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{{short description|Social group}}
{{original research|date=January 2015}}
The '''priestly caste''' is a [[social group]] responsible for officiating over [[sacrifice]]s and leading [[prayer]]s or other [[religious]] functions, particularly in [[nomad]]ic and [[tribe|tribal]] societies.

In some cases, as with the [[Brahmins]] of [[Vedic civilization|Vedic]] [[India]] and the [[Kohanim]] and [[Levites]] of ancient Israel, the caste was a hereditary one, with a person's position as a priest depending on his biological descent. [[Zoroastrianism]] also has a hereditary priesthood, as does [[Alevism]], [[Yezidism]] and [[Yarsanism]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Warwick Ball|title=Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire|date=2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134823871|page=434}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Stausberg|editor1-first=Michael|editor2-last=Vevaina|editor2-first=Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw|title=The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism|date=2015|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=9781118786277|pages=502–3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Taunton|editor1-first=Gwendolyn|title=Primordial Traditions, Volume 1|date=2014|publisher=Numen Books|isbn=9780987559845|page=239}}</ref> In [[Sufism]], the [[Spiritual director|spiritual guide]] is also often a hereditary leader,<ref>{{cite book|author1=Fait Muedini|title=Sponsoring Sufism: How Governments Promote "Mystical Islam" in Their Domestic and Foreign Policies|date=2015|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=9781137521071|page=103}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Jocelyne Cesari |date=2014 |title=The Awakening of Muslim Democracy |location=New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=50 |isbn=978-1-107-04418-0 |quote="Intended to undercut the political power of both the hereditary ''pir'' families (the ''sajjada-nishins'', or hereditary administrators) and the ulama ... this was a direct attack on the traditional role of the Sufi leaders ... A pir is the title for a Sufi master, often translated ''saint''. ''Sajjada-nishin'' signifies a holder of a shrine."}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Desplat|editor1-first=Patrick A.|editor2-last=Schulz|editor2-first=Dorothea E.|title=Prayer in the City: The Making of Muslim Sacred Places and Urban Life|date=2014|publisher=Verlag|isbn=9783839419458|page=294}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Arthur F. Buehler|title=Sufi Heirs of the Prophet: The Indian Naqshbandiyya and the Rise of the Mediating Sufi Shaykh|date=1998|publisher=Univ of South Carolina Press|isbn=9781570032011|page=230|edition=illustrated}}</ref> while the [[Sayyid]]s of India, who claim descent from the Islamic Prophet [[Muhammad]], have been described as a priestly caste.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Kenneth David|title=The New Wind: Changing Identities in South Asia|date=1 Jan 1977|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=9783110807752|pages=343–4}}</ref>

In the [[Russian Orthodox Church|Russian]] [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], the [[clergy]], over time, formed a hereditary caste of [[priests]]. Marrying outside of these priestly families was strictly forbidden; indeed, some [[bishops]] did not even tolerate their clergy marrying outside of the priestly families of their diocese.<ref name="Russian Clergy">The Russian Clergy (Translated from the French of Father Gagarin, S.J.), C. Du Gard Makepeace, p. 19, 1872, [https://books.google.com/books?id=dAiwJjtBKk0C&pg=PA18&lpg=PA18&dq=russian+hereditary+clergy&source=bl&ots=H-PIO0zbGA&sig=SomF8bUw8zYbLiy8B2nj3YBZHMo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiP38ra6bfeAhVDXK0KHWZ7D18Q6AEwDHoECAIQAQ#v=onepage&q=russian%20hereditary%20clergy&f=false], accessed 3 November 2018</ref> In 1867, the [[Synod]] abolished family claims to clerical positions.<ref name="Synod">The Russian Clergy, Andrea Mate, [http://pirate.shu.edu/~knightna/karenina/abstracts/mate.htm], accessed 3 November 2018</ref> Within the lands of the [[Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church]], the largest [[Eastern Catholic Church]], priests' children often became priests and [[Clerical marriage|married]] within their social group, establishing a [[Western Ukrainian Clergy|tightly-knit hereditary caste]].<ref name="Subtelny2009">{{cite book|last=Subtelny|first=Orest|date=2009|title=Ukraine: a history|edition=4th|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ktyM07I9HXwC&pg=PT119|location=Toronto [u.a.]|publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]]|pages=214–219|isbn=978-1-4426-9728-7}}</ref>

In other cases, as with the [[Druids]] of the Celtic world and the [[shamans]] of ancient [[Eurasia]]n [[nomads]], the position within the caste may have depended more upon apprenticeship; the exact nature of the "caste" in these cases is difficult to ascertain due to our lack of primary sources.{{Citation needed|reason=This is an opinion.|date=November 2018}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Commonscatinline|Priestly castes}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Priestly Caste}}
[[Category:Levites]]
[[Category:Priests|Caste]]
[[Category:Priestly castes| ]]

{{Reli-stub}}
{{Socio-stub}}

Priestly caste - Revision history

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