[CynicalBear]

>>The English word priest is derived from the Greek word presbyteros<<

Who are you trying to kid? The Greek word for priest used in scripture is hiereus and not once is it used for the apostles or any leadership position in the New Testament Church. Presbyteros means elder or someone advanced in life. The office of priest in the CC is totally unscriptural.

[rzman21]

I'm being literal. The English word priest evolved from presbyteros.

Origin: before 900; Middle English prest ( e ), priest, Old English prēost, ultimately < Late Latin presbyter presbyter http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/priest

What we have here is an effort by Protestants to obfuscate the text from the way that Early Christians understood it.

The Eastern Orthodox Bible notes: http://www.orthodoxanswers.org/eob/download/EOBNT062011e.pdf CHURCH OFFICES The Greek words dia,konoj (diakonos), presbu,teroj (presbyteros) and evpi,skopoj (episkopos), are translated respectively as “deacon” (instead of “servant” or “minister”), “presbyter” (instead of “elder”) and “overseer.” The modern English word “priest” is derived from “presbyter” but in a confused manner: it actually conveys the idea of “one who offers a sacrifice,” which in Greek is i`ereu.j (hiereus) and !hek (kohen) in Hebrew. The Greek Orthodox tradition has properly retained the distinction between presbu,teroj and i`ereu.j; the latter is applied to the Christian minister of the altar in his function as offerer of the Eucharistic gifts on behalf of the priestly people, which is why the Christian “priest” (Greek: i`ereu.j Latin: sacerdos) par excellence originally was and still is the bishop. It is only with the development of the presbyter-led parish that the term “priest” (i`ereu.j) came to be applied to the presbyter in his function as celebrant of the Eucharist. To this day, the annual directory of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America uses the title of “presbyter,” thereby maintaining the most traditional and theologically accurate terminology. In the New Testament, presbyter and overseer are interchangeable and synonymous, a which is why the EOB/NT translates evpi,skopoj (episkopos) as “overseer,” not “bishop.”

In the Didache, which was considered scripture by many early canonists and was written around the time of St. Paul describes the Eucharist in the following manner.

The Didache "Assemble on the Lord’s day, and break bread and offer the Eucharist; but first make confession of your faults, so that your sacrifice may be a pure one. Anyone who has a difference with his fellow is not to take part with you until he has been reconciled, so as to avoid any profanation of your sacrifice [Matt. 5:23–24]. For this is the offering of which the Lord has said, ‘Everywhere and always bring me a sacrifice that is undefiled, for I am a great king, says the Lord, and my name is the wonder of nations’ [Mal. 1:11, 14]" (Didache 14 [A.D. 70]).

The Greek text of the Didache uses the word prosphora just as St. Paul does. http://home.earthlink.net/~dybel/Documents/DidacheIlnr.htm

[Campion]

Who are you trying to kid?

Any decent dictionary will tell you that the English word "priest" comes from the Greek word "presbyter". That's just basic etymology.

It's certainly true that the Greek word hiraeus is also translated into English as "priest". Blame the English language (and Latin before it) for having only one word to express two somewhat different but related concepts.