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An ecclesiastical grade or rank, as of deacon, priest, or bishop; the office of the Christian ministry; -- often used in the plural; as, to take orders, or to take holy orders, that is, to enter some grade of the ministry.

The book of forms for making, ordaining, and consecrating bishops, priests, and deacons.

te jurisdiction in matters ecclesiastical; an ecclesiastical judge; also, a deputy of the bishop, or a clergyman appointed to perform divine service for condemned criminals and assist in preparing them for death.

y or a causes. The expected council was dwindling into . . . a packed assembly of Italian bishops. Atterbury.

The official residence of a bishop or other distinguished personage.

Same as Pallium. About this time Pope Gregory sent two archbishop's palls into England, -- the one for London, the other for York. Fuller.

overlook. -- To pass off, to impose fraudulently; to palm off. "Passed himself off as a bishop." Macaulay. -- To pass (something) on or upon (some one), to put upon as a trick or cheat; to palm off. "She passed the child on her husband for a boy." Dryden. -- To pass over, to overlook; not to note or resent; as, to…

Curs [Obs.] On a passant rewiew of what I wrote to the bishop. Sir P. Pett.

l.), a staff, usually of the form of a shepherd's crook, borne as an official emblem by a bishop, abbot, abbess, or other prelate privileged to carry it. See Crook, and Crosier. -- Pastoral Theology, that part of theology which treats of the duties of pastors.

A dignitary superior to the order of archbishops; as, the patriarch of Constantinople, of Alexandria, or of Antioch.

A follower of Paul of Samosata, a bishop of Antioch in the third century, who was deposed for denying the divinity of Christ.

la and clavicle, on each side. -- Pectorial cross (Eccl.), a cross worn on the breast by bishops and abbots, and sometimes also by canons. -- Pectorial fins, or Pectorials (Zoöl.), fins situated on the sides, behind the gills. See Illust. under Fin. -- Pectorial rail. (Zoöl.) See Land rail (b) under Land. -- Pector…

of Peers, The Peers, the British House of Lords. See Parliament. -- Spiritual peers, the bishops and archibishops, or lords spiritual, who sit in the House of Lords.

An officer in some dioceses since A. D. 1215, vested with power from the bishop to absolve in cases reserved to him.

Any ecclesiastic, esp. a bishop. [Obs.] Foxe.

n the Greek and Roman Catholic churches, a title of certain dignitaries below the rank of bishop. Apostolic prefect (R. C. Ch.), the head of a mission, not of episcopal rank. Shipley.

A clergyman of a superior order, as an archbishop or a bishop, having authority over the lower clergy; a dignitary of the church.

An elder in the early Christian church. See 2d Citation under Bishop, n., 1.

To nominate to an ecclesiastical benefice; to offer to the bishop or ordinary as a candidate for institution. The patron of a church may present his clerk to a parsonage or vicarage; that is, may offer him to the bishop of the diocese to be instituted. Blackstone.

The act of offering a clergyman to the bishop or ordinary for institution in a benefice; the right of presenting a clergyman. If the bishop admits the patron's presentation, the clerk so admitted is next to be instituted by him. Blackstone.