Ordinance of the Bishop's Ordination in Romanian Arhieraticon — Evolution and Continuity
The ordination of the bishop is the clearest proof that the liturgical, typical and lexical basis of the bishop's ordination has been preserved since the post-apostolic period. General elements of the ordination, such as the laying on of hands, the reading of two ordination prayers, the celebration in the frame of Liturgy, go through, like a red wire, the whole history of the evolution and crystallization of this service. Further research into the development of the bishop's ordination in the Byzantine period reveals the lexical similarities between the ordination prayers in the oldest Byzantine Evhologhion – Codex Barberini Graecus 336 – and the Romanian Archieratikon currently in use. The Romanian Archieratikon follow the line of the Byzantine ones, but having a permissive character. Starting with the Slujebnic Book of Metropolitan Ștefan of Ungrovlahia (ca. 1650), the first romanian Arhierarikon, continuing with the Arhieratikon copied by Axinte Uricariul in Iași, 1705, with two arhieratikon books from Transylvania - of Inochentie Micu Klein (1748) and Grigorie Maior, then with the one of Archbishop Melchisedec Ștefănescu (1875), reaching the first edition of the Romanian Arhieratikon, printed with the Holy Synod blessing, in 1890, ending with the current edition of the Arhieratikon (2012), the main elements of the bishop's ordination can be easily noticed: laying hands and Gospel Book on the candidate's head, the two ordination prayers with the same lexical background, the acclaim ,,Axios!", giving the homophore, etc. The main differences, given by the two spheres of influence – greek and slavonic, are related to the order of announcing and examine for the hypopsyphus, prior to the ordination itself.