minasoliman said:
Okay, so here is the way I have been defining the terms. I have been avoiding equating "priest" with "presbyter" for the Biblical reason that the term "priest" was a more general baptismal term.
Well, I don't mind using this distinction for the purpose of discussion here, but I'm not willing to dogmatise such a distinction. We have plenty of experience with using the term "priest" as the English word we use for "presbyter", experience we don't really have with calling your newly baptised niece "priest".
The more interesting thing is that the first 6 the "priest" reply mentions is part of that seven, and the last three is not. I have been taught that the "seventh" order was "doorkeeper" and for some reason, it is not listed.
Interesting. "Virgins", "widows", and "orphans" are almost certainly traditional "orders" (we read about them in the NT), with "monks" and "hermits" being later additions that, IMO, ought not to be numbered with the seven. But numbering the seven orders has always varied by tradition.
In our tradition, the "seven orders" are
1. Baptised (laity)
2. Confessors (which is more like "catechist" than "someone who suffered for confessing the faith")
3. Chanters
4. Readers
5. Subdeacons
6. Deacons
7. Presbyters
Bishops, for whatever reason, are not explicitly mentioned in this list, and I suspect it is a holdover from a time when "bishops" and "presbyters" were not so different. There are other orders, of course, but these are considered either to be outside the "seven order" structure or "sub-orders" of one of the seven.
For us, "doorkeeper" is combined with "subdeacon".