CUVÂNTAREA AP. PAVEL LA MILET (F.Ap. 20, 17-35) - O REFERINŢĂ LA PREOŢIA SACRAMENTALĂ A BISERICII PRIMARE?
PAUL’S DISCOURSE FROM MILETUS (ACTS 20,17-38). A REFRENCE TO THE SACRAMENTAL PRIESTHOOD OF THE EARLY CHURCH?

Summary/Abstract: Paul’s Discourse from Miletus (Acts 20,17-38). A refrence to the Sacramental Priesthood of the Early Church? In this article I tried to give an answer to the following question: What understood the Apostle Paul under the terms ”PresbÚteroi” and ”Ep…skopoi” which he named the Elders of Ephesus with, when he called them to Miletus some day to the end of his third missionary journey? To developing this topic I have divided my article in three chapters: 1. Preliminaries 2. ”Oƒ presbÚteroi” tÁj ™kklhs…aj ? (Acts 20,17) 3. “oƒ Ep…skopoi” and God’s Church In the part of Preliminaries I emphasized the characteristics of the Discourse mentioning some theories expressed in this regard as following: “A Pastoral Testament” of the Apostle Paul; “An epilogue” of the discourses held during of the third missionary journey; “A conclusion” of his missionary activity developed in the Ephesus communities etc. In the subsequent two chapters I gave a possible answer to the above mentioned question: What understood Paul under the terms ”PresbÚteroi” and ”Ep…skopoi” (Acts 20,17.28)? Were they simply elders of Ephesus or a special category of those, sanctified by divine Grace and having therefore, particular responsibilities within the community? Starting from an analysis of some texts of the Old Testaments where are mentioned 70 elders, representing an unique group with particular responsibilities within the Jewish people (cf. Ex 24,1; Num 11,16-17.24-25; Lev 4,15-16), I went to the conclusion that the Elders from Miletus, named by Paul in verse 17 - ”oƒ presbÚteroi” and in the verse 28 - “oƒ Ep…skopoi”, might have been the ordained priests of the Christian community of Ephesus. As for the linguistic difference between these two terms I suppose Prof. Iustin Moisescu (a Romanian Biblical Scholar) was right when he concluded: the term presbÚteroj articulates the sacramental work of the priesthood of the Church (cf. Jam 5,14-15), and the term ™piskÒpoj expresses the special activity of a priest as being a guardian, administrator, supervisor in the life of Church: poima…nein t¾n ™kklis…an toà Qeoà. Therefore, the presbyteries mentioned by Paul in Acts 20,17.28 must have been appointed persons who constituted the second rank of the sacramental priesthood of the early Church.

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