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Acolyte |
Derived From a Greek word meaning "to follow." Acolytes are lay volunteers who follow the Cross in the procession and recession and assist the priest in worship. An acolyte lights and carries candles and helps in the preparation of communion. | ||
| Altar | A table on which to consecrate the bread and wine used in the Communion service. Referred to as Holy Table. | ||
| Altar Guild | A special lay service group in a church who prepare the altar and maintain the furnishings in a church building. The altar guild usually supervises all seasonal church decorations and flower arrangements. | ||
| Altar Rail | The rail or kneelers where the people kneel or stand to receive Communion. | ||
| Amen | From the Hebrew for “verily,” “it is so” or “I agree.” Response said or sung at the end of prayers, hymns and anthems. | ||
| Anthem | A hymn or choral piece sung only by the choir. | ||
| Anglican | Term which simply means "English." The Episcopal Church is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion -- a collection of Churches around the world that has their origins in the Church of England. | ||
| Anglican Communion | Anglican Communion An assembly of churches throughout the world, including the Episcopal Church, that derive their origins from The Church of England and that are in communion with it. | ||
| Apostolic Succession | Apostolic Succession The doctrine that contends that bishops are the direct successors of the twelve apostles and are thus inheritors in an unbroken line to the ministry to which Jesus Himself ordained the Apostles. These successor bishops later consecrated more bishops, so that there would always be bishops. This chain of consecration is called "apostolic succession." | ||
| Archbishop of Canterbury | Archbishop of Canterbury The primate of The Church of England, who is acknowledged as the spiritual, but not governing, head of the Anglican Communion. He is not an Anglican “pope” but is considered “first among equals” by other heads of Anglican Communion churches. | ||
| Autonomous Church | An autonomous church is a church that governs itself. The Anglican Communion consists of about 40 autonomous churches, most of which are associated with specific countries and are therefore often called "national churches." | ||
| Baptism | The sacrament that celebrates a person's joining of the Church. At our baptisms we are cleansed from sin, and adopted by God into His family, and made heirs of His eternal Kingdom. Since we can only be adopted once, baptism is a final, non-repeatable act. The Episcopal Church recognizes both adult and infant baptism and offers both. Also, in the Episcopal Church, one can be baptized by being immersed, by being sprinkled, or by having water poured on them. Baptism and Holy Communion are the two great sacraments of the Episcopal Church. | ||
| Bible | The Bible is the sacred scriptures of Christians comprising the Old Testament and the New Testament. | ||
| Bishop | A Bishop is a successor to one of the Twelve Apostles, who has been consecrated by other Bishops. From the Greek word episcopas, meaning overseer. In Old English it was "biscop", which came to be pronounced "bishop" and was later spelled that way. In the Episcopal Church, there are five kinds of Bishops: Presiding, Diocesan, Assistant, Coadjutor, and Suffragan. No bishop is "higher" in rank than another. The five kinds merely define their function. Bishops are the only order allowed to wear purple shirts, and their crosses are usually gold, while priests' crosses are usually silver. | ||
| Book of Common Prayer | The Book of Common Prayer is the primary source of worship material and liturgy in the Anglican Church. The first Book of Common Prayer was written in 1549 by Thomas Cranmer. | ||
| Canon | A Canon, in the singular, is either a law or rule (see below) or a person. A person referred to as a Canon may be a member of a chapter or college of priests, typically the chapter of a cathedral. It is sometimes used as an honorary title bestowed on a person who is not a priest but who does faithful work in support of the church. | ||
| Cathedral | A Cathedral is a Church that is the home church, or "see", of the bishop of a diocese. Cathedrals are usually administered by a priest who is referred to as the Dean of that Cathedral. In some places the Dean of a Cathedral is known instead as its Provost. A Cathedral is the church that contains the official stall or seat of the diocesan bishop. This stall is called the throne or cathedra, from which derives the adjective "cathedral" as in "cathedral church", which later in common usage became a noun. | ||
| Church | A building used for public worship. When capitalized, the term refers to the whole body of Christians. The English word comes from the Greek word kuriakon, meaning "of or belonging to the lord." | ||
| Church of England | The official name of the original Church in England, the Anglican Church. During the reign of King Henry VIII, the Church in England, broke formal ties with Rome and became the Church of England. | ||
| Clergy | The group of ordained people, consecrated for unique ministry for a particular church or denomination. | ||
| Collect | A prayer sung or said on behalf of the people by the celebrant or officiant at liturgical celebrations. Pronounced with the stress on the first syllable ( kah-likt) . | ||
