Was St. Paul a priest?

[hilorie]

I would like to know if St. Paul was a priest. Also, when the early Church communities gathered for the breaking of the bread, what we call the Eucharist, were there priests who presided over this? Asked my parish priest and he did not know the answer.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

Assuming you conveyed your questions in a clear manner, I am surprised your parish priest could not answer you. They are questions any priest should know the answer to by virtue of his priestly training.

Yes, St. Paul was a priest. For that matter he was also a bishop. We know this because of his letters to Timothy, in which he said:

Hence I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control. Do not be ashamed then of testifying to our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel in the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not in virtue of our works but in virtue of his own purpose and the grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus ages ago, and now has manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. For this gospel I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, and therefore I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me (2 Tim. 1:6-12, emphasis added).

The emphasized passages show that St. Paul “laid hands” on Timothy, which gave him a share in Paul’s own “holy calling” (suggesting that Paul ordained Timothy to the priesthood); and that Paul was “a preacher and apostle and teacher” (which indicates that he shared in the apostolic ministry, which is priestly and by which successors to the apostles [the ordained, primarily bishops] were created).

As for the Eucharist, simple deduction shows that priests celebrated the Eucharist. Here’s the line of thought: One, only a priest can confect the Eucharist. Two, the early Church had the Eucharist. Three, therefore priests confected the Eucharist for the early Church.