For a priest to become a priest he or she needs to enable others to find their priesthood as well. The first priest in that sentence is a presbyteros, the latter two are hiereus. But what does the hiereus do that can be shared and taught? Their primary task is to offer oblations, which doesn’t get us much further. Although in a more modern sense oblations were non-blood offerings to a deity and sacrifices were blood offerings, oblation is a proper name for the offering of anything to a deity. And sacrifice will do as well, for its roots are from Latin words meaning “to make sacred.”
Thus, what sort of sacrifices or oblations does the Christian priest (hiereus) offer? Pretty much everything we encounter can be offered. The objects we deal with, the people we encounter, the situations in which we find ourselves can be offered to Jesus, priest and messiah, for the purposes of holy transformation. And that’s the wonder of our priesthood that we share. There is no situation or circumstance that cannot be set on the path of blessing when we offer it as part of the royal priesthood of the messiah.
Our work becomes all the more important as there is also another priesthood at work in the world that has been part of our sorry history and still operates today. When we offer the people, the encounters and the objects of our lives as oblations to the loving and transforming Father, we reverse the actions of that other priesthood. But a further examination of that waits for another posting. Till then — The eye of God dwelling with you, the foot of Christ in guidance with you, the shower of the Spirit pouring on you, richly and generously.
The Apprentice Priest 