Presbytery
presbytery
In the early Church, the senate of the bishop who assisted in the rule of the diocese; see presbyter
That section of the Church which is set aside for the exclusive use of the clergy. It is separated from the rest of the church by means of a railing, and is also elevated above the rest of the church. It is now known as the sanctuary. The laity are not allowed to be present in the presbytery during functions unless there is a contrary custom allowing this practise, or in the case of laymen who serve at the altar.
In modern times, the residence of the clergy.
New Catholic Dictionary
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Presbytery
The part of the church reserved for the higher clergy was known in antiquity by various names, among them presbyterium, because of its occupation during the liturgical functions by the priests attached to a church, arranged in a half-circle round the bishop. The presbytery was also known as apsis, exedra, concha, designations referring to its form; bema from the fact that it was elevated above the level of the nave and in consequence reached by a stairway of a few steps; tribuna because of its location and general resemblance to the tribunal in civil basilicas whence the magistrates administered justice. These various names were, in the Middle Ages, mostly superseded by the term choir, which in turn yielded to the modern term sanctuary. The presbytery was separated from the rest of the church by rails (cancelli). Eusebius, in his dedication oration at Tyre (H.E., X, iv), describes this feature of the church and its objects: “the Holy of Holies, the altar”, he explains, was inclosed with wooden lattice-work, accurately wrought with artistic carving to render it “inaccessible to the multitude”. In Constantinople, as appears from the episode related by Theodoret in which the actors were Theodosius the Great and St. Ambrose, the emperor was accustomed to remain within the precincts of the presbytery during the celebration of the liturgy, but in the West this was not permitted (Theodoret, H.E., V, 17). The Council in Trullo (canon lxix), following an ancient tradition, specifically excepts the emperor from the general rule reserving the presbytery to the clergy. From this strict prohibition relative to the laity the term adyta (inaccessible) came to be used of the presbytery. Presbyterium also denoted a body of priests taken collectively. In modern times the house of the clergy is frequently called the presbytery (presbytère).
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BINGHAM, Antiquities of the Christian Church, V. III, b. 8 (Oxford, 1855).
MAURICE M. HASSETT Transcribed by Douglas J. Potter Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIICopyright © 1911 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, June 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Presbytery
is (1) the space in the choir of a church in which the high-altar is placed; the name is sometimes extended to the whole choir. SEE CHANCEL. It is (2), in Scotch law, an ecclesiastical division of the country, as well as a court. (On the Continent this is known as the classis.) In its local sense it includes a combination of parishes, varying from four to thirty, and the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has power to vary the size. Chambers, s.v. SEE SCOTLAND, CHURCH OF.
The presbytery is composed of the teaching elders of the churches of a given geographical district, together with one of the ruling elders elected for that purpose by the Session from each church. Besides being a court of appeal from the inferior judicatory, it is bound to inspect carefully the personal conduct and pastoral labors of every minister within its bounds, and, when necessary, to admonish, suspend, or even depose. It belongs to presbyteries to grant licenses to preach the Gospel, to take cognizance of all preachers within its borders, to give certificates of character, etc., to those removing, and to furnish supplies where needed for the pulpit. Ally Church member who feels himself aggrieved by the act of the Session may appeal from its decisions to the Presbytery. Superior in authority to the Presbytery is the Synod, which is composed of the teaching elders and one ruling elder from each church of a larger district than that represented by the Presbytery. Still above the Synod is the General Assembly.
This embraces representatives, both lay and clerical, from every Presbytery, and is the supreme authority in all ecclesiastical matters. To it an appeal lies from the Presbytery in all ecclesiastical proceedings of a disciplinary character, and its decision is final. Its authority, however, though supreme, is not unlimited. In legislating for the churches it is required to refer the laws which it passes to the presbyteries for their approval; and the law does not become of binding force upon the churches until it receives the sanction of at least a majority; in certain cases two thirds are required. The Presbytery holds frequent and stated meetings, according as circumstances may require. In any emergency it is in the power of the moderator (q.v.), on his own responsibility, or on receiving a written requisition from several members, to call a pro re nata meeting of the Presbytery. In Presbyterian churches, where the supreme court consists of delegates, it belongs to each Presbytery to elect ministers and elders to represent them in that court. All the proceedings of the Presbytery must be duly minuted by the clerk, and are subject to the review of the Provincial Synod. SEE PRESBYTERIANISM.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Presbytery
PRESBYTERY (Gr. presbyterion).In EV [Note: English Version.] of NT the word occurs only in 1Ti 4:14, where it denotes the body of Christian presbyters or elders (no doubt those belonging to the church at Lystra; cf. Act 16:1-4) who laid their hands upon Timothy before he set out on his labours as St. Pauls missionary companion. In the Gr. text, however, the word presbyterion is found in two other passages, viz. Luk 22:66 (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] elders, RV [Note: Revised Version.] assembly of the elders) and Act 22:5 (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] and RV [Note: Revised Version.] estate of the elders), as an expression for the body of Jewish elders who with the chief priests and the scribes composed the Sanhedrin. This twofold use of the word (like the corresponding twofold use of elder) affords a strong confirmation of the view, which is otherwise most probable, that the presbytery of the Christian Church finds its roots in the eldership of the Jewish ecclesia.
The presbytery was at first a purely local body (cf. the Letters of Ignatius, passim), corresponding not to the modern presbytery of the Presbyterian Churches, which is a district court composed of ministers and elders drawn from a number of separate congregations, but to the kirk-session or body of elders by which in those churches a single congregation is ruled. Originally the presbytery had no fixed president. The presbyters or elders, otherwise known as bishops (see art. Bishop), whom we meet in the NT seem officially to have all stood upon the same footing. But early in the post-Apostolic age one of the congregational presbyter-bishops rose, by what was probably a process of natural evolution (cf. 1Ti 5:17, Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially those who labour in the word and in teaching), to a position of predominance, and was now known as the bishop par excellence, in distinction from the other presbyters (cf. in the Presbyterian and Congregational Churches the precedence of the minister over the elders and deacons respectively, although, properly speaking, a minister is simply a diakonos or deacon). The bishop as we meet him in the Letters of Ignatius (e.g. Eph 4:1-32) is a congregational bishop, the president of a body of congregational presbyters. The monarchical bishop is a later creation.
What was involved in the laying on of the hands of the presbytery in the case of Timothy it is impossible to say with certainty. Probably it was an act corresponding to ordination to office (see Laying on of Hands), St. Paul himself being associated with the presbytery in the matter (cf. 2Ti 1:6). On the other hand, it may have been no more than a commendation of Timothy to the grace of God for strength and guidance in his new work as a missionary, analogous thus to the action of the prophets and teachers of Antioch in the case of Barnabas and Saul (Act 13:1-3). The laying on of St. Pauls hands (2Ti 1:6) may really have been a separate incident, comparable again to the laying on of the hands of Ananias on himself (Act 9:17)not an official act but a gracious benediction (cf. Lindsay, Church and Ministry, p. 143n. [Note: . note.] ). St. Paul without doubt received a consecrating grace from the hands both of Ananias and of those prophets and teachers of the Church at Antioch, but he claimed to be an Apostle not from men, neither through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead (Gal 1:1).
J. C. Lambert.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Presbytery
See ELDERS.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Presbytery
* For PRESBYTERY see ELDER, A and B