Presbytery (Gr. presbutérion, “an assembly of elders”, “old age”). Group or assembly of elders (1 Tit 4:14). Presbuterion is also used in Luk 22:66 (“the elders of the people”) and Act 22:5 (“all the elders”) with reference to the Sanhedrin, a group of “elders” (Mat 27:1; 28:12; etc.). The “elders” mentioned in Luk 7:3 were probably the overseers of the local Jewish synagogue. The Christian church adopted a local administration plan similar to that of the Jewish synagogue (1 Tit 5:17, JB; etc.). See Council.
Source: Evangelical Bible Dictionary
see ELDERLY
Source: Hispanic World Bible Dictionary
†¢Elderly. †¢Bishops.
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
Bishop and priests a priestly family
In the particular Churches founded by the Apostles, the “presbyters” formed a senate or college together with the Apostle who had founded them or with the person in charge (“bishop”) appointed by them. Somehow, this reality appears in many New Testament passages (with fluctuating terminology), especially in the Pauline letters to Timothy and Titus (cf. 1Tim 4:14). The letters of Saint Ignatius of Antioch (from the beginning of the 2nd century) describe this reality as normal and of divine-apostolic origin in all the particular Churches.
The mystery of the Church communion is manifested in a special way in the communion or brotherhood of the Presbytery, where “the priests, constituted by Ordination in the Order of the Priesthood, are all united among themselves by the intimate sacramental brotherhood” (PO 8). In the concelebration “the unity of the priesthood is appropriately manifested” (SC 57).
Bishop, priests and deacons form part of the Presbytery, as a college of ministers or servants and a collective sign of Christ. This ecclesial reality is “a single family whose father is the Bishop” (ChD 28), since “priests constitute with their bishops a single Presbytery” (LG 28). This collective sign of Christ the Bridegroom also has a sense of espousal with the Church.
Effective-sacramental sign
It is “sacramental fraternity” (PO 8), or “intimate fraternity” required by the sacrament of Holy Orders (LG 28), an effective sign of sanctification and evangelization. For this reason, the Presbytery is a “mysterium” and a “supernatural reality” (PDV 74), which qualifies the spirituality of its components, in the sense of belonging to a “priestly family” (ChD 28; PDV 74). This reality of grace, together with the fact of belonging to the particular Church, is an integral part of the spirituality of the ministering priest and entails co-responsibility and mutual help in spiritual, pastoral, intellectual, economic and personal life (cf. LG 28; PO 8).
The fraternity of the Presbytery is a “privileged place”, where every priest (especially the diocesan or “secular”, because he is “incardinated”), can “find the specific means of sanctification and evangelization” (Directory 27). With the contribution of the bishop and priests, it is necessary to “make a project and establish a program, capable of structuring ongoing formation… as a systematic proposal of content, which is developed in stages and has precise modalities” PDV 79), to “sustain , in a real and effective way, the ministry and spiritual life of priests” (PDV 3). Then the fraternity of the Presbytery will be “an evangelizing fact” (Puebla 663).
A lifestyle according to the Apostles
The community of the Presbytery would not be possible without the explicit reference to the bishop and without the action of the episcopal charism (PDV 79). The bishop is the visible foundation of unity in the particular Church and in its Presbytery (LG 23; cf. PO 7-8), and it is he who must primarily “foster the holiness of his clerics, religious and laity , according to the particular vocation of each one” (ChD 15).
The construction of the Presbytery, according to the model of “apostolic life”, will be the normal channel for the empowerment of its components in terms of local and universal apostolic action. This reality of grace will be the motor of the particular Church or missionary diocese, as well as the encouragement of priestly vocations and the service that vitalizes all the other religious and lay institutions of the diocese.
References Archpriesthood, priestly spirituality, permanent formation, particular Church (missionary diocese), apostolic life.
Document reading LG 28; PO8; ChD 28; POV 74.
Bibliography C. BERTOLA, Priestly Fraternity (Madrid, Soc. Educ. Atenas, 1992); A. CATTANEO, Il Presbyterio della Chiesa particolare (Milano, Edit. Giuffré, 1993); J. ESQUERDA BIFET, Theology of Priestly Spirituality (BAC, Madrid, 1991) chap. SAW; V. FUSCO, Il presbyterio Fondazione biblico-teologica Asprenas 33 (1986) 5-36; J. LECUYER, Le Presbyterium, in Les prêtres (Paris, Cerf, 1968) 275-288; A. VILELA, La condition collegial des prêtres au III siècle (Paris: Beauchesne, 1971).
(ESQUERDA BIFET, Juan, Dictionary of Evangelization, BAC, Madrid, 1998)
Source: Dictionary of Evangelization
presbuterion (presbutevrion, 4244), an assembly of elderly, elderly men. Denotes: (a) the council or senate among the Jews (Luk 22:66 “the elders”, KJV: “the council of elders”, VM: “the assembly of the elders”, BBC: “the senate”; Act 22 :5 “elders”, VM: “the body of elders”, VHA: “the council of elders”); (b) the elders or overseers (bishops) in a local church (1Ti 4:14 “the presbytery”). For its functions, see ELDER, No. 4. In (a) the reference is to the body known as the Sanhedrin (see COUNCIL, No. 1).
Source: Vine New Testament Dictionary
See the SANCTUARY article.
(N. de la T.) The Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy defines the presbytery as: Area of the main altar up to the foot of the steps where it is climbed, which is regularly surrounded by a fence or railing).
The part of the church reserved for the high clergy was known in antiquity by various names, including presbyterium, due to its occupation during liturgical functions by priests linked to a church, arranged in a semicircle around the bishop. The presbytery was also known as apsis, exedra, shell, denominations referring to its shape; bema by the fact that it was raised above the level of the nave and consequently reached by a stairway of several steps; tribune due to its location and general resemblance to a tribunal in civil basilicas where magistrates administered justice. In the Middle Ages these various names were mostly replaced by the term choir, which in turn gave way to the modern term sanctuary.
The chancel was separated from the rest of the church by railings (cancelli). Eusebius, in his dedication address at Tire (Hist. Eccl., X, IV), describes this feature of the church and its objects: “the Holy of Holies, the altar,” he explains, was enclosed with a wooden grating , worked with artistic carving to make it “inaccessible to the crowd”. In Constantinople, as appears in the episode related by Theodoret in which the actors were Theodosius the Great and Saint Ambrose, the emperor was accustomed to remain in the presbytery during the celebration of the liturgy, but in the West this was not allowed ( Theodoret, HE, V, 17). The Council in Trullo (canon LXIX), following an ancient tradition, specifically excludes the emperor from the general rule of reserving the presbytery for the clergy. From this strict prohibition in relation to the laity the term adyta (inaccessible) came into use for the presbytery.
A body of priests considered as a whole is also called a presbytery. In modern times the house of the clergy is often called the presbytery (presbytere).
Bibliography: BINGHAM, Antiquities of the Christian Church, V. III, b. 8 (Oxford, 1855).
Source: Hassett, Maurice. “Presbytery.” The Catholic Encyclopaedia. Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 4 Mar. 2012
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12395a.htm
Translated by Luz María Hernández Medina
Source: Catholic Encyclopedia