archdeacon
(ˈɑːtʃˈdiːkən: see arch-)
Forms of pref.: 1–5 arce-, 1–4 erce-, 4 ers-, erse-, erres-, erche-, 4–5 archi-, 5 ars-, 5–7 arche-, 4– arch-. See forms of deacon.
[OE. arce-, ęrce-diacon, ad. L. archidiācon-us (c 420 Jerome), a. Gr. ἀρχιδιᾱ́κονος; see archi- 1 and deacon. Cf. OF. arc(h)ediacne 12th c., later archediacre.]
The chief deacon; orig. the chief of the attendants on a bishop, who, through the scope of his duties in relation to the services of the church and the administration of charity, gradually acquired a rank above the priests and next in importance to the bishop. In Eng. Ch. the archdeacon is appointed by, and gives assistance to, the bishop, superintending the rural deans, and holding the lowest ecclesiastical court, with the power of spiritual censure.
| c 1000 ælfric Gl. (Z.) 299 Archidiaconus, ercediacon [v.r. arce-]. 1297 R. Glouc. 468 Ercedekne of Kanterbury Sein Tomas tho was. c 1386 Chaucer Friar's T. 2 An erchedeken, a man of gret degré. c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. xviii. 102 Noo bischop or archideken. 1577 Harrison Eng. i. ii. i. 17 Which archdeacons are termed in law the bishops eies. 1704 Nelson Fest. & Fasts ii. iii. (1739) 474 Where the Bishops had many Deacons, one among them had the Title of Arch-Deacon. 1881 Hatch Bampton Lect. ii. 53 [The] archdeacon..was conceived to be, in an especial sense, the bishop's assistant in ecclesiastical administration. |
Hence the derivatives [see -ate, -ess, -ship]:— archˈdeaconate (L. archidiāconātus), the position of archdeacon; archidiaconate. archˈdeaconess, the wife of an archdeacon. archˈdeaconship, the office of archdeacon.
| 1882 Schaff Herzog's Encycl. Rel. Knowl. 128 The archdeaconates were generally held by the provost of the cathedral and the canons. 1861 Wheat & Tares 50 ‘Excellent,’ cried the Archdeaconess. 1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Arcedianadgo, an archedeaconship, Archidiaconatus. 1755 Johnson, Archdeaconship. |