| 释义 |
presbytery|ˈprɛs-, ˈprɛzbɪtərɪ|
Also 5 presbetory, -bytory, 6–7 -beterie, -y, biterie, -bytrie, 6–8 -bitery.
[a. OF. presbiterie (12th c. in Littré) a priest's house, ad. late L. presbyterium: see presbyterium.]
1. A part of a church, esp. of a cathedral or other large church, reserved for the clergy; formerly, the three seats or sedilia on the south side of the eastern part of the chancel, the remnant of the bench which in earlier times ran all round; hence, the whole of the eastern part of the chancel beyond the choir, in which the altar is placed; the sanctuary.
1412in Raine Catterick Church (1834) 9 A high awter..with three Prismatories [sic] convenably made be mason crafte. 1466Inv. in Archæologia L. 34, j cloth of grene bokrame lyned for the presbetory. 1483Cath. Angl. 291/1 A Presbytory, presbiterium. c1510Inv. in Papers Norf. & Norw. Archæol. Soc. XIV. 194 Itm. iij old qwishons daily lying in the presbitery. a1552Leland Itin. II. 77 A Noble Man caullid Philip Fitz Payne was buryed..under an Arch on the North side of the Presbyterie. 1845Parker Gloss. Archit., Presbytery,..the part of a church in which the high Altar is placed; it forms the eastern termination of the choir, above which it is raised by several steps, and is occupied exclusively by those who minister in the services of the Altar. 1848Rickman's Archit. (ed. 5) p. xlvii, Clerestory of the presbytery, a fine rich example. 1874J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Par. Churches 8 The nave, or body of the church; the choir, and the sanctuary or presbytery.
†2. The office of a presbyter; eldership or priesthood; = presbyterate 1. Obs.
1604R. Cawdrey Table Alph., Presbytery, eldership. 1623Cockeram, Presbyterie, Priesthood. 1630R. Brathwait Eng. Gentlem. (1641) 196 Those precise schismatics..cannot endure any precedency or priority of place to be in the church, but an equality of Presbyterie. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 74 He..ransacks the Temples or Houses of Christian Deuotion, trampling vnder-foot..all reliques and vsefull Ornaments, belonging to Presbytery [among the Georgian Christians]. 1660R. Coke Power & Subj. 89 The next order in the Church of Christ to Apostles and Bishops is that of Presbytery or Priesthood. 1704Nelson Fest. & Fasts ii. vii. (1739) 539 If the Word..Presbytery..signifies not a College of Presbyters, but the Office.
3. A body of presbyters or elders (in the early church; also in a general sense, usually with allusion to 4).
1611Bible 1 Tim. iv. 14 Neglect not the gift..which was giuen thee by prophesie, with laying on of the hands of the Presbyterie [τοῦ πρεσβυτερίου, presbyterii, Wyclif of prestis or presthod, Tindale an elder, Cranmer presthode, Geneva the Eldership, Rheims priesthod, Revised the presbytery]. 1641Milton Reform. i. Wks. 1851 III. 32 The bosome admonition of a Friend is a Presbytery, and a Consistory to them. 1650Baxter Saints' R. ii. vi. §1 (1651) 254 Even the Bishop with his Presbyterie was in each particular Church. 1709J. Johnson Clergym. Vade M. ii. p. li, When Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, called a Presbytery to condemn Arius, he had Deacons present with him, as well as Bishops and Priests. 1833Tracts for Times No. 7. 4 The Bishops have no where committed it to the Presbytery. 1853D. King Def. Presbyt. Ch. Govt. v. vi. (1854) 269 The early Christian fathers frequently call the deliberative council of a particular church its presbytery.
4. In the Presbyterian system: A body or assembly of presbyters or elders, consisting of all the ministers, and one ruling elder (or sometimes two) from each parish or congregation within a particular local area, constituting the ecclesiastical court next above the kirk-session and below the synod (see Presbyterian a. 1).
15782nd Bk. Discipl. Ch. Scot. xi. §11 Na man aucht to have the office of visitation [i.e. be a Superintendent] bot he that is lawfully chosin be the Presbytrie thereunto. 1582Reg. Privy Council Scot. III. 476 Patrik Gillespie, moderatour of the haill presbiterie of Striveling. 1640–1Kirkcudbr. War-Comm. Min. Bk. (1855) 25 Some must be appoyntit in everie Presbytrie, by the Committee thairof. 1761Hume Hist. Eng. III. liii. 138 note, A presbytery in Scotland is an inferior ecclesiastical court, the same that was afterwards called a classis in England. 1806Gazetteer Scotl. (ed. 2) p. xviii, The General Assembly..consists of commissioners, some of whom are laymen, under the name of ruling elders, from presbyteries, royal boroughs, and universities. 1828E. Irving Last Days p. viii, Having received ordination from the Presbytery,..I set out on this very morning six years ago, on my way to London. 1876Grant Burgh Sch. Scotl. ii. i. 83 In 1706 the Assembly recommended presbyteries to visit all public grammar schools within their bounds.
attrib.1629Reg. Privy Council Scot. Ser. ii. III. 22 That they..make thair addresse to the severall presbytereis upoun the first presbyterie day after the charge.
b. transf. The district comprising the parishes or congregations represented by a presbytery.
