As i see it "Initiate" is anyone who has been formally accepted into a Cult and taught some portion of its doctrine. This establishes the basic relationship with the deity. Higher degrees of initiation bring knowledge of the deeper cult Mysteies, but not neccessarily a closer affinity with the god.
"Acolyte" is one who has a deeper connection with the deity,and more access to divine magic. They have found favour with the god. Accolyte is a word I often use to describe initiates who are in training for priesthood.
A "priest" is a ritual performer. This is more a hierarchical position than a spiritual one.
Especially in "culture games" like Glorantha I freely alter the terminology used in both game mechanics and world information to better reflect the situation as I see it. cheers,
--dave
Second, there is the subject of whether a practitioner of Theist magic should be a priest or not. In the "old way", i.e. in RQ 1-4, you had to be a priest or acolyte to performe the most powerful theist magic. This is no longer true in HQ: an Initiate is a person who has a deeper degree of Affinity with his god and his principles, to the point that he may emulate his god with Feats if he is a Devotee, while a priest (godi or god-talner), is the one who performs the Holy Rituals, i.e. the boring stuff, and teaches others the cult doctrine. He has probably a higher Relationship to the Cult, in HQ terms, but he is not closer to his god or more capable of invoking him. It turned out that MRQ rules produce a similar approach, intentionally or by mistake, by not making any difference between Priest and Initiate. This is a bit of a rulesy subject, but since most systems currently in use seem to point this out, it would be a good idea to clarify this point in a debate that supersedes the rules.
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