| Communion | 1. The Christian sacramental meal, the Lord's Supper, commanded by our Lord ("Do this in remembrance of me."). For centuries the service used to celebrate the meal was called Holy Communion, but is now more commonly called the "Eucharist" in Episcopal churches. Also known as Mass in Roman Catholic churches. 2. The term describing a group of autonomous churches who recognize common ties and share a common faith, for example, the worldwide Anglican Communion. |
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| Compline | A monastic evening service used to end the day, and included for the first time in the 1979 prayer book. It is pronounced "comp-lyn," not "comp-line." | ||
| Confirmation | From two Latin words -- firmare , which means "to strengthen," and com , which adds force to the word. Literally to confirm is to "strengthen greatly." At Confirmation a person makes a mature, public confession that he or she accepts Jesus Christ as his or her personal Lord and Savior, thus owning up to the vows his or her godparents made for him or her at his or her baptism. The bishop then lays his or her hands on the confirmand, and prays for the Holy Spirit to "strengthen greatly" the person in the rest of his or her life. Confirmation is considered to be one of the five sacramental acts, or minor sacraments of the Church. | ||
| Congregation | The group of people who make up the local church, or the members of a local church who are present for worship. | ||
| Crucifer | A person in a religious procession who bears the cross and who leads the procession into the church. | ||
| Crucifix | From Latin, crux, meaning "cross." A crucifix is a cross bearing the likeness of the body of Christ on it. | ||
| Deacon | The initial level of ordination in the Episcopal Church and other apostolic-succession churches. In some protestant churches, it is a lay order, but in the Episcopal Church, it is a clerical order. Deacons represent the church in the world and, by tradition, the Gospel is read by the deacon if one is on the staff of a church or chapel. | ||
| Diocese | The Diocese is the fundamental unit of structure of the Anglican Church. Every diocese is the seat of a Bishop. In general, a diocese contains many parishes and churches, and normally dioceses are combined into larger administrative units called Provinces and National Churches. | ||
| Dismissal | Words said or sung by a deacon or priest at the conclusion of the Eucharist. An example: “Let us go forth in the name of Christ.” The answer from the people is: “Thanks be to God.” During the 50 days of Easter, alleluias are added. | ||
| Doxology | Words said or sung in praise of the Holy Trinity. | ||
| Episcopal | The Episcopal Church is the official U.S. name for the Anglican Church. It was certainly in use as an unofficial descriptor for the kind of church that we had, long before there was a need to have an official name for the church. | ||
| Epistle | A reading from the New Testament other than from the Gospels. | ||
| Anglicans often use the word Eucharist instead of the words Mass or Communion. The prayer book says "The Holy Eucharist is the sacrament commanded by Christ for the continual remembrance of his life, death, and resurrection, until his coming again.... The Holy Eucharist is also called the Lord's Supper, and Holy Communion; it is also known as the Divine Liturgy, the Mass, and the Great Offering." | |||
| Font | A basin for water to be used in church baptisms. | ||
| General Convention | Each of the member churches of the Anglican Communion has some process by which it governs itself. In the United States, the Episcopal Church holds a General Convention every 3 years, at which the Canons of the church are updated. | ||
| General Synod | A General Synod is the same kind of event as a General Convention, but in different countries. For example, England, Canada, Australia , and New Zealand hold periodic General Synods as part of their church governance process. | ||
| Genuflection | A genuflection is a sort of deep curtsey where the right knee touches the ground. Episcopalians sometimes bow instead of genuflecting. From the Latin words genu, meaning "knee," and flectere, meaning "to bend." | ||
| Gospel | Any reading from Matthew, Mark, Luke or John in the New Testament. | ||
| Godparents | Godfathers and godmothers are persons who sponsor an infant or young child at his or her baptism. Godparents make vows that they will, by their example, help the child know what it means to be a Christian, so that later in his or her life the child can confirm that fact for himself or herself at Confirmation. | ||
| Great Thanksgiving | The major prayer of the Eucharist beginning with the salutation and preface and concluding with the Lord's Prayer. | ||
| High Church | Describes a church that emphasizes theological or liturgical formality; such churches may use incense and sing the service rather than speak it. See "low church." | ||
| Holy Orders | The sacrament of ordination, which marks the entry of the candidate into the ordained ministry. The orders of bishops, priests and deacons are termed holy orders. | ||
| Holy Water | Water blessed by a bishop or priest. | ||
| Homily | A short sermon often on a single topic of devotion or morality. | ||
| Host | The Eucharistic bread. From the Latin word for sacrifice. The wafer the priest breaks at the fraction is called a "priest's host." | ||
| House of Bishops | All the bishops of the Episcopal church sitting as a legislative and judiciary body of the church. | ||
| House of Deputies | The lay and presbyter delegates to the General Convention sitting as a legislative body. | ||
