Ecclesiast

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person ordained to perform religious duties in a Christian church
2. Someone who holds an official position in the clergy of a religious organization
3. A member of the priesthood or ministerial class within a Christian denomination

Etymology: The Ancient Greek ekklēsiastēs meant "member of an assembly" or "one who speaks in an assembly," built from ekklēsia, the citizens' assembly of a Greek city-state, which was itself formed from "ek" (out) and "kalein" (to call). So the word's first sense was political: a participant in a gathering of citizens who had been called out to deliberate. Its Greek-speaking Jewish and early Christian users later applied it to the Preacher of the Hebrew book of Ecclesiastes, and the Latin translation of the Bible carried that usage into Western Christian writing. The English form came by way of Latin ecclēsiastēs, which passed into Middle English as ecclesiaste. Because the Greek ending "-astēs" resembles the one in words for agents and practitioners, it is tempting to read the word as a combination of ecclesia and "-ast," but the Latin and Greek forms show the ending was part of the original word rather than an added suffix.

Synonyms: clergyman, clergy, minister

Antonyms: layperson, laity