The Quarterly Journal of St. Philaret’s Institute

This article examines the issue of the priestly ministry of the laity. The text is divided into two major parts. The first one introduces the concept of the “royal priesthood” of christians, emphasizes its importance for a balanced doctrine of the Church, and identifies both the aspects which have already been researched and those requiring further study. The author outlines four aspects of the topic, each requiring further examination. The second part focuses on one of these aspects: the ordination of all believers to the priesthood through the baptismal rite of anointment in the pre-Nicene Church. This study employs a historical method to analyze Early Christian writings, offering a systematic investigation that has not been previously undertaken in theological scholarship. The analysis demonstrates that the rite of baptism was viewed as an ordination to the priestly order in several key theological texts of the period. The analysis draws particularly on the treatises of Tertullian, the Syrian Didascalia Apostolorum, the Apostolic Tradition attributed to Hippolytus, and the homilies of Origen. Typically, the idea of ordination to priesthood is expressed through an analogy with the Old Testament anointing of kings and high priests. While this concept does not evolve into a coherent theology in the pre-Nicene period, it holds clear potential for such development. The evolution of this idea in the post-Nicene baptismal tradition presents a subject for a separate study that would build directly upon this one.