How many times do we have to have this discussion? "Priest" (preost) is the Old English word for, and only for, presbuteros. The word for hiereus (the temple priest) was sacerd. The latter fell out of usage in Modern English and the English term for presbuteros (priest) was applied to hiereus. The difficulty is not that we are using the title of the temple priest for presbuteros but that we are using the title of presbuteros (priest) for hiereus.
The Holy Spirit knows Greek..He says WHAT HE MEANS .. There is no Greek word for priest in the NT church. Rome has tried to redefine the Greek to mean something else. But it means what it says ...The NT church had no “sacrifice” of the mass until the 300’s when they redefined the mass as a “sacrifice then they redefined the word presbuteros.
The belief that the Holy Spirit and the early church did not know the difference between presbuteros and hiereus or misused the word is more than a stretch.But it is a pretty good bet by Rome that the members that never read the bible would buy that.
There was no “priesthood” until 300 or so AD .
I would recommend the book Catholic Customs and Traditions: A popular guide by Greg Dues
The jewish priesthood was a “type” of Christ where He offered Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of men.
he was bot the priest and the sacrifice... as a final not God destroyed the priesthood and the sacrifices in 70 AD