Studia Pastoralne
Rocznik Wydziału Teologicznego UŚ

THE BISHOP’S MINISTRY AS OFFICIUM.
Summary
The word officium summarises a significant characteristic of Roman culture. It describes the Roman ideal of life as public service, i.e. a concern for salus rei publicae. Latin Christianity took over the word and its substance. The ministry of a bishop was described as exercising the officium already in the early ages. That is how Cyprian of Carthage understood the office of bishop, even though he did not use the word explicitly. Ambrose of Milan made the Roman officium a cornerstone of the formation of priests, which he described in his well-known work De officiis ministrorum. He himself exercised the office of the Bishop of Milan according to the best model of a Roman official. The tradition was further developed by Leo the Great, who pointed out that pax christiana was the fulfillment of what the Romans had expected of pax romana. Gregory the Great took over the legacy of his predecessors. However, to a greater extent than Ambrose or Leo, he perceived the tension between exercising the office accompanied by worldly cares and the spiritual dimension of bishop’s ministry. It may have been caused by the fact that, after a total disintegration of Roman administration, Gregory was forced to take on the responsibility of the perfect of Rome. His Regula pastoralis, however, provides a continuation of Ambrose’s ideas concerning the formation of clergy.