Word Meanings - PRELATISM - Book Publishers vocabulary database

Prelacy; episcopacy.

PRELACY
1. The office or dignity of a prelate; church government by prelates. Prelacies may be termed the greater benefices. Ayliffe. 2. The order of prelates, taken collectively; the body of ecclesiastical dignitaries. "Divers of the reverend prelacy,
EPISCOPACY
Government of the church by bishops; church government by three distinct orders of ministers -- bishops, priests, and deacons -- of whom the bishops have an authority superior and of a different kind.
ARCHIEPISCOPACY
1. That form of episcopacy in which the chief power is in the hands of archbishops. 2. The state or dignity of an archbishop.