Refer to the offices in the Catholic Church that entail the conferral of certain rights, powers, and responsibilities. They are three-fold: deacon, priest, and bishop. Each office is conferred by its own ritual and entails different responsibilities. They are regarded as stages in the Sacrament of the Priesthood or Holy Orders.

Refers to the membership of the General Synod: The Order of Bishops, the Order of Clergy, the Order of Laity.

a) with respect to the monastic or regular life, groups of communities following the same rule or under a common administrative and spiritual structure b) with respect to the Christian ministry, the various grades consisting of the major orders - bishop, priest, deacon, sub-deacon - and the minor orders - acolyte, exorcist, reader, doorkeeper

(usually "Holy Orders) - The sacrament by which men are set apart, by the laying on of hands and by prayer, for the ministry of the Church; the ministry is of three orders: bishops, priests, and deacons.

The three ordained and equal ministries of the church- bishop, presbyter (priest), deacon- by whom the Churchï3/4's belief is defended, its sacraments administered, and its faith promulgated. The fourth order, which is not ordained, is the laity.