page_title: High priest
section_title: Christianity
hierarchical_section_title: High priest / Christianity
caption_attribution_description: Español: Reproducción artística "Sommo Sacerdote" que ilustra el libro Storia dell' Antico e Nuovo Testamento, de Agostino Calmet.
context_page_description: The term "high priest" or "high priestess" usually refers either to an individual who holds the office of ruler-priest, or to one who is the head of a religious caste.
context_section_description: The New Testament book of Hebrews uses the term "high priest" sixteen times; in ten of those instances Jesus Christ is explicitly or implicitly identified as the office holder (e.g. Hebrews 3:1; 4:14; and 9:11). Some Old Testament texts prophesy of a priest-king (in ancient Israel, priests and royalty were distinct, with priests from the tribe of Levi and kings from the tribes of Benjamin and Judah). Christianity views Jesus Christ as fulfilling these prophecies, effectively superseding the priestly order of Levi, by acting as both eternal high priest and king according to the order of Melchizedek. 
  Zechariah 6:13: "Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both."
  Psalm 110:2,4: "The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. ...The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek."
  In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other Latter Day Saint sects, High Priest is also among the priesthood offices in the Melchizedek priesthood.
caption: Illustration of a high priest in the book Storia dell' Antico e Nuovo Testamento of Agostino Calmet, published in 1821.
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