priesthoods
Religious leadership roles
Priesthoods is the plural of priesthood, referring to multiple bodies of priests or multiple instances of the priestly office.
A priesthood is the collective order of priests within a religion, or the state of being a priest: the Catholic priesthood, the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods in Mormon tradition.
The word can also mean the authority or function associated with priestly office: He was ordained into the priesthood at twenty-five.
Ordained religious officials collectively
- ordinationClergy appointment ceremony
- vocationDedicated career path
- ministryClergy's work or state department
- consecrationDedicating to sacred purpose
holy orders · seminaries · calling · celibacy · vows · laying on of hands · anointing · sacrament
Holy places or head sides
- sacrificesThings willingly given up
- oraclesSources of divine guidance
- LevitesIsraelite religious attendants
- druidsCeltic spiritual leaders
vestals · augurs · shamans · pharaohs · Aztec · Mayan · Egyptian · Roman
Ranked authority structure
- authorityPower to enforce obedience
- VaticanPapal city-state
- synodChurch governing assembly
- dioceseBishop's territorial jurisdiction
parish · denomination · establishment · organization · structure · governance · administration · appointments
Abstaining from sex
- casteInherited social division
- hereditaryPassed through generations
- lineageDescent from progenitors
- gatekeepingControlling access to something
reform movements · closed · patriarchal · privileged · elite · initiated · set apart · chosen
clergy
Ordained religious officials collectively
- ordinationClergy appointment ceremony
- vocationDedicated career path
- ministryClergy's work or state department
consecration · holy orders · seminaries · calling · celibacy · vows · laying on of hands · anointing · sacrament · ecclesiastical
temples
Holy places or head sides
- sacrificesThings willingly given up
- oraclesSources of divine guidance
- LevitesIsraelite religious attendants
druids · vestals · augurs · shamans · pharaohs · Aztec · Mayan · Egyptian · Roman · Greek
hierarchy
Ranked authority structure
diocese · parish · denomination · establishment · organization · structure · governance · administration · appointments · ranks
celibate
Abstaining from sex
- casteInherited social division
- hereditaryPassed through generations
- lineageDescent from progenitors
gatekeeping · reform movements · closed · patriarchal · privileged · elite · initiated · set apart · chosen · restricted access
- secret societiesFreemasons, Illuminati, secret society, secret societies, Masons
priesthoodslaity
Non-ordained church members
laypeople · congregations · parishioners · congregation · flock
- Catholic priesthoodOrdained ministry in Rome's church
- high priesthoodHighest clerical rank