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To: annalex
. Protestant translations, by the way, routinely insert "elder" where either "episcopos" (bishop) or "presbyteros" (priest) is used in the original. This is just not a belief system based on honesty. Anyway, if you tell me which verse in your translation identified Peter as "elder" I will tell you what the Bible really says.

There is no priesthood in the new church. Greek is very clear on that . There is a word for priest in greek and it is NEVER USED FOR THE NEW CHURCH. That word is "hiereus", the greek word for elder is presbyteros'''. The defination for elder is

2) a term of rank or office a) among the Jews 1) members of the great council or Sanhedrin (because in early times the rulers of the people, judges, etc., were selected from elderly men)
2) of those who in separate cities managed public affairs and administered justice
b) among the Christians, those who presided over the assemblies (or churches) The NT uses the term bishop, elders, and presbyters interchangeably
c) the twenty four members of the heavenly Sanhedrin or court seated on thrones around the throne of God

Elders is a leadership role, not a roll of sacrificer .

You see the scriptural division in passages like this

Mark 15;1And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate.

Young's Literal Translation
Acts 4:5 And it came to pass upon the morrow, there were gathered together of them the rulers, and elders, and scribes, to Jerusalem,

Even the Douay-Rheims Bible does not translate that as priests..

Acts 4:5 And it came to pass on the morrow, that their princes, and ancients, and scribes, were gathered together in Jerusalem;

A poor translation from the greek, but non the less even they did not translate it as priest.

Catholic writer Greg Dues has written Catholic Customs & Traditions, a popular guide (New London: Twenty Third Publications, 2007). On page 166 he states, "Priesthood as we know it in the Catholic church was unheard of during the first generation of Christianity, because at that time priesthood was still associated with animal sacrifices in both the Jewish and pagan religions."

"A clearly defined local leadership in the form of elders, or presbyteroi, became still more important when the original apostles and disciples of Jesus died. The chief elder in each community was often called the episkopos (Greek, 'overseer'). In English this came to be translated as 'bishop' (Latin, episcopus). Ordinarily he presided over the community's Eucharistic assembly."

"When the Eucharist came to be regarded as a sacrifice, the role of the bishop took on a priestly dimension. By the third century bishops were considered priests. Presbyters or elders sometimes substituted for the bishop at the Eucharist. By the end of the third century people all over were using the title 'priest' (hierus in Greek and sacerdos in Latin) for whoever presided at the Eucharist."

1,359 posted on 02/20/2010 8:57:37 AM PST by RnMomof7
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To: RnMomof7
The word for Christian priest is "presbyteros". "Hiereus" refers to a pagan of Hebrew levitical priest.

"Priest" derives from "presbyteros". It is true that it also is used on occasion to describe Hebrew priests, as in Mark 15:1.

It is also true that the words shifted somewhat and the usage solidified sometime in late antiquity. Hiereus in modern Greek and modern context means Christian priest.

The point remains that to never translate "presbyteros" as "priest" regardless of context is misleading, because in Christian contexts "priest" is the best fit. To translate "episcopos" as anything but a "bishop" is outright lying.

1,376 posted on 02/20/2010 11:46:50 AM PST by annalex (http://www.catecheticsonline.com/CatenaAurea.php)
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