ECCLESIASTES
Ec*cle`si*as"tes, n. Etym: [L., fr. Gr. Ecclesiastic, a.]
Defn: One of the canonical books of the Old Testament.
ECCLESIASTIC Ec*cle`si*as"tic, a. Etym: [L. ecclesiasticus, Gr. Ex-, and Hale, v. t., Haul.]
Defn: Of or pertaining to the church. See Ecclesiastical.
"Ecclesiastic government." Swift.
ECCLESIASTIC
Ec*cle`si*as"tic, n.
Defn: A person in holy orders, or consecrated to the service of the church and the ministry of religion; a clergyman; a priest. From a humble ecclesiastic, he was subsequently preferred to the highest dignities of the church. Prescott.
ECCLESIASTICAL
Ec*cle`si*as"tic*al, a. Etym: [See Ecclesiastical, a.]
Defn: Of or pertaining to the church; relating to the organization or government of the church; not secular; as, ecclesiastical affairs or history; ecclesiastical courts. Every circumstance of ecclesiastical order and discipline was an abomination. Cowper. Ecclesiastical commissioners for England, a permanent commission established by Parliament in 1836, to consider and report upon the affairs of the Established Church. — Ecclesiastical courts, courts for maintaining the discipline of the Established Church; — called also Christian courts. [Eng.] — Ecclesiastical law, a combination of civil and canon law as administered in ecclesiastical courts. [Eng.] — Ecclesiastical modes (Mus.), the church modes, or the scales anciently used. — Ecclesiastical States, the territory formerly subject to the Pope of Rome as its temporal ruler; — called also States of the Church.
ECCLESIASTICALLY
Ec*cle`si*as"tic*al*ly, adv.
Defn: In an ecclesiastical manner; according ecclesiastical rules.