Every second of service pleases pious priest (3)
I believe the answer is:
eli
'priest' is the definition.
(Biblical character)
'every second of service pleases pious' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'second of service' could be 'e' (2nd letter of 'service') and 'e' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'li' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for eli that I've seen before include "Priest, teacher of Samuel" , "Samuel's teacher (OT)" , "Man's name" , "Old Testament high priest" , "- Wallach, US actor" .)