Church

(church.) [Ger. kirche, fromGr. Kyrios, the Lord;-deriv. doubtful.] (Eccl.) In religious affairs, aw ord which is used in several senses. It means:1. The collective body of persons profe ing one and the same religious faith; or that religion itself; thus, we say, the Church of Christ. 2. Any particular congregation of Christians a ociating together; as, the Church of Antioch. 3. A particular Christian sect or denomination; as, the Greek Church, or the Anglican Church. 4. The body politic of ecclesiastics, as distinguished from the laity. 5. The building in which a congregation of Christians a emble: - cla ified thus: pontifical, as St. Peter's at Rome, where the Pope sometimes officiates; patriarchal, where the C. govt. is vested in a patriarch (as in the Greek C.); metropolitan, as distinguishing the see of an archbishop; cathedral, over which a bishop presides; collegiate, as attached to a college or university; parochial, when belonging to a parish; and conventual, when serving the religious ceremonies of a convent, . Church, FREDERIC EDWIN, an American artist, B. in Hartford, Conn., 1826, has earned high reputation as a delineator of the scenery of America, North and South. Perhaps his finest work is the view of Niagara Falls, pronounced by critics, both in this country and England, the best representation of the cataract ever made. [s. 186]