Pastoral orders

Abstract

Pastorship, i.e., mentorship and guidance (on dogmatic, conceptual, moral, lifestyle and other issues) can be considered as the main mission in the life of the Christian church. In a medieval ecclesiastical community (whether a bishopric, monastery or parish), pastoral orders were vested in its head (bishop, father superior, or a superior clergy having spiritual charge over a parish), while the ordinary clergy, presbyters and deacons, did not have the right to act as pastors. This hierarchy was maintained in the Georgian Churchuntil the 19th century, when, after the unification of the Georgian Church with the Russian Church (1811), pastoral orders became looser under the influence of the Russian Church and could be assumed by any presbyter. In 1917, the Georgian Church regained its autocephaly, but pastoral orders did not change.