Crozier

El bastón de Moisés se menciona por primera vez en el Libro del Éxodo (capítulo 4, versículo 2), cuando Dios se le aparece a Moisés en la zarza ardiente . Dios le pregunta qué tiene en la mano, y Moisés responde: «un bastón» (o «una vara» en la versión Reina Valera ). El bastón se transforma milagrosamente en serpiente y luego vuelve a ser un bastón. A partir de entonces, se le conoce como la «vara de Dios» o el «báculo de Dios» (según la traducción).

«Y tomarás esta vara en tu mano, con la cual harás señales». Y Moisés fue y regresó a Jetro, su suegro, y le dijo: «Te ruego que me dejes ir y volver a mis hermanos que están en Egipto para ver si aún viven». Y Jetro le dijo a Moisés: «Ve en paz». El SEÑOR le dijo a Moisés en Madián: «Ve, regresa a Egipto, porque todos los que buscaban tu vida han muerto». Y Moisés tomó a su mujer y a sus hijos y los montó en un asno; y regresó a la tierra de Egipto; y Moisés tomó la vara de Dios en su mano.

Moisés y Aarón comparecen ante el faraón del Éxodo , cuando la vara de Aarón se transforma en serpiente. Los hechiceros del faraón también pueden transformar sus propias varas en serpientes, pero la de Aarón las engulle. La vara de Aarón se usa nuevamente para teñir el Nilo de rojo sangre. Se utiliza varias veces por orden divina para desatar las plagas de Egipto .

During the Exodus, Moses stretches out his hand with the staff to part the Red Sea. While in the wilderness after leaving Egypt, Moses does not follow God's command to "speak ye unto the rock before their eyes", instead he strikes the rock with the rod to create a spring for the Israelites from which to drink. Because Moses did not sanctify God before them but said "Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?" Thus, Moses failed by honoring himself and not God. For not doing what God commanded, God punished Moses by not letting him enter into the Promised Land (Book of Numbers 20:10–12).

Finally, Moses uses the staff in the battle at Rephidim between the Israelites and the Amalekites. When he holds up the "rod of God", the Israelites "prevail". When he drops it, their enemies gain the upper hand. Aaron and Hur help him to keep the staff raised until victory is achieved.

In Western Christianity, the crozier (known as the pastoral staff, from the Latin pastor, shepherd) is shaped like a shepherd's crook. A bishop or church head bears this staff as "shepherd of the flock of God", particularly the community under his canonical jurisdiction, but any bishop, whether or not assigned to a functional diocese, may also use a crozier when conferring sacraments and presiding at liturgies. The Catholic Caeremoniale Episcoporum^[3] says that, as a sign of his pastoral function, a bishop uses a crozier within his territory, but any bishop celebrating the liturgy solemnly with the consent of the local bishop may also use it. It adds that, when several bishops join in a single celebration, only the one presiding uses a crozier.

Un obispo suele sostener su báculo con la mano izquierda, dejando la derecha libre para impartir bendiciones . El Caeremoniale Episcoporum establece que el obispo sostiene el báculo con la abertura hacia adelante, o hacia los fieles. También indica que el obispo suele sostener el báculo durante una procesión y al escuchar la lectura del Evangelio, dar una homilía, aceptar votos, promesas solemnes o una profesión de fe, y al bendecir a los fieles, a menos que deba imponerles las manos. Cuando el obispo no sostiene el báculo, este queda al cuidado de un acólito , conocido como el «portador del báculo», quien puede llevar sobre sus hombros un velo similar a un chal llamado vimpa , para sostener el báculo sin tocarlo con las manos desnudas. Otro acólito, también con vimpa, sostiene la mitra cuando el obispo no la lleva. En la tradición anglicana , el báculo puede ser llevado por otra persona que camina delante del obispo en una procesión.

El báculo se confiere a un obispo durante su ordenación episcopal . También se le entrega a un abad en su bendición, una antigua costumbre que simboliza su labor pastoral sobre la comunidad monástica . Si bien no existe ninguna disposición para la entrega de un báculo en la liturgia asociada con la bendición de una abadesa , por costumbre arraigada, una abadesa puede portar uno cuando dirige a su comunidad de monjas .

La explicación tradicional de la forma del báculo es que, como bastón de pastor, incluye un gancho en un extremo para atraer de vuelta al rebaño a las ovejas que se hayan extraviado, un remate puntiagudo en el otro extremo para aguijar a las reacias y perezosas, y una vara en el medio como soporte resistente.

El báculo se utiliza en la heráldica eclesiástica para representar la autoridad pastoral en los escudos de armas de cardenales , obispos, abades y abadesas. Fue suprimido en la mayoría de los escudos personales de la Iglesia Católica en 1969, y desde entonces se encuentra en los escudos de abades y abadesas, escudos diocesanos y otros escudos corporativos.

