role attributed to the Pope in Catholicism, and have no analogue to it. Therefore, they have only two categories of persons called to this ministry - priests and bishops. But within their framework, it is absolutely similar to the Catholic.
There is a version that the well-known word “pop” is an abbreviation that stands for “pastor of Orthodox sheep”. However, Byzantine despotism taught believers to see in their priests and bishops gentlemen and superiors, some privileged church aristocrats, which absolutely contradicts the pastoral ethics of the New Testament, which, in the explanation of who the pastor is, directly states that he should shepherd the flock entrusted to him with fear, meekness, wisdom, not dominating the inheritance of God. Therefore, the traditional appeals to the bishop as a “lord” and “lord” look somewhat ambiguous against the background of Jesus' humble wise teachings.
Pastor in Protestantism
Protestants came to the same conclusions and simply canceled all titles, and the very concept of priesthood was nullified. It is necessary to make a reservation right away that there are a lot of Protestant denominations and sometimes they differ significantly from one another. For example, Anglicans are very close to Catholics, while Pentecostals, for example, are extremely far from them. All this applies to the concept of shepherding.
However, the Protestant mainstream sees the pastor as a layperson, elected with the consent of the entire community to the ministry of the word. This means that the main task of these people is to preach. In Protestantism there is no complex hierarchy and rigid vertical of power, as in Catholicism and Orthodoxy. But the sermon of pastors by default interfaced with administrative functions. In general, this ministry has a greater charismatic connotation than in other areas of Christianity.
Simply put, if in Orthodoxy and Catholicism a priest is a pastor simply by virtue of his ordination, even if he is, for example, at rest and does not carry out any ministry, then in Protestantism only the one who actually performs specific pastoral functions is called a pastor. With the cessation of service, the status of a pastor is also removed from the person.