1. Roman Catholic priests in religious orders.
2. Roman Catholic diocesan priests
3. High Church Anglican priests
4. Eastern Orthodox priests
5. Presbyterian pastors
6. Eastern Catholic priests
7. Lutheran pastors
8. Low Church Anglican priests
POWER GAP
9. Baptists pastors
POWER GAP
10. Pentecostals pastors
POWER GAP
11. Oriental Orthodox priests
Don’t know about other denominations.

Explanation:
this is very anecdotal and many times I talked to one representative clergyman of that denomination. The criterion is knowledge of Church history (which includes liturgy).

Denominations:
Roman Catholic priests have to study for on average 7 years: 3 years of philosophy and 4 years of theology, though it tends to be less for diocesan priests and with the extreme example of the Jesuits for those in religious orders with a study period often exceeding 10 years. They are adept at apologetics and have memorised as much of the Bible as diligent Protestants.
High Church Anglicans - especially Anglo-Catholics - have a very in-depth knowledge of Church history and often know more about the teachings, history, and liturgy of the Catholic Church than most of the Catholic laity.
Eastern Orthodox priests can be heavyweights in Church history, but they refrain from making a concrete understanding of theology as they shy away fron Scholasticism.
Presbyterian pastors are often heavyweights in the theology department and are very skilled at arguing their point. However, they are lacking in knowledge of Church history such as Ecumenical Councils.

Eastern Catholic priests are a real mixed bag because there are 23 Eastern Catholic ‘sui juris’ Churches. I’ve attended the Divine Liturgies of two Churches: Maronite and Ukrainian Greek Catholic. Maronite priests have to fluently speak, read, and write Aramaic, their liturgical language, but they are not well versed in Church history. For example, I asked a Maronite priest today what year they had their last liturgical reform, but he didn’t know. It must have been an exceptional case, but I met a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest who had an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of Church history. I’m guessing the more wealthy the country, the more education they can afford.
Lutheran pastors would probably be average when you make an average of all this.
Low Church Anglican priests are surprisingly less educated than High Church Anglicans despite going through the usual 4 years of seminary for Protestants, some not knowing how many Ecumenical Councils their own Church subscribes to.
Baptists pastors although they don’t study Church history some individuals may know it.
Pentecostal pastors are like baptists but much worse. They actively avoid Church history, and a friend of mine went to one of their churches with me and he asked the youth minister why Pentecostalism of the myriad of denominations is the right one, and he said, “‘Cus my dad’s the pastor”.
Oriental Orthodox priests are woefully uneducated. They are trained in liturgy and that’s it. I asked a Coptic Orthodox priest how many books were in his Bible (his Canon of Scripture) and he couldn’t tell me. The acolyte also knew more of Church history than him. However, it must be said that theirs is a persecuted Church, and - as such - to invest too much in a priest at the expense of time and training may all be wasted with his death.
Oh, yeah. I forgot to put Traditional Latin Mass priests at the top; they’re pretty based.

>>17837270 (OP)
How many years did Peter, James and John have to study?

>>17837337
Not everyone has natural talent.

>>17837270 (OP)
>However, they are lacking in knowledge of Church history such as Ecumenical Councils.
That's distinctly untrue.

>>17837270 (OP)
Orthodoxy doesnt flee from scholasticism, its just that our clergy refrains from explaining God with flawed human logic. Orthodoxy is best spread and jnderstood trough practice, trough living it. Orthodox dont need logic when we have pure empiric knowledge from the Bible and lives if the saints (we have saints who reposed few years ago and have numerous miracles, its not ancient history)... Direct testimonies >>> first mover argument. Why obsess with this when you can pray instead? You have a friend who is a nonbeliever? Dont argue with them, pray for them. This is also why you dont have Orthodox yelling at you on the street or banging at your door. People become Orthodox when they see Orthodox people who have received Grace, not due to first mover like arguments (which can be used for any monotheistic religion and denomination).

>>17837345
Cop out

This. >>17838731


Myself being Orthodox I used to be really frustrated that Orthodoxy tends to
- explain nothing
- explain stuff by citing Chrysostom
- explain stuff in the most convoluted, imprecise and rambly way possible

It's only later that I found a few channels that helped me understand why reducing things to declarative knowledge, propositional logic and discoursive reason as we know it necessarily omits most of reality that one is trying to describe. Now I look at Catholics and thank God that Orthos don't have endless hairsplitting articles, statements and arguments about why piano is not fit for church music...

>>17837282
>Lutheran pastors would probably be average when you make an average of all this.
Lutheran churches in America even the fake and gay ELCA require people pursuing ordination to have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited university and then go through 8 years of seminary education. I’d assume the same is true in other countries too. So they aren’t average at all.

>>17838991
K. Didn’t know that.

>>17838787
>I used to be frustrated that we explain nothing, but now I realized explaining nothing is the truth

>>17838787
>It's only later that I found a few channels that helped me understand why reducing things to declarative knowledge, propositional logic and discoursive reason as we know it necessarily omits most of reality that one is trying to describe.
Any recommendations on where to learn about orthodox epistemology? I'm curious how much it differs from catholicism and protestantism since we're all practically Thomists and I can't comprehend a different frame of reference for Christians.

>>17840045
Not him but I'd say search for "philokalia pdf"
You don't have to read it in order or anything. It's a collection of many different authors, with at least something relevant to whatever you're looking for in Orthodoxy.