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Church Ministry and Government: Officials and Institutions

How did the organization of the local church develop?

  • ekklesia = church (ecclesia, église)
  • presbyter
  • bishop: episcopos > episcopal
  • parochia, diocese, province
  • archbishop = metropolitan
  • priest, parish, tithe
  • deacon, diaconate
  • laity
  • Bonfiace VIII, Clericis laicos (1296)
  • feudalism / feudal system

    How did regional or “international” church governance take place?

  • synod, council, e.g. Third Council of Toledo (589); canons
  • ecumenical councils to the end of the eighth century: Nicaea I (325) – Nicaea II (787)
  • Western councils before the Protestant Reformation: Lateran I (1123) – Lateran V (1512-1517)
  • Lateran IV (1215)

    NB Key terms are underlined.