For this cause I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed you:
All Commentaries on Titus 1:5 Go To Titus 1
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
That thou shouldst, in the cities, that is to say, bishops, as the same are called bishops in ver. 7; and, as St. Chrysostom and others observe, it is evident from this very place, that the word presbyter was then used to signify either priests or bishops. If St. Jerome here meant that bishops were only placed over priests by ecclesiastical and not by divine institution, as some have expounded his words, his singular opinion against so many others is not to be followed. (Witham)
That the ordaining of priests belongs only to bishops, is evident from the Acts and from St. Paul's epistles to Timothy and Titus. It is true, St. Jerome seems to express himself as if in the primitive Church there was no great difference between priests and bishops, yet he constantly excepts giving holy orders, (ep. 85) as also confirming the baptized, by giving them the Holy Spirit by imposition of hands and holy chrism; (dial. contra Lucif. chap. iv.) which pre-eminence he attributes to bishops only. To assert that there is no distinction between a priest and bishop is an old heresy, condemned as such by the Church. See St. Epiphanius, hær. 75.; St Augustine, hær 53.
