Editing Priest (section)

== Assistant priest ==
In many religions, there are one or more layers of assistant priests.

In the [[Ancient Near East]], [[hierodule]]s served in temples as assistants to the priestess.

In ancient Judaism, the Priests (Kohanim) had a whole class of Levites as their assistants in making the sacrifices, in singing [[psalm]]s and in maintaining the [[Temple in Jerusalem|Temple]]. The Priests and the Levites were in turn served by servants called [[Nethinim]]. These lowest level of servants were not priests.

An assistant priest is a priest in the Anglican and Episcopal churches who is not the senior member of clergy of the parish to which they are appointed, but is nonetheless in priests' orders; there is no difference in function or theology, merely in 'grade' or 'rank'. Some assistant priests have a "sector ministry", that is to say that they specialize in a certain area of ministry within the local church, for example youth work, hospital work, or ministry to local light industry. They may also hold some diocesan appointment part-time. In most (though not all) cases, an assistant priest has the legal status of [[curate|assistant curate]], although not all assistant curates are priests, as this legal status also applies to many [[deacon]]s working as assistants in a parochial setting.

The corresponding term in the [[Catholic Church]] is "parochial vicar" – an ordained priest assigned to assist the pastor (Latin: ''parochus'') of a parish in the pastoral care of parishioners. Normally, all pastors are also ordained priests; occasionally an auxiliary bishop will be assigned that role.

In [[Wicca]], the leader of a [[coven]] or temple (either a high priestess or high priest) often appoints an assistant. This assistant is often called a 'deputy', but the more traditional terms 'maiden' (when female and assisting a high priestess) and 'summoner' (when male and assisting a high priest) are still used in many denominations.