IC XC
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NI KA
THERE IS A SENSE IN THE Eastern Church of the Apostles as the first class of Bishops. From them evolved (in a short time) the order of Deacons. Then, after a time, presbyters. In the Western Church, there is a sense of the Apostles as presbyters. Over time there arose, first the Deacons, and then a sort of “super presbyter” we call an Episkopos. For the Easterner it is the Bishop who is the center and foundation of the Eucharistic Gathering in the local church: presbyters are only in situo. They serve at the pleasure of the Bishop. In the West, the Presbyter is the default center.
I think this parallels the Eastern Concept of the Monarchy of the Father (an Enthroned Bishop is said to represent God the Father) and the Western Concept of a sort of Diarchy between the Father and the Son. The presbyter is acting as Alter Christos in both cases but in a different way. I think, by the way, this is why the Deacon performs the elevation in the Byzantine Rite: the normal celebrant was a Bishop at one time. He cannot “offer to himself” symbolically. But the Deacon can make the offering before him, as he stands back from the altar.
Orthoparadoxy 