A Practical Guide to Pagan Priesthood: Community Leadership and Vocation

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Both secular and church authorities issued condemnations of alleged non-Christian pagan practices, such as the veneration of wells, trees, and stones, right through to the eleventh century and into the High Middle Ages. [77] However, most of the penitentials condemning such practices – notably that attributed to Ecgbert of York– were largely produced around the year 1000, which may suggest that their prohibitions against non-Christian cultic behaviour may be a response to Norse pagan beliefs brought in by Scandinavian settlers rather than a reference to older Anglo-Saxon practices. [77] Various scholars, among them historical geographer Della Hooke and Price, have contrastingly believed that these reflected the continuing practice of veneration at wells and trees at a popular level long after the official Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon society. [82] Anglo-Saxon paganism was a polytheistic belief system, focused around a belief in deities known as the ése (singular ós). The most prominent of these deities was probably Woden; other prominent gods included Thunor and Tiw. There was also a belief in a variety of other supernatural entities which inhabited the landscape, including elves, nicors, and dragons. Cultic practice largely revolved around demonstrations of devotion, including sacrifice of inanimate objects and animals, to these deities, particularly at certain religious festivals during the year. There is some evidence for the existence of timber temples, although other cultic spaces might have been open-air, and would have included cultic trees and megaliths. Little is known about pagan conceptions of an afterlife, although such beliefs likely influenced funerary practices, in which the dead were either inhumed or cremated, typically with a selection of grave goods. The belief system also likely included ideas about magic and witchcraft, [ citation needed] and elements that could be classified as a form of shamanism. [ citation needed] The Hebrew word kohen comes from the root KWN/KON כ-ו-ן 'to stand, to be ready, established' [15] in the sense of "someone who stands ready before God", [16] and has cognates in other Semitic languages, e.g. Phoenician KHN 𐤊𐤄𐤍 "priest" or Arabic kahin كاهن "priest".

Pagan Priesthood – How Many Is Too Many? 15 Roles of Pagan Priesthood – How Many Is Too Many?

The word "priest", is ultimately derived from Latin via Greek presbyter, [2] the term for "elder", especially elders of Jewish or Christian communities in late antiquity. The Latin presbyter ultimately represents Greek πρεσβύτερος presbúteros, the regular Latin word for "priest" being sacerdos, corresponding to ἱερεύς hiereús.Wilson stated that "virtually nothing" was known of the pre-Christian priesthood in Anglo-Saxon England, [199] although there are two references to Anglo-Saxon pagan priests in the surviving textual sources. [200] One is that provided by Bede, which refers to Coifi of Northumbria. [200] Writing rituals and leading rituals requires two separate skill sets. Ritual is in part sacred theater – the work of the writer and the director is different from the work of the performers. In ancient Egyptian religion, the right and obligation to interact with the gods belonged to the pharaoh. He delegated this duty to priests, who were effectively bureaucrats authorized to act on his behalf. Priests staffed temples throughout Egypt, giving offerings to the cult images in which the gods were believed to take up residence and performing other rituals for their benefit. [10] Little is known about what training may have been required of priests, and the selection of personnel for positions was affected by a tangled set of traditions, although the pharaoh had the final say. In the New Kingdom of Egypt, when temples owned great estates, the high priests of the most important cult—that of Amun at Karnak—were important political figures. [11] Far fewer textual records discuss Anglo-Saxon paganism than the pre-Christian belief systems found in nearby Ireland, Francia, or Scandinavia. [22] There is no neat, formalised account of Anglo-Saxon pagan beliefs as there is for instance for Classical mythology and Norse mythology. [23] Although many scholars have used Norse mythology as a guide to understanding the beliefs of pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon England, caution has been expressed as to the utility of this approach. [24] Stenton assumes that the connection between Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian paganism occurred "in a past which was already remote" at the time of the Anglo-Saxon migration to Britain, [25] and claims that there was clear diversity among the pre-Christian belief systems of Scandinavia itself, further complicating the use of Scandinavian material to understand that of England. [26] Conversely, the historian Brian Branston argued for the use of Old Norse sources to better understand Anglo-Saxon pagan beliefs, recognising mythological commonalities between the two rooted in their common ancestry. [27]

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Adopting the terminology of the sociologist of religion Max Weber, the historian Marilyn Dunn described Anglo-Saxon paganism as a "world accepting" religion, one which was "concerned with the here and now" and in particular with issues surrounding the safety of the family, prosperity, and the avoidance of drought or famine. [10] Also adopting the categories of Gustav Mensching, she described Anglo-Saxon paganism as a " folk religion", in that its adherents concentrated on survival and prosperity in this world. [10] One of the inhumation burials excavated at Yeavering, classified as Grave AX, has been interpreted as being that of a pre-Christian priest; although the body was not able to be sexed or aged by osteoarchaeologists, it was found with a goat's skull buried by its feet and a long wooden staff with metal fittings beside it. [202] There have also been suggestions that individuals who were biologically male but who were buried in female costume may have represented a form of magico-religious specialists in Anglo-Saxon England. [203] It has been suggested that these individuals were analogous to the Seiðmenn recorded in Old Norse sources. [204] This possibility is linked to an account provided by Tacitus in his Germania in which he refers to a male pagan priest who wore female clothing. [205]Using the expressions "paganism" or "heathenism" when discussing pre-Christian belief systems in Anglo-Saxon England is problematic. [5] Historically, many early scholars of the Anglo-Saxon period used these terms to describe the religious beliefs in England before its conversion to Christianity in the 7th century. [5] Several later scholars criticised this approach; [5] as the historian Ian N. Wood stated, using the term "pagan" when discussing the Anglo-Saxons forces the scholar to adopt "the cultural constructs and value judgements of the early medieval [Christian] missionaries" and thus obscures scholarly understandings of the so-called pagans' own perspectives. [11] In modern Pagan religions, such as Wicca, there is no one specific form of dress designated for the clergy. If there is, it is a particular of the denomination in question, and not a universal practice. However, there is a traditional form of dress, (usually a floor-length tunic and a knotted cord cincture, known as the cingulum), which is often worn by worshipers during religious rites. Among those traditions of Wicca that do dictate a specific form of dress for its clergy, they usually wear the traditional tunic in addition to other articles of clothing (such as an open-fronted robe or a cloak) as a distinctive form of religious dress, similar to a habit. [53] [54] Assistant priest [ edit ] Do you have to be a priest to teach? Of course not – you just have to know the material and be able to teach it. But we expect that our priests to be especially knowledgeable and we expect them to be good presenters, so we often expect them to be teachers. 7. Counselor 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. Prioreschi, Plinio (1996). A History of Medicine: Primitive and ancient medicine. p.376. ISBN 978-1-888456-01-1. PMID 11639620. {{ cite book}}: |journal= ignored ( help)