2nd–3rd centuries

Hierarchical priesthood and the priesthood of all believers

In the New Testament "priest" refers to the Levites, to Christ or to the whole Church, but not to ordained ministers; Justin held that the whole Christian people is the true high-priestly race. Pelikan describes a "re-Judaizing": in Clement, the Didache, Hippolytus, Tertullian, Cyprian and Chrysostom's treatise On the Priesthood the terms of the Levitical priesthood are applied to the ministers of the Church, and the Eucharist is described in the language of sacrifice. In parallel the line of the priesthood of all believers is preserved: even Irenaeus, the defender of succession, says that "all the righteous possess the priestly rank." In Hippolytus' Apostolic Tradition the bishop is called "high priest."