But, on the other hand, the material influence of the priests was greater than it had ever been before ; the Temple was the only visible centre of national life in the ages of servitude to foreign power, and the priests were the only great national functionaries, who drew to themselves all the sacred dues as a matter of right and even appropriated the tithes paid of old to the king. When the High Priest stood at the altar in all his princely state, when he poured out the libation amidst the blare of trumpets, and the singers lifted up their voices and all the people fell prostrate in prayer till he descended and raised his hands in blessing, the slaves of the Greek or the Persian forgot for a moment their bondage and knew that the day of their redemption was near (Ecclus. 1.). The High Priest at such a moment seemed to embody all the glory of the nation, as the kings had done of old, and when the time came to strike a suc cessful blow for freedom it was a priestly house that led the nation to the victory which united in one person the functions of High Priest and prince. From the foundation of the Hasmonean state to the time of Herod the history of the high-priesthood merges in the political history of the nation; from Herod onward the priestly aristocracy of the Sadducees lost its chief hold over the nation and expired in vain controversy with the Pharisees.
The influence of the Hebrew priesthood on the thought and organization of Christendom was the influence not of a living institution, for it hardly began till after the fall of the Temple, but of the theory embodied in the Priestly Code of the Penta teuch. Two points in this theory were laid hold of—the doctrine of priestly mediation and the system of priestly hierarchy. The first forms the text of the principal argument in the Epistle to the Hebrews, in which the author demonstrates the inadequacy of the mediation and atoning rites of the Old Testament, and builds upon this demonstration the doctrine of the effectual high priesthood of Christ, who, in His sacrifice of Himself, truly "led His people to God," not leaving them outside as He entered the heavenly sanctuary, but taking them with Him into spiritual nearness to the throne of grace.
The idea that presbyters and bishops are the successors of the Old Testament priesthood first appears in full force in the writings of Cyprian. The further development of the notion of Christian priesthood was connected with the view that the Eucharist (q.v.) is a propitiatory sacrifice which only a consecrated priest can perform. It is sufficient to remark here that the presentation of the sacrifice of the mass came to be viewed as the essential priestly office, so that the Christian presbyter really was a sacerdos in the ancient sense. Protestants, in rejecting the sacrifice of the mass, deny also that there is a Christian priesthood "like the Levitical," and have either dropped the name of "priest" in reference to any specific office, or use it in a quite emasculated sense.
BIBLIOGRAPITY.—For non-Christian religions, see articles under head ing "Priest" in Hastings, Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. x., by various writers, where many references are given under each division of the subject ; and with special reference to Christianity, see ibid. vol. viii., article "Ministry" by A. J. Maclean, and the art. CHRISTIANITY. For an official statement from the Roman Catholic point of view, see article "Priest" and related topics in the Catholic Encyclopedia. The literature of the subject, both theological and historical, is very exten sive; only a limited number of typical references can be given here: J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, third edition (esp. part i. "The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings") ; M. Jastrow, Die Religion Baby loniens u.,Assyriens (1905-12) ; H. Hackmann, Buddhism as a Religion (Eng. tr. Iwo) ; R. F. Johnson, Buddhist China (1913) ; J. H. Breasted, A History of Egypt (1906) ; J. E. Harrison, Themis (1912) ; W. Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites (first publ. 5889) ; J. Wellhausen, Proleg. zur Geschichte Israel's (6th ed. 1905) ; E. W. Hop kins, The Religions of India (1896) ; J. H. Moulton, Early Zoroastrian ism (1913) ; W. W. Fowler, The Religious Experience of the Roman • People (191I). The work of W. Robertson Smith and J. G. Frazer is epoch-making and fundamental for all further study.