Priest

PRIEST

BASIC R.C. BELIEF A man who is ordained by a Bishop in the Sacrament of Holy Orders to perform the Sacrifice of the Mass, hear confessions and dispense sacraments.

CHRISTIAN COMMENT The Greek word for priest (hierus) is never used in scripture for a minister in the New Testament church. As the church declined, it assumed patterns that were familiar in the Old Testament or in paganism. In both of these, prominence had been given to a man ordained to dispense forgiveness through rituals. The role of a priest is foreign to the New Testament.