Ministers and elders of the Church of Scotland

The Greek term πρεσβύτερος presbýteros, used in the New Testament as a designation for the leaders of the Early Church (e.g. Acts 11.30), has three different equivalents in English: elder, presbyter and priest.

Priest is the oldest, a borrowing into Old English via Latin, elder (first attested 1526) is a translation of the underlying meaning of the Greek word, and presbyter (1597) is a learned correction of the loan-word.

However, the semantics of priest are complicated by the fact that it is traditionally used also as the translation of a different New Testament Greek word, ἱερεύς hiereús, which refers to those who perform sacrificial rites in the Jerusalem temple and in pagan temples, but also appears as a title for Jesus (Heb 7.26).

A minister is ordained by the Presbytery to the "ministry of word and sacrament", and is regarded as being the teaching elder.

The minister is responsible for the conduct of public worship, and is alone authorised to administer the sacraments of baptism and communion.

From this point on, they are under the supervision of their home presbytery, but also of the Ministries Council in the Church's offices in Edinburgh.

In addition to their academic studies, they are also trained through a conference programme and through the "Ministries Trainling Network" in church law exams, public speaking, safeguarding and pastoral care.

On completing their studies, candidates were formerly "licensed to preach" by their home presbytery and became a probationer, serving a 12 or 18 month full-time probationary period in a parish.

This probationary year has now been replaced by a final 15 month placement, although the objective remains very similar (albeit with more short residential training courses.)

The theological colleges now form integral academic schools at the universities of St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

The principal of St Mary's College is Ian Bradley and as he is an ordained Church of Scotland minister, he is entitled to use the prenominal Very Reverend whilst in office.

Unlike members of parish councils in other denominations, elders are understood to have pastoral responsibilities, which they carry out under the guidance of the minister.