How did the apostles appoint priests in every church?

It is written, “So when they had appointed elders in every church and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord whom they had believed” (Acts 14:23). Paul and Barnabas faced no difficulties in appointing priests to serve the churches, especially since they did not appoint them by issuing binding apostolic orders, but through the fasting and prayer of the entire congregation together. The two apostles were comforted after appointing priests in every city, and they entrusted the people there not into the hands of the priest, but into God’s hands, the true Shepherd who serves and protects His Church and provides for her. All these congregations were still new to the faith, and it was challenging to trust their ability to choose faithful people for service. That is why the choice necessitated fasting and prayer, trusting in the work of the Holy Spirit.

Paul wrote to Titus saying, “For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you” (Titus 1:5). Certainly, some matters were verbally passed down from the apostles to their disciples, and from them to their successors in the Church, who in turn put these matters into practice without writing them down. Scripture does not record the method by which they appointed clergymen, whether bishops, priests, or deacons, nor does it record the Church’s communal prayers, or even the prayers offered in the sacrament of matrimony, for example. This is what we call, “Church Tradition.”