Editing Priest (section)

== Description ==
According to the [[trifunctional hypothesis]] of prehistoric [[Proto-Indo-European society]], priests have existed since the earliest of times and in the simplest societies, most likely as a result of [[agricultural surplus#Neolithic|agricultural]] surplus and consequent [[social stratification]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Momigliano |first=Arnaldo |date=1984 |title=Georges Dumézil and the Trifunctional Approach to Roman Civilization |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2505078 |journal=History and Theory |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=312–330 |doi=10.2307/2505078 |jstor=2505078 |issn=0018-2656}}</ref> The necessity to read sacred texts and keep temple or church records helped foster literacy in many early societies. Priests exist in many religions today, such as all or some branches of [[Judaism]], [[Christianity]], [[Buddhism]], [[Shinto]], and [[Hinduism]]. They are generally regarded as having privileged contact with the [[deity]] or deities of the religion to which they subscribe, often interpreting the meaning of events and performing the rituals of the religion. There is no common definition of the duties of priesthood between faiths; but generally it includes mediating the relationship between one's congregation, [[worshipper]]s, and other members of the religious body, and its deity or deities, and administering religious [[ritual]]s and rites. These often include blessing worshipers with prayers of joy at marriages, after a birth, and at [[consecrations]], teaching the wisdom and [[dogma]] of the faith at any regular worship service, and mediating and easing the experience of grief and death at funerals – maintaining a spiritual connection to the [[afterlife]] in faiths where such a concept exists. Administering religious building grounds and office affairs and papers, including any religious library or collection of [[sacred text]]s, is also commonly a responsibility – for example, the modern term for [[secretary|clerical duties]] in a secular office refers originally to the duties of a [[cleric]]. The question of which religions have a "priest" depends on how the titles of leaders are used or translated into English. In some cases, leaders are more like those that other believers will often turn to for advice on spiritual matters, and less of a "person authorized to perform the sacred rituals." For example, [[clergy]] in [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]] and [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodoxy]] are ''priests'', as with certain synods of [[Lutheranism]] and [[Anglicanism]], though other branches of [[Protestantism|Protestant Christianity]], such as Methodists and Baptists, use ''[[minister (Christianity)|minister]]'' and ''[[pastor]].'' The terms ''priest'' and ''priestess'' are sufficiently generic that they may be used in an [[anthropology|anthropological]] sense to describe the religious mediators of an unknown or otherwise unspecified religion.

In many religions, being a priest or priestess is a full-time position, ruling out any other career. Many Christian priests and pastors choose or are mandated to dedicate themselves to their churches and receive their living directly from their churches. In other cases, it is a part-time role. For example, in the early [[history of Iceland]] the chieftains were titled ''[[goði]]'', a word meaning "priest". As seen in the [[saga]] of [[Hrafnkels saga|Hrafnkell Freysgoði]], however, being a priest consisted merely of offering periodic sacrifices to the [[Norse mythology|Norse]] gods and goddesses; it was not a full-time role, nor did it involve ordination.

In some religions, being a priest or priestess is by human election or human choice. In Judaism, the priesthood is inherited in familial lines. In a [[theocracy]], a society is [[government|governed]] by its priesthood.