Form of Degradation From Holy Orders-1

7/31/2019 Form of Degradation From Holy Orders-1

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Form of Degradation from Holy OrdersAdapted from

The Roman Pontifical

Scripture taken from the New King James Version.

Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson,Inc.

Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Selections from the Book of Psalms from

The Psalter According to the Seventy

Translated from the Septuagint by the Holy Transfiguration Monastery.


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Form of degradation from holy orders

No deprivation of any person in holy orders shall take place save for grave errors in doctrine or

practice, which if not confessed by the delinquent must be duly proved by open trial in the church

courts and even after conviction in such courts, the accent of the diocesan Synod shall be

necessary in the case of any priest or deacon, and that of the provincial synod in the case of any

bishop, before degradation from holy orders can be proceeded with.

The bishop, attended by the diocesan officials, shall stand in front of the high altar, facing the

people, and shall say:

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

For as much as N (Deacon, Priest, Bishop) has grievously offended against the law

of God and the ordinances of the Holy Catholic Church, by open and notorious sin,

whereof he has been a fully convicted by his own confession or by open trial, we

therefore, by the Council and with assent of the diocesan or provincial synod, have

met here in the presence of God and this congregation, to depose him from the

office he has misused, to take from him the trust which he has violated, to deprive

him of the privileges he has forfeited; and that publicly, that others may be warned

in time neither to receive his ministrations nor to follow his example. And that you

may know that this our act is justly and rightly done, the sentence shall now be

read in your hearing.

Here the bishops secretary, the synod clerk or the Chancellor of the diocese shall read aloud

the sentence of the court. Then shall be said the antiphon and the Psalms following:

ANT. You shall be no priest to me seeing you have forgotten the law of your God.

Psalm 49:14-23

Sacrifice unto God a sacrifice of praise, and pay unto the Most High thy vows. And call upon Me

in the day of thine affliction, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me. But unto the

sinner God hath said: Why declarest thou My statutes and takest up My covenant in thy mouth?

Thou hast hated instruction, and hast cast out My words behind thee. If thou sawest a thief, thou

didst run with him; and with the adulterer thou hast set thy portion. Thy mouth hath abounded

with evil, and thy tongue hath woven deceits. Thou didst sit down and speak against thy brother,

and against thine own mother's son didst thou lay a stumbling-block; these things thou didst, and

I kept silence. Thou didst think an iniquity, that I should be like unto thee; I will reprove thee,


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and bring thy sins before thy face. Wherefore, understand these things, ye that forget God, lest

He snatch you away and there be none to deliver you. A sacrifice of praise shall glorify Me, and

there is the way wherein I shall show unto him My salvation. Glory be to the Father and to the

Son and to the Holy Spirit; As it was in the beginning, now and always unto the ages of ages.

Amen.

Psalm72

How good is God to Israel, to them that are upright of heart! But as for me, my feet were all but

shaken; my steps well nigh had slipped. For I was jealous of the transgressors, when I beheld the

peace of sinners. For they make no sign of refusal in the time of their death, and they have

steadfastness in the time of their scourging. They are not in such toils as other men, nor with

other men shall they be scourged. Wherefore, their pride hath utterly mastered them, they have

wrapped themselves in their injustice and ungodliness. Their injustice shall go forth as out of

fatness, they have passed through to their hearts intent. They have thought and spoken in

wickedness, they have spoken unrighteousness in arrogance. They have set their mouth againstheaven, and their tongue roves in the earth. Therefore shall my people return hither, and full days

shall be found in them. And they said: How does God know? And is there knowledge in the

Most High? Behold, these are the sinners; they prosper in this age and have obtained riches. And

I said: Surely in vain have I kept justice in my heart and washed my hands among the innocent.

And I became a man scourged all the day long, and reproof was mine in every morning. And I

said: I shall speak thus: Lo, I should have broken covenant with the generation of Your sons.

