That instead of the various high priests of the Jewish Temple, there is one true High Priest, Christ our God, who sacrifices himself instead of a bull for our sins.
Doesn't the intermediary work of the priest in bringing the Eucharist in some way violate this principle? In other words, for Christ to be fully present with us, we still need a go-through guy.
The idea of a sacramental priesthood in the Church does not diminish Christ's place as the High Priest who offers Himself as a sacrafice.
The idea of a sacramental priesthood in the church is found in the NT. It was the apostles who "laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost" Acts 8:17. In Acts 28:8 "Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him". James 5:14 says "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing himo with oil in the name of the Lord:".This authority was passed on through the laying on of hands. Compare 1 Tim 4:14 "Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery." with 2 Tim 1:6 "Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands." where St Paul refers to the ordination as coming from "my hands" within the context of "the hands of the presbytery". St Peter says in 1 Pet 5:1 "The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder" pointing out that the authority of the apostles did not die with them but was passed down. Not to mention the word for elder is "
presby
teros" which is where we get the english word "priest".
As far as the need for a priest in the celebration of the liturgy, It's not about "needing a priest", but rather having the whole body gathered together to celebrate the liturgy. Three elements are needed that I am aware of:
1) The priest presides. That is his place in the body. His place in the liturgy is to serve as an icon of Christ, not to replace Him. That is why there are vestments. Even Christ told St Peter to "feed my sheep", giving him the duties of being
a shepherd, not
the shepherd, over Christ's flock.
2) The people are central to celebrating the liturgy. You can not have "the work of the poeple" without "the people". It is my understanding that is not possible for an Orthodox priest to celebrate a liturgy by himself because the "amen" of the people is necessary in the prayers, especially in the anaphora and epiclesis.
3) The antimension on the altar is necessary. This is basically the bishop's permission, as head of the local church, to celebrate the liturgy.
With these three elements you have all the members of the Body gathered togather as the Body of Christ with the priest and the people under the oversight of the bishop. Having all the members gathered together as the Body in the local church, joined in faith and communion with all the other local churches as the same Body receiving the same Body and Blood is the definition of what it means to be "catholic", that is "according to the whole".
So to sumit up, we don't "need the priest as a go-to guy", but rather we need all the members gathered together as one Body as stated in 1 Cor 12:20-21 "But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you."