1581Reg. Privy Council Scot. III. 383 That thaireftir presbitereis or elderschippis may be constitute. 1591Ibid. IV. 628 Maist pairt of the kirkis within the said presbiterie. 1640–1Kirkcudbr. War-Comm. Min. Bks. (1855) 48 Thair are ten kirkes of the presbytrie of Drumfries. a1817T. Dwight Trav. New Eng., etc. (1821) II. 112 He lived within the bounds of the Presbytery of Albany [U.S.]. 1840Penny Cycl. XVIII. 500/1 In the Established Church of Scotland..there are 69 Presbyteries, each consisting of parishes in number not more than 24 nor fewer than 12. The Provincial Synods, of which there are 15,..are composed of the Presbyteries within the provinces which give name to the Synods. Mod. The churches in the London Presbytery.
c. By early writers, sometimes applied to the body of elders of an individual parish church (corresponding to the actual kirk-session).
[1573Sandys Let. to Bullinger 15 Aug. in Zurich Lett. (Parker Soc.) I. ii. 173 Ecclesia Christi non admittit aliam gubernationem, quam illam solum, quæ fit per presbyterium: scilicet per ministrum, seniores et diaconum. Ibid., Habeat unaquæque parochia suum proprium presbyterium. transl. ibid. I. i. 295–6 The church of Christ admits of no other government but that by presbyteries; viz. by the minister, elders, and deacon... Each parish should have its own presbytery.] 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. ix. iii. §8 The Nonconformists though over-powred for the present [1572] in Parliament..after the dissolution thereof,..presumed to erect a Presbitery at Wandsworth in Surrey... This was the first-born of all Presbyteries in England, and secundum usum Wandesworth, as much honoured by some, as secundum usum Sarum by others. 1889A. H. Drysdale Hist. Presbyt. in Eng. 121 A Congregational Eldership or parochial Presbytery, to which the Elizabethan Puritans attached prime importance. Ibid. 146 The Presbytery which was set up at Wandsworth was a local or parochial eldership. [But some question this view, and hold that the Wandsworth Presbytery was at least an approach to what is still known in Scotland as a presbytery (sense 4.)]
†d. The ministers and elders collectively forming the administrative body of the Presbyterian church of a country. Obs.
1628Wither Brit. Rememb. viii. 1705 In Scotland if I liv'd, I would deny No due respect to their Presbyterie. 1651Hobbes Leviath. xliv. 341 The Presbytery hath challenged the power to Excommunicate their owne Kings, and to bee the Supreme Moderators in Religion, in the places where they have that form of Church government.
e. Reformed Presbytery, the presbytery or court of the Reformed Presbyterian church: see Presbyterian a. 1 b.
1744[see Presbyterian a. 1 b]. 1860Gardner Faiths of World II. 745/2 There being now two ministers, a meeting was held at Braehead on the 1st of August 1743, when a presbytery was the first time formed under the name of the Reformed Presbytery. Ibid. 749/2 The formation of the Reformed Presbytery in Scotland in 1743 was productive of much advantage to the Cameronians in Ireland.
5. The Presbyterian polity or system; Presbyterianism. (Contrasted with episcopacy or prelacy, and with independency.) Common in 17th c.; now rare.
1590Nashe Pasquils Apol. Wks. (Grosart) I. 239 Thys beeing a place vppon which they haue built theyr Presbiterie, if they pull but one straw out of the nest, al their egges are broken. 1622Bacon Hist. Gt. Brit. Mor. & Hist. Wks. (Bohn) 499 The ministers, and those which stood for the presbytery, thought their cause had more sympathy with the discipline of Scotland than the hierarchy of England. 1641Milton Reform. ii. Wks. 1851 III. 66 In France..the Protestants..carry the name of the best Subjects the King has; and yet Presbytery, if it must be so call'd, does there all that it desires to do. 1647Case Kingd. 10 Presbyterie is the Rivall of Episcopacie. 1716M. Davies Athen. Brit. III. Diss. Drama 2 The Independants pretend to refine upon Presbitery (as that did upon the Church). 1846McCulloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) II. 283 The Act of William and Mary, re-establishing Presbytery, passed in 1690. 1872O. Shipley Gloss. Eccl. Terms 264 Prelacy was re-established 1610,..but Presbytery became finally triumphant.
6. A presbyter's or priest's house; a parsonage. (Now only in R.C. Ch.) Also presbytery-house.
1825Southey in Q. Rev. XXXIII. 136 The presbytery of the Moderator differed little either in construction or size from the hovels by which it was surrounded. 1896Westm. Gaz. 3 Mar. 8/3 He dated his communication from ‘The Presbytery’, as is usual among Roman Catholic clergy. 1902N. Munro in Blackw. Mag. Nov. 584/1 They walked together to the presbytery-house. |