Priest
A priest is a
Description
According to the
In many religions, being a priest or priestess is a full-time position, ruling out any other career. Many Christian priests and pastors choose or are mandated to dedicate themselves to their churches and receive their living directly from their churches. In other cases, it is a part-time role. For example, in the early
In some religions, being a priest or priestess is by human election or human choice. In Judaism, the priesthood is inherited in familial lines. In a theocracy, a society is governed by its priesthood.
Etymology
The word "priest", is ultimately derived from Latin via Greek presbyter,[2] the term for "elder", especially elders of Jewish or Christian communities in late antiquity. The Latin presbyter ultimately represents Greek πρεσβύτερος presbúteros, the regular Latin word for "priest" being sacerdos, corresponding to ἱερεύς hiereús.
It is possible that the Latin word was loaned into
Αn alternative theory makes priest cognate with Old High German priast, prest, from Vulgar Latin *prevost "one put over others", from Latin praepositus "person placed in charge".[3]
That English should have only the single term priest to translate presbyter and sacerdos came to be seen as a problem in
The feminine English noun, priestess, was coined in the 17th century, to refer to female priests of the pre-Christian religions of classical antiquity. In the 20th century, the word was used in controversies surrounding the women ordained in the Anglican communion, who are referred to as "priests", irrespective of gender, and the term priestess is generally considered archaic in Christianity.
Webster's 1829 Dictionary stated "PRIEST, noun [Latin proestes, a chief, one that presides; proe, before, and sto, to stand, or sisto.]" https://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/priest
Historical religions
In historical polytheism, a priest administers the sacrifice to a deity, often in highly elaborate ritual. In the Ancient Near East, the priesthood also acted on behalf of the deities in managing their property.
Priestesses in antiquity often performed sacred prostitution, and in Ancient Greece, some priestesses such as Pythia, priestess at Delphi, acted as oracles.
Ancient priests and priestesses
- Sumerian en (Akkadian: entu), including Enheduanna (c. 23rd century BCE), were top-ranking priestesses who were distinguished with special ceremonial attire and held equal status to high priests. They owned property, transacted business, and initiated the hieros gamos with priests and kings.[5]
- Nadītu served as priestesses in the temples of Inanna in the city of Uruk. They were recruited from the highest families in the land and were supposed to remain childless, owned property, and transacted business.
- The Sumerian word nin, EREŠ in Akkadian, is the sign for "lady." nin.dingir (Akkadian entu), literally "divine lady", a priestess.
- In Sumerian epic texts such as "Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta", nu-gig were priestesses in temples dedicated to Inanna and may be a reference to the goddess herself.[6]
- Puabi of Ur was an Akkadian queen regnant or a priestess. In several other Sumerian city-states, the ruling governor or king was also a head priest with the rank of ensi, such as at Lagash.
- Control of the holy city of Nippur and its temple priesthood generally meant hegemony over most of Sumer, as listed on the Sumerian King List; at one point, the Nippur priesthood conferred the title of queen of Sumer on Kugbau, a popular taverness from nearby Kish (who was later deified as Kubaba).
- In the Hebrew Bible, Hebrew: קְדֵשָׁה qědēšā,[7] derived from the root Q-D-Š[8] were sacred prostitutes usually associated with the goddess Asherah.
- Quadishtu served in the temples of the Sumerian goddess Qetesh.
- Ishtaritu specialized in the arts of dancing, music, and singing and they served in the temples of Ishtar.[9]
- In the Epic of Gilgamesh, priestess Shamhat, a temple prostitute, tamed wild Enkidu after "six days and seven nights."
- Gerarai, fourteen Athenian matrons of Dionysus, presided over sacrifices and participated in the festivals of Anthesteria.
Ancient Egypt
In ancient Egyptian religion, the right and obligation to interact with the gods belonged to the pharaoh. He delegated this duty to priests, who were effectively bureaucrats authorized to act on his behalf. Priests staffed temples throughout Egypt, giving offerings to the cult images in which the gods were believed to take up residence and performing other rituals for their benefit.[10] Little is known about what training may have been required of priests, and the selection of personnel for positions was affected by a tangled set of traditions, although the pharaoh had the final say. In the New Kingdom of Egypt, when temples owned great estates, the high priests of the most important cult—that of Amun at Karnak—were important political figures.[11]
High-ranking priestly roles were usually held by men. Women were generally relegated to lower positions in the temple hierarchy, although some held specialized and influential positions, especially that of the God's Wife of Amun, whose religious importance overshadowed the High Priests of Amun in the Late Period.[12]
Ancient Rome
In ancient Rome and throughout Italy, the ancient sanctuaries of Ceres and Proserpina were invariably led by female sacerdotes, drawn from women of local and Roman elites. It was the only public priesthood attainable by Roman matrons and was held in great honor.
