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presbyter|ˈprɛs-, ˈprɛzbɪtə(r)|
Also 6 presbiter.
[a. late L. presbyter (Tertullian), ad. Gr. πρεσβύτερος, in N.T. an elder of the Jewish council or Sanhedrim, an elder of the apostolic church; prop. adj. ‘older, elder’, compar. of πρέσβυς an old man. So F. presbytre.
The Vulgate regularly renders Gr. πρεσβύτερος, -οι by senior, seniores, exc. in Acts xx. 17, xxii. 5, where it has majores natu, and in Acts xiv. 23, xv. 2, 1 Tim. v. 17, 19, Titus i. 5, Jas. v. 14, where the Gr. is retained as presbyter, -eri. The same men who in Acts xv. 2 are called apostoli et presbyteri, are denominated in verses 4, 6, 22, 23 apostoli et seniores; the Gr. having uniformly ἀπόστολοι και πρεσβύτεροι. Wyclif faithfully renders these Latin equivalents by 1) elder man, eldre, eld(e)re men (twice, in Rev., senyoures), 2) the more thorw (or in) birth, and 3) prestis. The 16–17th Eng. versions from the Greek, and the Revised, have uniformly elder, -s, in every instance. The Rhemish N.T. has priest wherever the Vulgate has presbyter; in other places regularly auncients; but, from 1 Peter onward (18 places) senior, seniors.
Notwithstanding the prevalence of senior in the Vulgate, presbyter became the official name of the ecclesiastical order, whence also the Com. Romanic prêster, OF. and Prov. prestre, F. prêtre, Sp. and Cat. preste, It. prete; WGer. *prêster, OS. prêstar, OFris. prêstere, MDu. and Du. priester, OHG. prêstar, prêst, priast, ON. prestr, prest-, OE. preost, Eng. priest (as an order in the Latin and Anglican churches): see priest.]
1. An elder in the Christian church.
a. In the early church: One of a number of officers who had the oversight and management of the affairs of a local church or congregation, some of them having also the function of teaching. (Cf. bishop n. 1 a.)
1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxxviii. §4 The historie doth make no mention by what occasion Presbyters were instituted in Ierusalem, onely wee reade..how the like were made afterwards else where. 1651C. Cartwright Cert. Relig. ii. 64 All agree in this, that in the Apostles time there was no difference betwixt Bishops and Presbyters. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. xxxi. III. 261 After receiving, by the imposition of hands, the sacred character of a Christian Presbyter, he ventured to open the gates of the city. 1820Southey Wesley II. 437 [Wesley] proposed, in his character of presbyter, which, he said, was the same as bishop, to invest him [Dr. Coke] with the same presbytero-episcopal powers. 1852Conybeare & H. St. Paul (1862) I. xiii. 406 The office of the Presbyters was to watch over the particular church in which they ministered, in all that regarded its external order and internal purity.
b. In Episcopal churches: A minister of the second order, ranking below a bishop and above a deacon; a priest or pastor. (In modern use, not an official or ordinary term, but used occasionally instead of priest, to connote identity with sense a, or distinction from the sense of ‘a sacrificing priest’ (= Gr. ἱερεύς, L. sacerdos): see priest).
1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxxviii. §2 The Cleargie are either Presbyters or Deacons. Ibid. §3 In truth the word Presbyter doth seeme more fit, and in proprietie of speech more agreeable than Priest with the drift of the whole Gospell of Iesus Christ. 1635Canons Eccles. Ch. Scot. xviii. 39 If anie..confesse the same to the Bishop, or Presbyter,..hee shall not make knowne, nor reveale what hath beene opened to him in Confession. 1706Phillips, Presbyter,..a Priest; as a Presbyter of the Church of England. 1820[see a]. 1846Sharpe Hist. Egypt xiv. 443 Origen afterwards removed to Palestine, and fell under the displeasure of his own bishop for being there ordained a presbyter.
c. In Presbyterian churches: An occasional name for an elder (see elder n.3 4, Presbyterian a. 1); esp. one who is a member of a presbytery.
1615Heywood Foure Prentises i. xviii. Wks. 1874 II. 207 Should Soldan, Sophy, Priest or Presbyter, Or gods, or Diuels, or men, gaine-say our will. c1646Milton Sonn., On new Forcers Consc. 20 When they shall read this clearly in your charge: New Presbyter is but Old Priest writ Large. 1821Galt Ann. Parish xii, She considered the comely humility of a presbyter as the wickedness of hypocrisy. 1858Buckle Civiliz. (1869) II. v. 197 The main object was, to raise up presbyters, and to destroy bishops.
†2. A Presbyterian. Obs.
1647in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iv. (1701) II. 1033 He..prest him to tell him whether he was an Independent or a Presbiter? The Gentleman answered, Neither, for he was a Protestant. 1655Evelyn Diary 25 Dec., The mournfullest day that in my life I had seene, or the Church of England herselfe since the Reformation; to the greate rejoicing of both Papist and Presbyter. 1660J. C[rouch] Return Chas. II 10 Monck was not so much Presbyter. 1681Wood Life 5 Nov. (O.H.S.) II. 558 Westminster School⁓boyes burn'd Jack Presbyter instead of the pope. 1827Pollok Course T. viii. 96 Episcopalian none, nor presbyter.
3. attrib. and Comb.: presbyter-abbot, an abbot who was a presbyter; presbyter-bishop = sense 1 a, identified with bishop n. 1 a; † presbyter dissent, app. a dissent on the part of presbyters or priests; † Presbyter John: see Prester John; † presbyter Scot, a Presbyterian Scot, or ? a Scottish Presbyterian elder.
1839–47J. Yeowell Anc. Brit. Ch. ix. 97 The monastery of Iona had for its governor a *Presbyter-Abbot, to whose authority..the whole province, and also the bishops themselves were bound to be subject.
1903Union Mag. Aug. 364/2 *Presbyter-bishops were in existence before the single bishop was thought of.
1690Evelyn Diary 9 Mar., He observed that the first *Presbyter dissents from our discipline were introduc'd by the Jesuites order, about the 20 of Queene Eliz.
1649Milton Eikon. xxvii, While the *presbyter Scot that woos and solicits him, is neglected and put off. 1669Pepys Diary 14 May, A mockery, by one Cornet Bolton,..that..did pray and preach like a Presbyter Scot. |