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A priest or priestess (feminine) (from Greek πρεσβύτερος ''presbýteros'' through Latin ''presbyter'', "elder", or from Old High German ''priast'', ''prest'', from Vulgar Latin "prevost" "one put over others", from Latin ''praepositus'' "person placed in charge"), is a person authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities. Their office or position is the priesthood, a term which also may apply to such persons collectively. Priests and priestesses have existed since the earliest of times (see Proto-indo-European trifunctional hypothesis) and in the simplest societies, most likely as a result of agricultural surplus and consequent social stratification. The necessity to read sacred texts and keep temple or church records helped foster literacy in many early societies. Priests exist in many religions today, such as all or some branches of Judaism, Christianity, Shintoism, Hinduism. They are generally regarded as having positive contact with the deity or deities of the religion to which they subscribe, often interpreting the meaning of events and performing the rituals of the religion. There is no common definition of the duties of priesthood between faiths; but generally it includes mediating the relationship between one's congregation, worshippers, and other members of the religious body, and its deity or deities, and administering religious rituals and rites. These often include blessing worshipers with prayers of joy at marriages, after a birth, and at consecrations, teaching the wisdom and dogma of the faith at any regular worship service, and mediating and easing the experience of grief and death at funerals - maintaining a spiritual connection to the afterlife in faiths where such a concept exists. Administering religious building grounds and office affairs and papers, including any religious library or collection of sacred texts, is also commonly a responsibility - for example, the modern term for clerical duties in a secular office refers originally to the duties of a cleric. The question of which religions have a "priest" depends on how the titles of leaders are used or translated into English. In some cases, leaders are more like those that other believers will often turn to for advice on spiritual matters, and less of a "person authorized to perform the sacred rituals." For example, clergy in Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy are ''priests'', but in Protestant Christianity they are typically ''minister'' and ''pastor''. The terms ''priest'' and ''priestess'' are sufficiently generic that they may be used in an anthropological sense to describe the religious mediators of an unknown or otherwise unspecified religion. 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 history of Iceland the chieftains were titled ''goði'', a word meaning "priest". As seen in the saga of Hrafnkell Freysgoði, however, being a priest consisted merely of offering periodic sacrifices to the Norse gods and goddesses; it was not a full-time role, nor did it involve ordination. 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 Greek, via Latin ''presbyter'',〔''Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language'', College Edition, The World Publishing Company, Cleveland OH, s.v. "priest"〕 the term for "elder", especially elders of Jewish or Christian communities in Late Antiquity. It is possible that the Latin word was loaned into Old English, and only from Old English reached other Germanic languages via the Anglo-Saxon mission to the continent, giving Old Icelandic ''prestr'', Old Swedish ''präster'', Old High German ''priast''. Old High German also has the disyllabic ''priester, priestar'', apparently derived from Latin independently via Old French ''presbtre''. The Latin ''presbyter'' ultimately represents Greek ''presbyteros'', the regular Latin word for "priest" being ''sacerdos'', corresponding to Greek ''hiereus''. That English should have only the single term ''priest'' to translate ''presbyter'' and ''sacerdos'' came to be seen as a problem in English Bible translations. The ''presbyter'' is the minister who both presides and instructs a Christian congregation, while the ''sacerdos'', offerer of sacrifices, or in a Christian context the eucharist, performs "mediatorial offices between God and man".〔Joseph B. Lightfoot, ''Epistle to the Philippians; a revised text, with introduction, etc.'', 2nd ed. 1869, p. 184, cited after OED.〕 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 ordination of women. In the case of the ordination of women in the Anglican communion, it is more common to speak of "priests", regardless of gender. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Priest」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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