A Roman matron was any mature woman of the upper class, married or unmarried. Females could serve public cult as Vestal Virgins but few were chosen, and then only from young maidens of the upper class.[13]
Ancient Greece
- The Earth Mother. She was widely credited for her prophecies. The priestess retained her role when the temple was rededicated to Apollo, giving her a prominence unusual for a woman in the male-dominated culture of classical Greece.
- The Phrygian Sibyl was the priestess presiding over an Apollonian oracle at Phrygia, a historical kingdom in the Anatolian highlands.
Abrahamic religions
Judaism
Historical
After
In Hebrew, the word for "priest" is
The Hebrew word kohen comes from the
Modern Judaism
Since the
Beta Israel
The traditional Beta Israel community in Israel had little direct contact with other Jewish groups after the destruction of the temple and developed separately for almost two thousand years. While some Beta Israel now follow Rabbinical Jewish practices, the Ethiopian Jewish religious tradition (Haymanot) uses the word Kahen to refer to a type non-hereditary cleric.
Samaritanism
Aaronic Kohanim also officiated at the
Christianity
With the spread of Christianity and the formation of parishes, the Greek word ἱερεύς (hiereus), and Latin sacerdos, which Christians had since the 3rd century applied to bishops and only in a secondary sense to presbyters, began in the 6th century to be used of presbyters,[17] and is today commonly used of presbyters, distinguishing them from bishops.[18]
Today, the term "priest" is used in the
Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy
The most significant
In these traditions, only men who meet certain requirements may become priests. In Catholicism, the canonical minimum age is twenty-five. Bishops may dispense with this rule and ordain men up to one year younger. Dispensations of more than a year are reserved to the Holy See (Can. 1031 §§1, 4.) A Catholic priest must be incardinated by his bishop or his major religious superior in order to engage in public ministry. Secular priests are incardinated into a diocese, whereas religious priests live the consecrated life and can work anywhere in the world that their specific community operates.
In Orthodoxy, the normal minimum age is thirty (Can. 11 of Neocaesarea) but a bishop may dispense with this if needed. In neither tradition may priests marry after ordination. In the Catholic Church, priests in the Latin Church must be celibate except under special rules for married clergy converting from certain other Christian confessions.[23] Married men may become priests in Eastern Orthodoxy and the Eastern Catholic Churches, but in neither case may they marry after ordination, even if they become widowed. Candidates for bishop are chosen only from among the celibate. Orthodox priests will either wear a clerical collar similar to the above-mentioned, or simply a very loose black robe that does not have a collar.
Anglican or Episcopalian
The role of a priest in the
As Anglicanism represents a broad range of theological opinion, its
While priest is the official title of a member of the presbyterate in every Anglican province worldwide (retained by the Elizabethan Settlement), the ordination rite of certain provinces (including the
Lutheranism
The general priesthood or the priesthood of all believers, is a Christian doctrine derived from several passages of the New Testament. It is a foundational concept of Protestantism.[27] It is this doctrine that Martin Luther adduces in his 1520 To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation in order to dismiss the medieval Christian belief that Christians were to be divided into two classes: "spiritual" and "temporal" or non-spiritual. Conservative Lutheran reforms are reflected in the theological and practical view of the ministry of the church. Much of European Lutheranism follows the traditional Catholic governance of deacon, presbyter, and bishop. The Lutheran archbishops of Finland, Sweden, etc. and Baltic countries are the historic national primates and some ancient cathedrals and parishes in the Lutheran church were constructed many centuries before the Reformation. Indeed, ecumenical work within the Anglican Communion and among Scandinavian Lutherans mutually recognize the historic apostolic legitimacy and full communion. Likewise in America, Lutherans have embraced the apostolic succession of bishops in the full communion with Episcopalians and most Lutheran ordinations are performed by a bishop.
The
Methodism
Methodist
Latter Day Saints
In the
There is some variation among the Latter Day Saint denominations regarding who can be ordained to the priesthood. In
Islam
Islam has no sacerdotal priesthood. There are, however, a variety of academic and administrative offices which have evolved to assist Muslims with this task, such as the imāms and the mullāhs.
