Editing Church of Sweden (section)

==Ordained ministry==
[[File:Ordination Stockholm.jpg|thumb|Sung Mass with the ordinations of two deacons and seven priests by the Bishop of Stockholm, in St Nicholas's Cathedral ([[Storkyrkan]])]]
The Church of Sweden maintains the historic threefold ministry of [[bishop]]s, [[priest]]s, and [[deacon]]s, and has approximately 5,000 ordained clergy in total.<ref>Structure and numbers of clergy listed on the [http://www.svenskakyrkan.se/default.aspx?id=657777 official website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131207024606/http://www.svenskakyrkan.se/default.aspx?id=657777 |date=7 December 2013 }} in English.</ref>

It practices direct ordination, also called ordination {{Lang|la|per saltum}} (literally, ordination by a leap), in which candidates are directly ordained to the specific order of ministry for which they have trained. This is an alternative approach to the sequential ordination of other historic churches (including the Anglican, Orthodox, and Catholic churches) in which candidates must be ordained in the strict sequence of deacon, then priest, then bishop. A Church of Sweden priest can be ordained directly to that office, without any previous ordination as a deacon. All deacons of the Church of Sweden are, therefore, [[permanent deacons]]. The order of bishop is not entered through direct ordination, however, and a Church of Sweden bishop is required to be a validly ordained priest prior to their consecration; if a deacon or lay person were to be selected for the position, they would first be ordained as a priest.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.svenskakyrkan.se/karlstadsstift/vem-kan-bli-biskop|title=Vem kan bli biskop?|access-date=25 August 2020|archive-date=22 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922200929/https://www.svenskakyrkan.se/karlstadsstift/vem-kan-bli-biskop|url-status=live}}</ref>

After the Reformation, the Swedish Church seems to have practiced variously both direct ordination and sequential ordination. Although direct ordination was more widespread, and became normative, the practice of sequential ordination is attested in the seventeenth century Swedish Church. Bishop Johannes Rudbeckius (1619–1646) habitually ordained men to the diaconate in advance of ordaining them to the priesthood,<ref name=Upsala1909>{{cite web |url = http://anglicanhistory.org/lutherania/conference1909.html |title = Report of the Commission Appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, In Pursuance of Resolution 74 of the Lambeth Conference of 1908 on the Relation of the Anglican Communion to the Church of Sweden |publisher = The Young Churchman (1911), reproduced by Project Canterbury |access-date = 19 February 2017 |archive-date = 23 June 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170623122740/http://anglicanhistory.org/lutherania/conference1909.html |url-status = live }}</ref> and this was said by [[Johannes Canuti Lenaeus|Archbishop Johannes Lenaeus]] of Uppsala (in 1653) to be usual Church of Sweden practice.<ref name=Ambassy>{{cite book |title=A Journal of the Swedish ambassy in the years MDCLIII and MDCLIV from the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland : with an appendix of original papers, written by the ambassador, the Lord Commissioner Whitelocke |first=Bulstrode |last= Whitelocke |edition=1772 republication |year=1772 |page=415 }}</ref>

In the Evangelical Lutheran churches, including the Church of Sweden, ministerial function is indicated by the usual vestments of western tradition, including the [[Stole (vestment)|stole]], worn straight by bishops, crossed by priests (wearing the stole straight by priests is only permitted when in choir dress, i.e., a surplice rather than an alb, as no cincture is then used that would permit crossing the stole), and diagonally across the left shoulder by deacons. However, whereas in Roman Catholic or Anglican ordinations the candidates for priesthood will already be wearing the diagonal deacon's stole, in the Church of Sweden candidates for both diaconate and priesthood are unordained at the start of the service. Tiit Pädam of Uppsala University and a Swedish-based priest of the [[Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church]] writes: "At the beginning of the [Evangelical Lutheran] ordination service, the candidates are dressed in white albs and no one wears a stole at the beginning of the rite. In this way the churches express a significant aspect of their understanding of ordination. The white alb, used both by the ordinands to the diaconate as well as to the priesthood, is a sign that the ordination is a new beginning, rooted in the priesthood of all the baptised."<ref name=Pädam>{{cite book |title=Ordination of Deacons in the Churches of the Porvoo Communion: A Comparative Investigation in Ecclesiology |first=Tiit |last=Pädam |edition=First |publisher=Kirjastus TP (Uppsala) |year=2011 |isbn=978-9949-21-785-4 |page=276}}</ref>

The Church of Sweden employs full-time deacons to staff its extensive outreach and social welfare ''diakonia'' programme. Whilst deacons have the traditional liturgical role (and vesture) in the Swedish Church, their principal focus of work is outside the parish community, working in welfare roles. Nonetheless, deacons are attached to local parishes to be connected with church communities, and with a parish priest.