Priest - Shisai (English spelling)

Japanese: 司祭 - しさい（英語表記）priest

A mediator between God and humans in a strict religious consciousness. In a broad sense, shamans and medicine men are also considered to be priests or intermediaries, and they themselves can go to the world of ancestors, spirits, and demons. Priests hold the position of patriarch or chieftain of an ancestor worship group, and sometimes have both the earthly power of a large national organization and the spiritual power of the afterlife. At times, kings were also religious rulers and the highest practitioners of ancestor worship. In the Roman Catholic Church, it refers to those who have received the sacrament of ordination and are authorized to perform the sacraments and the accompanying liturgies and pastoral acts. The origin of the priesthood is unknown, and roles such as overseer and elder that are thought to be prototypes are found in the New Testament, but it is difficult to identify them with the current priests. The current system is said to have been established and spread in the 6th century. The compatibility of Christ, the "one" mediator between God and man, with the mediatory hierarchy of priests was an issue, and many Reformers who supported the doctrine of the priesthood of all men in Christ rejected the idea of priests being separate from believers. In modern Roman Catholicism, the nature of the priesthood, compulsory celibacy, and the exclusion of women from the priesthood are also debated. In the Greek Orthodox Church, married men are permitted to be ordained.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

厳格な宗教意識における神と人間の仲介者。広義にはシャーマンや呪医も司祭者的，仲介者的職掌者と解され，彼自身，祖先や精霊や悪霊の世界に行くことができる。司祭は祖先祭祀集団の家父長か族長の地位を占め，ときには大きな国家組織の現世の権力と来世の霊力とをあわせもつことができた。またときには国王が宗教的支配者でもあり，祖先祭祀の最高の実修者でもあった。ローマ・カトリック教会の用語としては，秘跡の執行とそれに伴う典礼，司牧上の行為を行う権能を有する叙階の秘跡を受けた者をいう。司祭職の起源は不明で新約聖書にはその原型を示すと思われる監督，長老などの役割がみられるが，現行の司祭との同定は困難。ほぼ現行の制度が確立，普及したのは6世紀とされる。神と人間との「唯一の」仲介者キリストと，司祭という仲介者的階級との両立は一つの問題で，キリストにおける万人司祭説をとった多くの宗教改革者は信者から区別された司祭を否定。現代ローマ・カトリックでも司祭職の本質，強制的独身制，司祭職からの女性排除などが論議されている。ギリシア正教会では既婚男子の叙階も認められている。

出典　ブリタニカ国際大百科事典小項目事典ブリタニカ国際大百科事典小項目事典について　情報

<<: Death penalty - Shizai

>>: Time difference - JST