Question about use of the word presbuteroi

[Ignatius]

I have a question about the Greek word for priests. When Jesus tells the lepers to go and show themselves to the levitical priests, is this the same Greek word, presputeroi, as is used in the Epistles when refering to the presbeters of the Church. Also, is this the same word used in the Septuagent for the Hebrew priests and Melkizadek? Thank you.

 

[panevino]

What’s the verse with the lepers

 

[BerhaneSelassie]

Jewish and pagan priests were called ἱερεὺς

 

[BerhaneSelassie]

καὶ λέγει αὐτῶ ὁ ἰησοῦς, ὅρα μηδενὶ εἴπῃς, ἀλλὰ ὕπαγε σεαυτὸν δεῖξον τῶ ἱερεῖ, καὶ προσένεγκον τὸ δῶρον ὃ προσέταξεν μωϊσῆς, εἰς μαρτύριον αὐτοῖς.

And Jesus saith to him: See thou tell no man: but go, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift which Moses commanded for a testimony unto them.

 

[Ignatius]

καὶ λέγει αὐτῶ ὁ ἰησοῦς, ὅρα μηδενὶ εἴπῃς, ἀλλὰ ὕπαγε σεαυτὸν δεῖξον τῶ ἱερεῖ, καὶ προσένεγκον τὸ δῶρον ὃ προσέταξεν μωϊσῆς, εἰς μαρτύριον αὐτοῖς.

And Jesus saith to him: See thou tell no man: but go, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift which Moses commanded for a testimony unto them.

So, He didn’t use presbytero then? What is the transliteration of ἱερεῖ into English? How is presbytero related to ἱερεῖ ?

 

[Mintaka]

Every Jewish synagogue had elders (presbuteroi) and a president of the synagogue who oversaw the place. IIRC, they were ordinary laypeople, not cohanim. Usually they were prosperous or learned. It was a responsible position which involved making sure the synagogue ran smoothly. There were also elders at the Temple, and elders as members of the Sanhedrin, IIRC.

When Christianity began, there were the Apostles doing the sacramental stuff; the deacons (waiters or servants) making sure everybody got food at the agape meal after the sacramental stuff (just like after service meals at synagogues) and eventually taking care of the poor and widows the rest of the time; and there were elders making sure the churches ran smoothly. Being an elder was a responsible position.

At a certain point in early Christian history, there got to be so many Christians in each city that it became too hard for all of them to be taken care of by one bishop. They could have made more bishops, but I guess that seemed silly. Instead, at that point, bishops began to delegate certain parts of their sacramental and teaching authority to responsible presbuteroi. They did this by a special form of laying on hands that became what we call ordination. There were probably still a lot of responsible laymen making sure things ran smoothly; but they weren’t called presbuteroi anymore.

The English word “priest” comes from the Latin “presbyter” (which comes from the Greek “presbuter”). The word used in the Latin Bible for Jewish or pagan priests is “sacerdos”, if I recall correctly, and for presbuteroi is “presbyteri”.

 

[diggerdomer]

I have a question about the Greek word for priests. When Jesus tells the lepers to go and show themselves to the levitical priests, is this the same Greek word, presputeroi, as is used in the Epistles when refering to the presbeters of the Church. Also, is this the same word used in the Septuagent for the Hebrew priests and Melkizadek? Thank you.

“priest” in the New Testament is used to refer to (1) Jewish priests, (2) Jesus Christ (only in Hebrews) and (3) all the faithful Christians (in Peter).

When other epistles use “presbyter” it means “elder”.

 

[patrick457]

I have a question about the Greek word for priests. When Jesus tells the lepers to go and show themselves to the levitical priests, is this the same Greek word, presputeroi, as is used in the Epistles when refering to the presbeters of the Church. Also, is this the same word used in the Septuagent for the Hebrew priests and Melkizadek? Thank you.

I’d just be repeating most of what has been said, but here goes some additional info:

The Greek word presbyteros is the comparative form of presbys. It is synonymous with geron/gerontios (‘elder’, ‘old man’). On the surface the term is originally used, naturally, for older people in a given community; it was later extended to people who had some status, regardless of their age. Note the twenty-four presbyteroi (“elders”) who surround the Divine throne in John’s vision.

In Jewish usage, presbyteroi has a meaning more close to the idea of ‘leading men’ or ‘notables’. For example, it is one of the many titles (gerontia is also among them) that is used to refer to a group of ‘elders’ who in turn assisted the ‘ruler’ (archōn or archisynagōgos, ‘ruler of the assembly/synagogue’) in administration and teaching in synagogues; i.e. within a given Jewish community. Also, you might note the combination of the “chief priests, the scribes, and the elders” which appear in the Passion narratives. In this case, these presbyteroi are the patrician families and wealthy landowners in cahoots with the equally-upper class Temple kohanim.

The Greek word for ‘priest’ which answers to the Hebrew kohen, meanwhile, is ierevs, derived from ieros (‘sacred’, extended to denote a [pagan] priest; cf. hierophant). The Jewish high priest (kohen gadol), as well as other leading kohanim, meanwhile, were called archierevs [sing.], ‘arch-priest’.

As has been noted, the confusion started when presbyteros (and its Latin equivalent presbyter) became increasingly applied to Christian priests. It’s interesting to note that today, in the Greek-speaking Churches (for example, the Greek Orthodox Church), priests are referred to both as ierevs and presbyteros. Bishops, meanwhile, were applied the title of archierevs.