Presbyter

The word presbyter etymologically derives from Greek , the comparative form of , 'old man'. However, while the English word priest has presbyter as the etymological origin, the distinctive Greek word 'priest' is never used for presbyteros or episkopos in the New Testament, except as being part of the general priesthood of all believers, with the first Christians making a distinction between pagan and Jewish priests and New Testament presbyters. ==History==

The earliest organization of the Church in Jerusalem was according to most scholars similar to that of Jewish synagogues, but it had a council or college of ordained presbyters ( elders). In Acts 11:30 and , we see a collegiate system of government in Jerusalem though headed by James, according to tradition the first bishop of the city. In , the Apostle Paul ordains presbyters in the churches he founded. The term presbyter was often not yet clearly distinguished from overseer ( , later exclusively used as meaning bishop), as in , Titus 1:5–7 and 1 Peter 5:1. The earliest writings of the Apostolic Fathers, the Didache and the First Epistle of Clement for example, show the church used two terms for local church offices—presbyters (seen by many as interchangeable with episcopos or overseer) and deacon. In Timothy and Titus in the New Testament a more clearly defined episcopate can be seen. It says that Paul had left Timothy in Ephesus and Titus in Crete to oversee the local church ( and ). Paul commands them to ordain presbyters/bishops and to exercise general oversight, telling Titus to "rebuke with all authority" (). Early sources are not clear, but various groups of Christian communities would have had a group or college of presbyter-overseers functioning as leaders of the local churches. Occasionally women were described as presbyter on their tomb inscriptions or in other texts. Eventually, the head or "monarchic" bishop came to rule more clearly, and all local churches would eventually follow the example of the other churches and structure themselves after the model of the others with the one bishop more clearly in charge, Each Episcopal see had its own bishop and his presence was necessary to consecrate any gathering of the church. Eventually, as Christendom grew, individual congregations were no longer directly served by a bishop. The bishop in a large city (the Metropolitan bishop) would appoint a priest to pastor the flock in each congregation, acting as his delegate. Slightly different other versions (quoting John Calvin) express the same. A Catholic explanation suggests that the delegates were bishops in the actual sense of the term but that they neither possessed fixed sees nor had a special title. Since they were essentially itinerant, they confided the fixed necessary functions relating to the daily life of the community to the care of some of the better-educated and highly respected converts. With the legalization of Christianity and the threat of paganism dwindling from the passage of time, the use of the word priest was adopted from presbyter; as they felt there was no longer a chance of their faith being confused with the ideas, philosophies and culture of the Roman religion. ==Modern usage==

The Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, the non-Chalcedonian churches, and similar groups typically refer to presbyters in English as priests (priest is etymologically derived from the Greek presbyteros via the Latin presbyter). Collectively, however, their "college" is referred to as the "presbyterium", "presbytery", or "presbyterate". This usage is seen by most Protestant Christians as stripping the laity of its priestly status, while those who use the term defend its usage by saying that, while they do believe in the priesthood (Greek ἱερεύς hiereus – a different word altogether, used in Rev 1:6, 1 Pet 2:9) of all believers, they do not believe in the eldership of all believers. This is generally true of United Methodists, who ordain elders as clergy (pastors) while affirming the priesthood of all believers. The Methodist Church of Great Britain has formally referred to its presbyters as such (rather than the common title of 'minister') since 1990, from when it was possible to be ordained as a Methodist deacon, which is also an order of Methodist ministry. The evangelical (or ultra low-church) Anglican Diocese of Sydney has abolished the use of the word "priest" for those ordained as such. They are now referred to as "presbyters". Presbyterians sometimes refer to their ruling elders and teaching elders (ministers) as presbyters. The website of the International Standard Version of the Bible, a Protestant translation, responds to a criticism of its use of "elder" over "priest" by stating the following: ==See also==

• Liddell & Scott, An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, pp. 301, 668 • The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, p. 2297 • The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (3rd ed.), p. 1322 ==External links==