English edit

Etymology edit

arch- +‎ presbytery

Noun edit

archpresbytery (plural archpresbyteries)

  1. (ecclesiastical) The absolute dominion of presbytery.
    • 1649 October, John Milton, chapter XIII, in Eikonoklastes. In Answer to a Book Intitled, Eikon Basilike, The PORTRAITURE of his SACRED MAJESTY in his Solitudes and Sufferings:
      “The government of their kirk we despised” not, but their imposing of that government upon us; not presbytery, but archpresbytery, classical, provincial, and diocesan presbytery, claiming to itself a lordly power and superintendency both over flocks and pastors, over persons and congregations no way their own.

References edit