| Hymn | Sacred words set to music; church vocal music involving the congregation and distinguished from the psalm or anthem. From the Greek word, hymnos, meaning "song of praise." | ||
| Laity | Opposite of "Clergy." This word means "not ordained". A lay person is one who is not a priest or deacon. | ||
| Lay Reader | Any non-ordained person who participates in reading part of a church service. | ||
| Lectern | A raised platform with railing used for reading prayers or scripture; usually located at the front of the nave opposite the pulpit. | ||
| Lectionary | The appointed lessons and psalms for use at the Eucharist and Daily Offices. | ||
| Liturgy | From a combination of two Greek words, laos (people) and ergon (work). The literal translation is "the work of the people, " and is generally used to refer to the full text of the worship service. | ||
| The Lord's Supper | The celebration of the Holy Eucharist. | ||
| Low Church | A church that is less formal; a church that does not chant or sing its service; a church that alternates Morning Prayer with Eucharist; such churches sometimes appear to be more "protestant". | ||
| Ministers | The celebrant, officiant and any others (lay persons or ordained) who assist in the celebration of the liturgy. | ||
| Mission | A local Episcopal congregation that has not yet attained the status of a church with a full-time priest; also a church that has lost its church status and reverted to mission status. Usually a mission does not have a full-time minister and does not have the full complement of daily or weekly services. | ||
| Narthex | An enclosed space at the entry end of the nave of a church. | ||
| National Church | A National Church is technically a Province. In the Anglican Church, the word "Province" has a meaning that is both unusual and ambiguous. The Anglican Communion consists of about 40 Autonomous Churches, most of which are associated with a particular country. | ||
| Nave | The main part of a church where the congregation sits. Derived from the Latin word navis meaning "ship." The term could refer to Noah's ark or the beams of the roof which resemble the sides of a ship. In medieval England , the derogatory term "knave" (commoner) developed from nave, because the nave is the area of the building where the "common" people sit. | ||
| Offertory | The presentation, reception, preparation, and offering of the gifts at the beginning of The Holy Communion, the second part of the Eucharist. | ||
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Ordination |
To ordain a person means to have that person participate in a special ceremony in which someone with the correct authority gives them new status. The ordination must follow the requirements set down in the church canons. In our church, the ceremony in which a person is ordained is called an "ordination," and it is performed by a bishop, by prayer for the Holy Spirit and by the laying of hands upon the candidate. Until a person is ordained, that person is called "lay," or a member of the "laity". | ||
| Parish | Parish A parish is the smallest unit of administration within the Anglican church. Most parishes have just one church, called the parish church. Some parishes have more than one church; this instance is usually found in areas with sparse or declining population, so that only the clergy need travel far. Parishes combine into dioceses. | ||
| Pastor | Pastor Another name for a clergy person. In both Latin and English, the word simply means "shepherd." All Lutheran clergy are called pastors, and many Episcopal and Roman Catholic clergy are comfortable enough with the term to use it to describe them. | ||
| The Peace | Also known as "passing the peace." A ritual in the Episcopal Church in which members of the congregation greet one another. The priest says, "The Peace of the Lord be always with you." The congregation responds, "And also with you." (When using Rite I, the response is "And with thy Spirit.") After the response, people shake hands, speak or embrace in the church. | ||
| Pews | Long, permanent benches in the nave of a church building. In the earliest times, there were no chairs except for the clergy, and the congregation "congregated" in the nave. Later, individual seating was added particularly for older members. Pews came into existence as a way for local churches to support themselves financially, by renting or selling pews to families. | ||
| Presbyter | The actual, official name for an Episcopal priest. The word is a Celtic contradiction of the Greek word presbyteros, meaning "elder." The presbyter represents the bishop in a parish or mission, as he or she has since the earliest of Church times, when older members of a congregation were chosen to represent the bishop. | ||
| Presiding Bishop | The elected episcopal head of the Episcopal Church in America; the chief administrator and spiritual head of the Episcopal Church. The Episcopal Church does not refer to its head bishop as an archbishop. | ||
| Priest | "Priest" is a special term for the minister of a Roman Catholic, Anglican, or Orthodox church. Historically, the term meant someone who performed a sacrifice; later the term referred to those who said Mass. A person becomes a priest through ordination. | ||
| Protestant | From the Latin pro, meaning "for," and testare, meaning "witness." Thus literally, if one was to be a protestant it would mean he or she would be a witness for something. The word was first used in 1529 as part of Martin Luther's reform movement. The Episcopal Church does not officially consider itself to be a Protestant church, but is considered to be Protestant by Roman Catholics, as well as by many lay members of the Episcopal Church. | ||