Mandaeism
A
All Mandaean communities traditionally require the presence of a priest, since priests are required to officiate over all important religious rituals, including masbuta, masiqta, birth and wedding ceremonies. Priests also serve as teachers, scribes, and community leaders.[35]
There are three types of priests in Mandaeism:[35]
- rišama "leader of the people"
- ganzibria "treasurers" (from Old Persian ganza-bara "id.," Neo-Mandaic ganzeḇrānā)
- tarmidia "disciples" (Neo-Mandaic tarmidānā)
Priests have lineages based on the succession of ganzibria priests who had initiated them. Priestly lineages, which are distinct from birth lineages, are typically recorded in the
Eastern religions
Hinduism
A
A purohita, on the other hand, performs rituals and
In many cases, a purohita also functions as a pujari.
While only men have traditionally been ordained as priests in the past, recent developments such as feminism in India have led to the opening of training schools for women to become priests.[41]
Zoroastrianism
A Zoroastrian priest are called a Mobad and they officiate the Yasna, pouring libations into the sacred fire to the accompaniment of ritual chants. The Mobad also prepare drinks for the haoma ritual.[42]
In Indian Zoroastrianism, the priesthood is reserved for men and is a mostly hereditary position,[43] but women have been ordained in Iran and North America as a mobedyar, meaning an assistant mobed.[44][45]
Taoism
The
Indigenous and ethnic religions
Shinto
This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2012) |
The Shinto priest is called a kannushi (神主, lit. "Master of the kami"), originally pronounced kamunushi, sometimes referred to as a shinshoku (神職). A kannushi is the person responsible for the maintenance of a Shinto shrine, or jinja, purificatory rites, and for leading worship and veneration of a certain kami. Additionally, kannushi are aided by another priest class, miko (巫女, "shrine maidens"), for many rites. The maidens may either be family members in training, apprentices, or local volunteers.
Africa
The
Afro-Latin American religions
In Brazil, the priests in the Umbanda, Candomblé and Quimbanda religions are called pai-de-santo (literally "Father of saint" in English), or "babalorixá" (a word borrowed from Yoruba bàbálórìsà, meaning Father of the Orisha); its female equivalent is the mãe-de-santo ("Mother of saint"), also referred to as "ialorixá" (Yoruba: iyálórìsà).
In the Cuban Santería, a male priest is called Santero, while female priests are called Iyanifas or "mothers of wisdom".[50]
Neo-paganism
Wicca
According to traditional
Dress
The dress of religious workers in ancient times may be demonstrated in frescoes and artifacts from the cultures. The dress is presumed to be related to the customary clothing of the culture, with some symbol of the deity worn on the head or held by the person. Sometimes special colors, materials, or patterns distinguish celebrants, as the white wool veil draped on the head of the Vestal Virgins.
Occasionally, the celebrants at religious ceremonies shed all clothes in a symbolic gesture of purity. This was often the case in ancient times. An example of this is shown to the left on a Kylix dating from c. 500 BC where a priestess is featured. Modern religious groups tend to avoid such symbolism and some may be quite uncomfortable with the concept.
The retention of long skirts and vestments among many ranks of contemporary priests when they officiate may be interpreted to express the ancient traditions of the cultures from which their religious practices arose.
In most Christian traditions, priests wear
Eastern Christian priests mostly retain the traditional dress of two layers of differently cut cassock: the rasson (Greek) or podriasnik (Russian) beneath the outer exorasson (Greek) or riasa (Russian). If a pectoral cross has been awarded it is usually worn with street clothes in the Russian tradition, but not so often in the Greek tradition.
Distinctive clerical clothing is less often worn in modern times than formerly, and in many cases it is rare for a priest to wear it when not acting in a pastoral capacity, especially in countries that view themselves as largely secular in nature. There are frequent exceptions to this however, and many priests rarely if ever go out in public without it, especially in countries where their religion makes up a clear majority of the population. Pope John Paul II often instructed Catholic priests and religious to always wear their distinctive (clerical) clothing, unless wearing it would result in persecution or grave verbal attacks.
Christian traditions that retain the title of priest also retain the tradition of special liturgical vestments worn only during services. Vestments vary widely among the different Christian traditions.
In modern
Assistant priest
In many religions, there are one or more layers of assistant priests.
In the
In ancient Judaism, the Priests (Kohanim) had a whole class of Levites as their assistants in making the sacrifices, in singing
An assistant priest is a priest in the Anglican and Episcopal churches who is not the senior member of clergy of the parish to which they are appointed, but is nonetheless in priests' orders; there is no difference in function or theology, merely in 'grade' or 'rank'. Some assistant priests have a "sector ministry", that is to say that they specialize in a certain area of ministry within the local church, for example youth work, hospital work, or ministry to local light industry. They may also hold some diocesan appointment part-time. In most (though not all) cases, an assistant priest has the legal status of assistant curate, although not all assistant curates are priests, as this legal status also applies to many deacons working as assistants in a parochial setting.