And I sought to understand, but this was toilsome in my sight, until I come into the sanctuary of

God and understand their end. Surely, for their crafty dealings You have appointed evils for

them; Your have cast them down in their exaltation. How are they come unto desolation in a

moment! They have ceased to be; they have perished because of their iniquity. As a dream of onewho wakes, O Lord, in Your city You shall bring their image to nought. For my heart was fired

and my reins have been changed; and I was brought to nought and knew it not. I became as a

beast before You, and I am ever with You. You have held me by my right hand, and by Your

counsel You have guided me, and with glory have You taken me to Yourself. For what have I in

heaven? And besides You, what have I desired upon earth? My heart and my flesh have failed, O

God of my heart; and God is my portion forever. For behold, they that remove themselves from

You shall perish; You have destroyed all that go a whoring from You. But it is good for me to

cleave unto God, to put my hope in the Lord, that I may declare all Your praises in the gates of

the daughter of Sion. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; As it was in

the beginning, now and always unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Psalm 101

Of mercy and judgment will I sing unto You, O Lord; I will chant and have understanding in a

blameless path. When will You come unto me? I have walked in the innocence of my heart in the

midst of my house. I have no unlawful thing before my eyes; the workers of transgressions I


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have hated. A crooked heart has not cleaved unto me; as for the wicked man who turned from

me, I knew him not. Him that privily talked against his neighbor did I drive away from me. With

him whose eye was proud and his heart insatiate, I did not eat. My eyes were upon the faithful of

the land, that they might sit with me; the man that walked in the blameless path, he ministered

unto me. The proud doer dwelt not in the midst of my house; the speaker of unjust things

prospered not before mine eyes. In the morning I slew all the sinners of the land, utterly to

destroy out of the city of the Lord all them that work iniquity. Glory be to the Father and to the

Son and to the Holy Spirit; As it was in the beginning, now and always unto the ages of ages.

Amen.

ANT. You shall be no priest to me seeing you have forgotten the law of your God.

Malachi 2: 1-9

A reading from the Book of the Prophet Malachi.

And now, O priests, this commandment is for you.If you will not hear, and if you will not take it to heart, to give glory to My name, says the LORD

of hosts, I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have cursed them

already, because you do not take it to heart. Behold, I will rebuke your descendants and spread

refuse on your faces, the refuse of your solemn feasts; and one will take you away with it. Then

you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you, that My covenant with Levi may

continue, Says the LORD of hosts. My covenant was with him, one of life and peace, and I

gave them to him that he might fear Me; So he feared Me and was reverent before My name.

The law of truthwas in his mouth, and injustice was not found on his lips. He walked with Me in

peace and equity, and turned many away from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should keep

knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth; for he is the messenger of theLORD of hosts. But you have departed from the way; you have caused many to stumble at the

law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, Says the LORD of hosts. Therefore I also have

made you contemptible and base before all the people, because you have not kept My ways But

have shown partiality in the law.

V/. But You O Lord, have mercy upon us.

R/. Thanks be to God.

V/. Lord be with you

R/. And with your spirit

V/. Let us pray.

V/. O Lord to us belongs confusion of face.

R/. For we have sinned against you.

V/. We have sinned, we have done amiss.

R/. And have dealt wickedly.

V/. Arise, O God, maintain your own cause.


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R/. Remember how the foolish man blasphemes you daily.

V/. Deliver us, O Lord, from the evil man.

R/. And preserve us from the wicked man.

V/. Break the power of the ungodly and malicious.

R/. Take away his ungodliness and you shall find none.

V/. Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts.

R/. Show us the light of your countenance and we shall be whole.

V/. O Lord hear our prayer.

R/. And let our cry come unto you.

Lord God, who by your prophet has said he clean that bear the vessels of the Lord;

who slew him Nadab and Abihu when they offered strange fire unto you; and sent

the sword upon the house of Eli, taking the priesthood from it for the guilt of

Hophni and Phineas; mercifully look upon your church, and impute not unto her

the sins of her rebellious children, but to raise up in her faithful priests, who shall

do according to that which is in your heart and in your mind; build them a sure

house, and cause them to walk before your anointed forever. Through the same

our Lord Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit one God

onto the ages of ages. Amen.

O Almighty God, who into the place of the traitor Judas did choose your faithful

servant Matthias to be one of the number of the twelve apostles; grant that your

church, being always preserved from false apostles, may be ordered and guided byfaithful and true pastors; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Then shall the depondent, if present, dressed in his ecclesiastical garb, be caused to kneel before

the bishop seated in front of the altar, who shall say:

N, because you have violated God's law, and profaned His holy things, have put no

difference between the holy and profaned, neither showed it to between the

unclean and the clean, so that God is profaned among us; know that you shall bear

your iniquity and not come near unto him, to do the office of a priest unto him, nor

come near to any of His holy things in His holy place, but shall bear your shame

and the abominations you have committed.


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If the depondent be a bishop, then shall the pastoral staff be put into his hands and taken from

him again, the Officiant saying:

Because you have been a hireling and not a shepherd; because the diseased have

not been strengthened, neither have you healed that which was sick, neither haveyou bound up that which was broken, neither have you brought again that which

was driven away, neither have you sought that which was lost, but have ruled with

force and with cruelty; therefore the Lord refuses his flock at your hand, and

causes you to cease from feeding the flock, and we, in token thereof, take from you

the pastoral staff, and the office of a bishop in his church. In the name of the

Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

If a priest, a stole shall be put on his neck, and a chalice in his hands, which being taken away

from him, the bishop shall say:

Because you have despised the easy yoke and light burden of Christ, have refused

to drink of His Cup, and have counted the Blood of the covenant, wherewith you

were sanctified, an unholy thing, we take from you the office of the priesthood and

the right to minister at the altar of God. In the name of the Father and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

If a deacon, the book of the Gospels is to be put into his hands and withdrawn with the words:

Because you have not obeyed the Gospel of Christ, whereof the dispensation was

committed unto you, we take from you the office of a deacon and the authority to

read that Gospel in the Church. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the

Holy Spirit. Amen.

Then shall the surplice or alb be taken away with these words:

Because, after escaping the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, you have been again entangled therein and

overcome, defiling your garments, we take from you the white robe, the token ofthe righteousness of Saints, and therewith all right of ministration in the Church,

that others may be warned, and yourself moved to repentance, that you may be

washed again from your sins in the Blood of the Lamb. In the name of the Father

and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.


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Here note that the depondent shall be degraded successively from each office in the Ministry to

which he has attained, beginning with the highest. But, if the depondent be absent, the bishop

shall proceed as follows:

Because N has violated God's law, and profaned His holy things, has put no

difference between the holy and the profane, neither showed it between the unclean

and the clean, so that God is profaned among us: he shall bear his iniquity and not

come near unto God to do the office of a priest unto Him come near to any of His

holy things in His holy place, but shall bear his shame, and the abominations he

has committed.

Whereas our Lord Jesus Christ has left to the ministers of His Church the power of

binding and loosing, and has declared of his own mouth and that whoso will not

hear the Church shall be unto us as a heathen man and a publican, and by His

Apostle has taught us to withdraw from every brother that walks disorderly, and to

put away from us wicked persons; we, by His authority committed to us, hereby

deprive N of all privileges and powers in the ministry of the Church, and depose

him from his office of (deacon priest bishop). In the name of the Father and of the

Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Then, addressing the people he shall add:

Forasmuch as N is now deposed and thrust out from being a minister unto the

Lord, we call on you, brethren, to bear witness to the fact, and to keep yourselves

and others from receiving any ministrations of the Church at his hands, lest youbecome partakers of his evil deeds, but to have no company with him, that he may

be ashamed.

As we do now erase and blot out his name from the register of the clergy of this

Church (here the bishop shall draw a pen line through the name of the deposed cleric on the

roll presented to him by an official) in token that if he does not repent and amend, God

will blot out his name from the book of life. Amen.

But as God, Who has taken this unfruitful branch away from His Vine, is able to

purge it, that it may bring forth much fruit, and to graff it in again; let us pray toHim that He will, of His great mercy, vouchsafe conversion and amendment to our

sinful brother, and restore him whole to the Church.


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Then, all kneeling, shall say the following prayers:

Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy.

Our Father.then silently until

V/. And lead us not into temptation.

R/. But deliver us from evil.

V/. I said, O Lord, be merciful unto me.

R/. Heal my soul, for I have sinned against you.

