NYer, the priest is not an Alter Christus though as the representative of the bishop in a parish, his presence signifies the presence of Christ. Whatever is done “by” a priest is in fact done through the power of the Holy Spirit. For example, in confession, the priest is the witness of the liturgical community to the confession and by virtue of ordination and experience he may counsel and guide the penitent. He does not forgive the sins of the Penitent, God does as is clear in the rubrics of confession in the Orthodox Church.
To call a sacrament a “personal encounter with the Lord” is modernist psycho-babble and basically denies the reality of theosis on the one hand and the fallen nature of this world on the other.
Of course it is God that forgives the sin but it is through the instrumentality of the priest as is clear from Sacred Scripture:
He said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you. When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.The priest is more than a witness of the liturgical community but the instrumental means by which God forgive sins.
John 20:21-23