In persona Christi

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In persona Christi is a technical term from Western sacrament theology and means something like: in the place of Christ .

The term occurs in Roman Catholic theology (canon law, dogmatics) and in the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church . This means that the actual executor of an act of worship is not the one one sees and hears, but Christ . For example, whenever someone baptizes, Christ himself is actually baptizing.

Inferences

Various conclusions are drawn from this principle, some of which are undisputed and some - also in the Catholic area - are subject to discussion. Among other things:

  • Whoever acts for Christ should live like Christ: as a good person and a Christian; willing to suffer for Christ's gospel, to die if necessary ( martyrdom ); as celibate, etc.
  • Whoever acts for Christ at the core of a sacrament, appears in his “role” throughout the celebration, and is Christ's “actor” throughout.
  • Whoever “represents” Christ (as a priest ) must also be like him in gender, i.e. be a man. This would exclude Christian women from the official priesthood. Pope John Paul II declared this decision to be binding in his 1994 letter “ Ordinatio sacerdotalis ” - see also the ordination of women (Christianity) .
  • Because Christ is the One ( Monogenes ), it is best to represent him only as an official in the service. Therefore, concelebration is inadmissible or at least unfavorable. On the other hand, Thomas Aquinas and Pope Pius XII. objected: All priests of the church are one in the high priest Christ, as whose ministri (servants) they always and only act.

These considerations are made against the background of the conviction that Christ is always present in his entire Church and especially in her worship meetings, and further that every Christian “put on Christ” in his baptism ( Gal 3:27  EU ), consequently also Cyprian's formula applies: Christianus alter Christ (“the Christian is another Christ”).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Apostolic Letter "Ordinatio Sacerdotalis"

literature

  • B.-D. Marliangeas: Clés pour une théologie du ministère. In persona Christi - In persona Ecclesiae . Paris: Beauchesne 1978 (basic).