En la Iglesia de Dios en Cristo , la iglesia pentecostal más grande de los Estados Unidos, el obispo presidente lleva un báculo como señal de su rol como líder posicional y funcional de la Iglesia. En algunas jurisdicciones de la Iglesia Metodista Unida , los obispos usan báculos en eventos ceremoniales. ^{[ 4 ]}

Uso papal

Popes no longer carry a crozier and instead carry the papal ferula. In the first centuries of the church, popes did carry a crozier but this practice was phased out and disappeared by the time of Pope Innocent III in the thirteenth century. In the Middle Ages, much as bishops carried a crozier, popes carried a papal cross with three bars, one more than the two bars found on croziers carried before archbishops in processions (see archiepiscopal cross). This too was phased out. Pope Paul VI introduced the modern papal pastoral staff, the papal ferula, in 1965. He and his successors have carried a few versions of this staff, but never a crozier.

In Eastern Christianity (Oriental Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodoxy and Eastern Catholicism), bishops use a similar pastoral staff. When a bishop is consecrated, the crozier (Greek: paterissa, Slavonic: pósokh) is presented to him by the chief consecrator following the dismissal at the Divine Liturgy.

The Archbishop of Cyprus has the unique privilege in canon law of carrying a paterissa shaped like an imperial sceptre. This is one of the Three Privileges granted to the Orthodox Church of Cyprus by Byzantine Emperor Zeno (the other two being to sign his name in cinnabar, i.e., ink coloured vermilion by the addition of the mineral cinnabar, and to wear purple instead of black cassocks under his vestments).

An Eastern archimandrite (high-ranking abbot), hegumen (abbot) or hegumenia (abbess) who leads a monastic community also bears a crozier. It is conferred on them by the bishop during the Divine Liturgy for the elevation of the candidate. When he is not vested for worship, a bishop, archimandrite or abbot uses a staff of office topped with a silver pommel.

Oriental Orthodoxy

In the Oriental Orthodox churches, croziers are used as pastoral staffs held by bishops. The Armenian Apostolic Church uses both Eastern- and Western-style croziers, while the Syriac Orthodox Church, Indian Orthodox Church and Marthoma Syrian Church have croziers that are thicker than their Eastern counterparts. Clerics of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church use croziers that look exactly like the Greek ones.

In the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, croziers are sometimes somewhat longer and are always decorated with a blood-red cloth around the top cross and the serpents. This symbolizes the bishop's responsibility for the blood of his flock.

Croziers used by Western bishops have curved or hooked tops, similar in appearance to staves traditionally used by shepherds, hence they are also known as crooks. In some languages there is only one term referring to this form, such as the German Krummstab or Dutch kromstaf. The crook itself (i.e., the curved top portion) may be formed as a simple shepherd's crook, terminating in a floral pattern, reminiscent of the Aaron's rod, or in a serpent's head. It may encircle a depiction of the bishop's coat of arms or the figure of a saint. In some very ornate croziers, the place where the staff meets the crook may be designed to represent a church.

Insular croziers, produced in Britain and Ireland in the Early Middle Ages, have a more simple shape, perhaps closer to actual shepherd's crooks. They were regarded as important relics of church leaders, and have survived in untypical numbers, including the Clonmacnoise Crozier, Kells Crozier, Lismore Crozier, Prosperous Crozier, River Laune Crozier, St. Columba's Crozier, St. Fillan's Crozier, and St. Mel's Crozier.

In previous times, a cloth of linen or richer material, called the sudarium (literally, "sweat cloth"), was suspended from the crozier at the place where the bishop would grasp it. This was originally a practical application which prevented the bishop's hand from sweating and discolouring (or being discoloured by) the metal. The invention of stainless steel in the late 19th century and its subsequent incorporation in material used for croziers rendered moot its original purpose and it became more elaborate and ceremonial in function over time. In heraldry, the sudarium is often still depicted when croziers occur on coats of arms.

In the Roman Catholic Church, the crozier is always carried by the bishop with the crook turned away from himself; that is to say, facing toward the persons or objects he is facing, regardless of whether he is the Ordinary or not. The Sacred Congregation of Rites on 26 November 1919, stated in a reply to the following question,

In case an outside Bishop uses a Bishops' staff, this being either required by the function or permitted by the Ordinary, in what direction should he hold the upper part, or crook? Reply. Always with the crook turned away from himself, that is toward the persons or objects which he is facing. (AAS 12-177)

The croziers carried by Eastern bishops, archimandrites, abbots and abbesses differ in design from the Western crozier. The Eastern crozier is shaped more like a crutch than a shepherd's staff.

The sudarium or crozier mantle is still used in the Eastern churches, where it is usually made of a rich fabric such as brocade or velvet, and usually embroidered with a cross or other religious symbol, trimmed with galoon around the edges and fringed at the bottom. The sudarium is normally a rectangular piece of fabric with a string sewn into the upper edge which is used to tie the sudarium to the crozier that can be drawn together to form pleats. As the sudarium has grown more elaborate, bishops no longer hold it between their hand and the crozier, but place their hand under it as they grasp the crozier, so that it is visible.