What are priest like in Ancient Egypt

Only the priest was allowed to enter the sacred area of the temple and approach the statue representing the god or goddess. Though the Egyptians had close associations with their gods ,they did not practice any form of organized religion, as modern times would define it. Egyptian priests did have a vital role in the religious ritual of daily and festival life. Whereas today a god may be worshiped who is believed to bestow his grace upon his followers, the Egyptian priest offered and performed material and ritually magic services to the god of his temple, to ensure that god’s presence would continue on earth, and thus maintain the harmony and order of the world as it had been created. That was why the priests were called “servants of the god,” or hem-netjer, the traditional title for a priest. Primarily, there was no “ordination to priesthood”, but some initiation rituals, though, involving with high probability vows to keep purity, not to take advantage of the office, and perhaps obedience to the superiors. Some scientists believe that the 42 “Declarations of Innocence” written in the Book of the Dead are actually such vows from the initiation ceremony. The recently discovered “Book of the temple” tells us – as far as can be read in the fragments – of such vows, too.