Priest, n.

(prēst), n. [A.-S. prēost, Dan. präst, Sw. präst, prest, Icel. prestr, D. & Ger. priester, from Lat. presbyter. See PRESBYTER.]

1. (Christian Church.) A presbyter or elder; a minister; as, (a.) (Lat. & Gr. Churches.) One who is authorized to consecrate the host and to say mass; but especially, one of the lowest order possessing this power. Murdock. (b.) (Protestant Episcopal Church.) A presbyter; one who belongs to the intermediate order between bishop and deacon. He is authorized to perform all ministerial services except those of ordination and confirmation.
2. One who officiates at the altar, or performs the rites of sacrifice; hence, one who acts as a mediator between men and the divinity or the gods.

Every priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. Heb. v. 1. The essential point in the notion of a priest is this: that he is a person made necessary to our intercourse with God, without being necessary or beneficial to us morally—an unreasonable, immoral, unspiritual necessity. T. Arnold.