[Uncle Chip]

The word in Titus 1:5 which is translated as "priest" (or as you would have it, as "elder") is in the Greek presbuteros. While it does mean "elder" in Greek, it was rendered as presbyter in Latin, which became priester in German and finally priest in English. Thus priest is just the English rendering of the Greek presbuteros and is a proper translation.

If it is the proper translation, as you claim, then why is the Greek "presbyteros" always translated "presbyters" [not "priests"] everywhere that it appears in my Catholic Bible??? Were those Catholic Bible scholars in error???

[Petrosius]

If it is the proper translation, as you claim, then why is the Greek "presbyteros" always translated "presbyters" [not "priests"] everywhere that it appears in my Catholic Bible??? Were those Catholic Bible scholars in error???

Just the preference of the translator. "Presbyter" is an acceptable translation. Indeed, this is the word that is used in Latin. "Priest", the word that is used in the Douay-Rheims Bible, is just the English rendering of the Latin presbyter. Whatever you call this particular office, priest/presbyter/elder, it continues to exist in the Catholic Church and not among the Protestants.

[kosta50]

re: prebuteros

Presbuteros means "elder." The Greek word for a priests is ierei. A bishops os episkopos. In the early Church, the ordained ministers were called "elders." They performed the same functions that are performed by priests.

Priests do not appear until the second century because until then the Christian communities were not large enough to require additional clergy. A priest is a bishop's deputy. A deacon is a priest's assistant. These are the only three ordained levels in the Church, regardless what you call them.