Was there any meaningful difference between the terms "presbyter" and "priest" in early Christianity?
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I don't have any documents to show you, but I do want to point out some linguistic aspects to this question that can lead to confusion.
In English, the word priest comes from a contraction of the word presbyter. In other languages, the word used for Catholic priests today is the word presbyter, so this question as worded doesn't really work in an early Church context that predates the English language.
However, in Greek, there is the word hieros, which fits the Old Testament concept of a priest in the Temple. The meaning of hieros is one who offers sacrifices. It also refers to one who represents God to man and man to God, performing an intermediary and intercessory role. However, the meaning of presbyteros is really just an older man who is a leader and does not have as much of a religious connotation.
I think the question you would be interested in would be to know if the words hieros and presbyteros were used to refer to the same person in the early Church. I remember hearing that they were because they refer to different aspects of the same role, with hieros referring to their intercessory role and presbyteros referring to their leadership role.
By the way, hieros is where we get the word "hierarchy" (literally rule by priests) referring to the leadership of the Church.
Upvote:0
My best friend has preached and wrote about this. The equation of priest and presbyter is something that comes from the development of English (alongside traditional Sacramental Christianity). Basically alongside the use of Presbyter (as an elder, and someone that celebrates the Eucharist), there was an English corruption of it as "Prester" (I think that a medieval or Renaissance corruption). And of course because of Sacramental Christianity, and the Eucharist where the person presiding was sometimes referred to as "priest" figuratively speaking. But basically the terms became conflated with each other because of sounding similar, but also do to the Eucharistic theology of Christianity before the Reformation.
I found an online Encyclopedia article that somewhat supports my friend's thesis, but talks about in terms of German Saxon and Latin.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/priest
Here is another example of the use of Prester. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prester_John
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