Ordinierten

Ordinierten is a German term that stems from the verb ordinieren, meaning to ordain or to appoint to a church office. The principal sense concerns persons who have received ordination in a Christian church. The past participle ordiniert is used to describe the act or status, as in Er wurde ordiniert (He was ordained). The simple past plural form ordinierten appears in narrative contexts, as in Sie ordinierten mehrere Kandidaten (They ordained several candidates). The word can also function as a nominalized plural, die Ordinierten, referring to the group of people who have been ordained, though this usage is relatively rare and context-dependent.

Etymology and related terms: ordinieren comes from the Latin ordinare, meaning to arrange, set in order, with church usage expanding to the conferral of holy orders. Related terms include Ordination (the ceremony), Holy Orders (the ecclesiastical status in some traditions), and, for the persons themselves, titles such as Priester, Diakon, Bischof, depending on denomination and office.

Usage in church practice: In many Christian denominations—Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and various Protestant communities—ordination is the rite by which a candidate receives the sacramental or official authority to perform duties such as preaching, administering the sacraments, and pastoral care. The act is typically performed by a bishop or a church authority, and it may involve vows, laying on of hands, and specific prayers. The ordained are usually referred to by their office (priest, deacon, bishop) rather than by the blanket term ordinierten, though the latter can appear in sermons or doctrinal discussions as a reference to the ordained clergy as a group.

See also: Ordination, Holy Orders, Clergy, Priesthood.