V/. Turn again, O Lord, at the last.

R/. And be gracious unto your servants.

V/. Let your merciful kindness, O Lord, be upon us.

R/. As we put our trust in you.

V/. We have sinned with our fathers.

R/. We have done amiss, and dealt wickedly.

V/. O Lord, do not deal with us according to our sins.

R/. Neither reward us according to our iniquities.V/. Remember not our old sins.

R/. But have mercy upon us, and that soon.

Psalm 50

Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your great mercy; and according to the multitude of

Your compassions blot out my transgression. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and

cleanse me from my sin. For I know my iniquity, and my sin is ever before me. Against You

only have I sinned and done this evil before You, that You might be justified in Your words, and

prevail when You are judged. For behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins did my

mother bear me. For behold, You have loved truth; the hidden and secret things of Your wisdomhave You made manifest unto me. You shall sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be made clean;

You shall wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow. You shall make me to hear joy and

gladness; the bones that be humbled, they shall rejoice. Turn Your face away from my sins, and

blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me

the joy of Your salvation, and with Your governing Spirit establish me. I shall teach

transgressors Your ways, and the ungodly shall turn back unto You. Deliver me from blood-

guiltiness, O God, You God of my salvation; my tongue shall rejoice in Your righteousness. O

Lord, You shall open my lips, and my mouth shall declare Your praise. For if You had desired

sacrifice, I had given it; with whole-burnt offerings You shall not be pleased. A sacrifice unto

God is a broken spirit; a heart that is broken and humbled God will not despise. Do good, O

Lord, in Your good pleasure unto Sion, and let the walls of Jerusalem be built. Then shall You be

pleased with a sacrifice of righteousness, with oblation and whole-burnt offerings. Then shall

they offer bullocks upon Your altar. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit;

As it was in the beginning, now and always unto the ages of ages. Amen.


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Psalm 129

Out of the depths have I cried to You, O Lord; O Lord, hear my voice. Let Your ears be attentive

to the voice of my supplication. If You should mark iniquities, O Lord, O Lord, who shall stand?

For with You there is forgiveness. For Your name's sake have I patiently waited for You, O

Lord; my soul has waited patiently for Your word, my soul has hoped in the Lord. From the

morning watch until night, from the morning watch let Israel hope in the Lord. For with the Lord

there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption; and He shall redeem Israel out of all his

iniquities. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; As it was in the

beginning, now and always unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Then shall the bishop rise, and continue the office standing at the altar.

V/. O Lord hear our prayer.

R/. And let our cry come unto You.

Let us pray: O most merciful God, who has sent Your Only-begotten Son into theworld, to save sinners, to seek the lost sheep, and to purify for Himself an

acceptable people, zealous in good works; Who desires not the death of a sinner,

but rather that he should be converted and live; Grant Your grace unto Your

servant N, that his mind may be enlightened, and that he may come to a

knowledge of his sin. Take from him all obstinacy and hardness of heart, give him

a new heart and a new spirit, take from him his heart of stone, and give him a heart

of flesh, and renew Your Spirit within him, that denying all ungodliness and

worldly lusts, he may live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world,

waiting for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God our Savior

Jesus Christ. Who with You and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns one God onto the

ages of ages. Amen.

At the close of the prayers, if the deposed cleric is present he shall be conducted out of the

church by two officials, the bishop saying:

Go out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed.

Then shall be said:

Psalm 124

They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Sion; he that dwells at Jerusalem, nevermore shall

he be shaken. Mountains are round about her, and the Lord is round about His people from

henceforth and for evermore. For the Lord will not permit the rod of sinners to be upon the lot of

the righteous, lest the righteous stretch forth their hands unto iniquities. Do good, O Lord, unto


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them that are good and unto the upright of heart. But them that turn aside unto crooked ways

shall the Lord lead away with the workers of iniquity; peace be upon Israel. Glory be to the

Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; As it was in the beginning, now and always unto the

ages of ages. Amen.

V/. Establish the thing, O Lord, that you have wrought in us.

R/. For Your Temples sake at Jerusalem.

V/. Let us depart in peace.

R/. In the name of Christ. Amen.

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