The corresponding term in the Catholic Church is "parochial vicar" – an ordained priest assigned to assist the pastor (Latin: parochus) of a parish in the pastoral care of parishioners. Normally, all pastors are also ordained priests; occasionally an auxiliary bishop will be assigned that role.
In Wicca, the leader of a coven or temple (either a high priestess or high priest) often appoints an assistant. This assistant is often called a 'deputy', but the more traditional terms 'maiden' (when female and assisting a high priestess) and 'summoner' (when male and assisting a high priest) are still used in many denominations.
See also
- Archpriest
- Brahmin
- Gothi
- Hieromonk
- Jogi (caste)
- List of fictional clergy and religious figures
- Presbyterorum Ordinis, decree on the priesthood from the Second Vatican Council
- Priest shortage
- Ritualism in the Church of England
- Sacerdotalism
- Vicar
- Volkhv
References
- JSTOR 2505078.
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- ^ "priest". Online Etymology Dictionary.
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- ^ "Hebrew Lexicon :: H6948 (KJV)". cf.blueletterbible.org. Archived from the original on 2012-07-10. Retrieved 2015-07-25.
- ^ "Strong's H6948". Blue Letter Bible. Archived from the original on 2018-08-29. Retrieved 2018-08-29., incorporating Strong's Concordance (1890) and Gesenius's Lexicon (1857).
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- ^ Doxey, Denise M., "Priesthood", in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt (2001), vol. III, pp. 69–70
- Barbette Stanley Spaeth, The Roman goddess Ceres, University of Texas Press, 1996, pp. 4–5, 9, 20 (historical overview and Aventine priesthoods), 84–89 (functions of plebeian aediles), 104–106 (women as priestesses): citing among others Cicero, In Verres, 2.4.108; Valerius Maximus, 1.1.1; Plutarch, De Mulierum Virtutibus, 26.
- Mishnaictractate Maaser Sheini p. 31a.
- ^ Even-Shoshan, Avraham (2003). Even-Shoshan Dictionary. pp. Entry "כֹּהֵן" (Kohen).
- ^ "Klein Dictionary, כֹּהֵן". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
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- ^ "Dennis Chester Smolarski, Sacred Mysteries (Paulist Press 1995 ISBN 9780809135516), p. 128". Retrieved 2014-08-25.
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- ^ "Catechism of the Catholic Church – The sacrament of Matrimony". vatican.va. Retrieved 2015-07-25.
- ^ Matthew 28:19
- Peoria Journal Star. p. C8. Retrieved 2013-06-14.in 1980, said [Doug] Grandon, director of catechetics for the diocese. [...] His family life will remain the same, he said. Contrary to popular misunderstandings, he won't have to be celibate.
About 100 Episcopal priests, many of them married, have become Roman Catholic priests since a "pastoral provision" was created by Pope John Paul II
- ^ Emma John (July 4, 2010). "Should women ever be bishops?". The Observer. London.
- ^ Sulaiman Kakaire. "Male bishops speak out on female priests".
- ^ Anglican Church of Canada. "Minister or Priest?".
- ^ "The Protestant Heritage". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Archived from the original on June 14, 2006. Retrieved 2007-09-20.
- ^ "Ministry and Ministries - Svenska kyrkan". Svenskakyrkan.se. 2021-09-20. Retrieved 2022-03-18.
- ^ "Parishes". evl.fi. Retrieved 2022-03-18.
- ^ "Women ordained for thirty years". evl.fi. 1988-03-06. Retrieved 2022-03-18.
- ^ Sequeira, Tahira (8 February 2021). "Gallery: Turku makes history with first female bishop". Helsinki Times. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
Leppänen also became the first woman from the Conservative Laestadian movement (a revival movement within the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland) to be ordained as a priest in 2012. The first female priests were ordained in Finland 32 years ago.
- ISBN 9780199604012.
In Finland, a priest of the Lutheran church is forbidden to reveal a secret received in confession and in the course of pastoral counselling; a similar rule applies to Orthodox priests.
- ^ "Paramount Christian". www.paramountchristian.org. Retrieved 2022-12-20.
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- ^ AfricaNews (October 10, 2022). "The Cuban priestesses defying religious patriarchy". Africanews. Retrieved 2022-12-20.
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External links
- Description of the problem of Roman Catholic and Old Catholic reunion with respect to the female priesthood
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .