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Priest, Pastor, Minister 

The Priest of God is the Presbyter or elder appointed to work in the Church under the authority of His Bishop. The duty of the Presbyter is to serve the Divine Services and the Holy Mysteries to the faithful; to exercise the work of prayer and intercession in the Church; to preach and teach true doctrine, the word of God and maintain Holy Tradition; to minister healing and reconciliation and to be a caring pastor to those entrusted to him. In a true sense the priest in Orthodoxy carries a presbyterate, a pastorate and a ministry. A priest should also live the Gospel by bearing the presence of Christ whether as a priest-monk, married priest or celibate in the world.
The order of Presbyter is found throughout the New Testament. The Holy Apostle Saint Paul "appointed elders in every church. "Acts of the Apostles 14:23.
This setting in place by the outstretched hand of the Bishop forms the basis of ordination.
In St. Paul's letter to his spiritual son Timothy, the Apostle states the function of the priest within apostolic tradition, doctrine and worship.

"Let the elders (presbyters) who rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially those who labour in the word and doctrine. " I Timothy 5:17

Clearly the priest has authority "to rule" under the authority conferred to him by the laying on of hands from the Apostles through the Bishop. Authority does not sit easily within the western liberal mind set. Protestants imagine a more democratic system of government for the church, based on a congregationalism, rather than the Biblical hierarchical model of authority that derives from Christ the Great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14) and His Bishops (Episcopoi) who are the over-seers and centres of unity for the faith. Laity, deacons, priests and bishops are the four orders of Church government found in the New Testament and founded by Christ and His Apostles.
It is an aberration to claim one of these orders without the others, yet this is what some religious bodies do. Other confessions reject them all, and some remodel them according to "human tradition." Indeed, in the western reformed traditions there are clergy who are referred to as ministers and pastors but who reject the very notion of priesthood.
St. Ignatios of Antioch A.D.67-107 writes to the church at Philadelphia that

"Christians (laity) must be at one with the Bishop and the presbyters and the deacons..." (Ign.Phil.Salutations)

However, such authority works within the church and not over the church. There is a perception in the western non-orthodox confessions that the Orthodox Church is overly clerical. This could not be further from the truth. The priests are "set apart"(the original meaning of holy) qadosh in Hebrew, in order to serve and encourage the laity, the people of God, to fulfil their calling as saints in the Body of Christ. Priesthood begins with sacred ministry being united to the person and work of Jesus Christ the Saviour and is completed within the context of "the priesthood of all believers." 1Peter 2:5,9. A priest cannot serve the Liturgy alone or indeed, be ordained without the approval of "worthiness" that the Bishop must first seek from the laity within the Liturgy at ordination. The Liturgy itself (laos -ergon) is the work of the whole "people of God" not the sole preserve of the priest.

A priest is obliged to correct error and exhort the faithful in the preservation of Holy Tradition and the truth of the Gospel. He should not look for popular acclaim through compromise or seek the line of least resistance to accommodate personal opinions that run contrary to the teaching and canons of the Church. In this manner he is to "rule." A priest must be Christocentric (Christ centred in his thinking), rather than anthropocentric. His love for God's people flows from his love of God. He is always

"Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." Hebrews 12:2

In the non-orthodox confessions the priest, pastor or minister faces the people during the services. This orientation is not insignificant. The intention in the west maybe to be "inclusive" and to symbolise fellowship but St. Basil the Great in his "Commandments to Priests" gives an Orthodox perspective:

"On the day of synaxis do not judge, do not argue, but remain praying and reading in the church until the appointed hour in which you will accomplish the divine and sacred ceremonies; and thus stand with compunction and purity of heart in the holy sanctuary, not looking around here and there, but standing with shuddering and fear before the heavenly King."

When we come into an Orthodox Church we face east towards the Holy Icons of Christ Our Saviour, His Holy Mother, the Saints and Archangels looking at us from the Iconostasis. It is we who enter into the courts of heaven. 
The west lays a great emphasis on the word "relevance," by which it means, relevance to the world. Experiment and entertainment therefore find an acceptable home in western worship where those who minister feel it necessary to appeal to all with such a wide variety of opinions, belief positions and preferences. Here, therefore, we should draw a distinction between the dynamic and vitality of the beauty of holiness as ordered (1 Corinthians 14:40) in stable, liturgical worship and a certain restlessness of the spirit that seeks to be innovative and "move with the times." We should not confuse busyness in worship with the business of waiting on God in prayer.

Our salvation depends not so much upon the direction in which we are facing as the direction in which we are moving. The sooner we realise that we are going in the wrong direction, stop and turn in the right way, the sooner we will arrive at our destination. This is the meaning of repentance.

Orthodox Christians do "honour" their priests, indeed, they show them special respect and "double honour" by asking for a blessing and kissing their hand. This is very humbling for the priest but it is a constant reminder to him of the office in which he has been placed as an icon of Christ. Even with his human failings the priest carries the grace of the priesthood.
The priest at his ordination is led around the Holy Table three times, venerating the four corners and kissing the Bishop's vestments. Like the marriage service in which the couple is led around the table three times in the Church, the priest's ordination symbolises his marriage to Christ, his death to the world and his dedication in serving the church. The Bishop says at the ordination: 

"The grace divine, which always heals that which is weak, and completes that which is lacking, elevates through the laying on of my hands this most devout deacon to be priest......fill with the gift of the Holy Spirit this man......that he may be worthy to stand in innocence before Your holy altar, to proclaim the gospel of Your kingdom, to minister the word of Your truth, to offer Your spiritual gifts and sacrifices ,to renew Your people through the laver of regeneration."

The holy priest of God St. John of Kronstadt in his book" My life in Christ"writes:

"By myself I am nothing, but by the grace of the priesthood I become the means of healing. Through me the grace of the Holy Spirit gives new life; through me the grace of the Holy Spirit gives the Body and Blood of Christ to the faithful in the Eucharist, uniting them with God; through me the grace of the Holy Spirit sets them free from their sins, and opens to them the way to heaven. How venerable, then, is the office of a priest! How many blessings the Creator and Redeemer of humankind pours upon us through His priests!"

Here is true priesthood, true ministry; true pastoral care. The Eucharistic offering lies at the very centre of the priest's life and from it flows an outpouring of love.
The priest therefore is a channel of God' grace and a vessel of prayer in the Holy Spirit. His task is to enrich the Body of Christ in that part of God's Vineyard in which he has been placed. For those of us in Great Britain who must have a secular job to support our priestly duties, it is a task that requires perseverance, courage and sheer hard work to compliment the grace and power bestowed by God-a real synergy.
The safe -guarding of Orthodox faith and worship is a sacred trust and St. Paul the Apostle writes to Timothy, ending his letter on a cautionary note:

"O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge; by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen. 1 Timothy 6:20,21

This solemn warning to priests is echoed with equal resonance for today in the words of St. John of Kronstadt writing 150 years ago.

"Having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth." Is this not what many of our clergy do? Do they not choose for themselves teachers who flatter their hearing? They do not learn from one teacher-Christ; they do not learn from His Gospel and from His Church. Rather, they learn from worldly journalists, novelists, politicians, sociologists, and the like, and exclaim how interesting it all is, how exciting it all is, how relevant it all is. In effect they say, "We have no need of the Gospel and the Church; we have such good teachers elsewhere." Lord Jesus! To what have we come? They have cast your words behind their backs.

May this not be so! (Me genoito in Greek)
Let us pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy.
Thy priests, O Lord, shall be clothed with righteousness, 
And thy holy ones shall rejoice with joy,
always, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen

Fr. Jonathan