| Province | A "Province" is an administrative division of the church that is bigger than a diocese and smaller than the whole world. Many national churches are divided into provinces; for example, Canada is divided into four administrative provinces and Australia into five. And Australia has one diocese that is not in any Province; it is called "extra-provincial". In some parts of the world, typically those that were never English colonies, the number of Anglicans is small enough that there are not individual national churches. The Province of Central America has several countries, as does the Province of Central Africa. A transnational province is one that spans more than one country. | ||
| Proper | The scripture readings and Collect appointed for the day or occasion. | ||
| Pulpit | A raised platform with railing used for the sermon or homily and from which the Gospel may be read; generally located to one side of the front of the nave, not in the center as in most protestant churches. Also called an Ambo. | ||
| Real Presence | The doctrine that emphasizes the actual presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. This is in contrast to theologies that hold that the Body and Blood are present only figuratively or symbolically. The Anglican doctrine of Real Presence stops short of Transubstantiation in defining how the presence happens. (Transubstantiation says that at a specified point in the liturgy the wine and bread become actual flesh and actual blood.) | ||
| Reconciliation | The sacrament used for confessing one's sins in the presence of a priest to receive absolution; commonly called confession. | ||
| Rector | The rector is a priest who is the leader of a parish. | ||
| Rectory | The residence of a rector; the place where an Episcopal minister lives. | ||
| Rite I | A portion of the Book of Common Prayer which contains worship services using the traditional worship language of the Church from as used from the 1600's until 1976. | ||
| Rite II | A portion of the Book of Common Prayer containing worship services which use more modern language. | ||
| Sacraments | From the Latin word sacrare, meaning to "consecrate." According to the prayer book, sacraments are "outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace." Sacraments are physical actions that point us to deeper realities than we are able to experience with our five senses. The Episcopal Church recognizes two major, or "gospel" sacraments, and five minor sacraments, or sacramental acts. The two major sacraments, Baptism and Communion, and called gospel sacraments because Jesus told us (in the gospels) to do them until he comes again. The five sacramental acts (or minor sacraments) are not all necessarily required of all Christians. They are Confirmation, Marriage, Ordination, Reconciliation, and Unction. | ||
| Seminarian | A student in a seminary; a student in residence in a school of theology. | ||
| Seminary | A residential academic program for the study of theology. | ||
| Senior Warden | The chairman of the vestry; the lay person who heads the governing board of the local church. | ||
| Sermon | A talk, usually based on a Bible text, generally delivered the pulpit, to give religious instruction and encouragement. | ||
| Sign of the Cross | The tracing on one's forehead, chest and shoulders of the outline of the Cross. | ||
| Transubstantiation | The miraculous change by which according to Anglican, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox dogma the eucharistic elements at their consecration become the body and blood of Christ while keeping only the appearances of bread and wine. | ||
| The Trinity | A fundamental symbol of the Christian faith and a core doctrine in Christianity. The Trinity refers to the oneness and essential unity of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. | ||
| Unction | From Latin, unguere, meaning "to anoint." Unction is the process of anointing someone with consecrated oil for religious purposes. Episcopalians use the word to refer to anointing the sick for the purpose of making them well (see James 5:14 ). | ||
| Vestments | Clothing worn by clergy and lay people who lead the services of a church. Colors used in some vestments are changed during the year to indicate the seasons of the church year. | ||
| Vestry | A vestry is equivalent to a board of directors for a parish. The affairs of a parish are managed by a vestry that consists of members democratically elected from the congregation. | ||
| Vicar | "Vicar" has meaning similar to "rector." The difference between "vicar" and "rector" has to do with money. A vicar is the priest in charge of a parish or mission that is supported financially from the outside, while a rector is the priest in charge of a self-supporting church. In England most churches are supported by their diocese, so most of the priests in charge of English churches are vicars. In many other countries, notably the USA , most churches are self-supporting, so most of the priests in charge of them are rectors. | ||
| Wafer | The bread portion of the Lord's Supper; an unleavened, thin cracker; imprinted with a cross. | ||
| Warden | A church warden is an appointed administrative position in a parish church. Most parish's have a Junior Warden and Senior Warden. | ||
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