If we turn to the origins of modern words, we will be pretty surprised. After many years or even centuries, the meanings can change dramatically.
Let's try to look for the origins of the word "priest".
Priest or leader?
So, plunging into history, we learn that the Polish priest is, first of all, a leader, leader, head of a tribe. The role of religion increased and secular society began to separate more clearly. And by the beginning of the 16th century, a priest was only a clergyman.
Based on the spelling of the word in Latin - ksiadz - you can trace the origins of another word "knedz", which means "prince". That is, it becomes clear that initially it was a position. So to speak, worldly. Historians explain this transformation by forced penetration, the imposition of Catholicism on the territory of modern Poland and Lithuania.
In modern society, it is commonly understood that a priest is a Polish Catholic priest.
A few facts
Quite an interesting transformation from a leader, literally - from a warrior, the founder of a clan - to a clergyman. Moreover, the Polish priest is a priest who could belong to both the white clergy andmonastic.
In the Orthodox faith, the white clergy include lower clergy who do not take a vow of celibacy and can have a family.
The monastics include those who have taken celibacy, asceticism - a vow of celibacy. This is the upper class of the clergy.
In our modern times, if the Orthodox Church allows a clergyman to have a family, but only before he takes the rank, then the Roman Catholic Church categorically excludes this fact.
The basis was the statement of the Apostle Paul in the First Epistle to the Corinthians: "How will a priest serve God? He serves and pleases his wife." That is, a priest is, like other adherents of Roman Catholicism, a person whose life completely belongs to his faith.
But time and morals do not stand still. A total ban has never been an absolute dogma for anyone. And such restrictions were more likely to harm both the bearer of the dignity and his entourage. A very striking example is the novel by V. Hugo "Notre Dame Cathedral".
