Ecclesia

e-klē′zi-a, n. a popular a embly, esp. of Athens, where the people exercised full sovereignty, and all above twenty years could vote: applied by the Septuagint commentators to the Jewish commonwealth, and from them to the Christian Church.— adj. Ecclē′sial .— ns. Ecclē′siarch , a ruler of the church; Ecclē′siast , the preacher—Solomon formerly considered as the author of Ecclesiastes: an ecclesiastic; Ecclē′siastes , one of the books of the Old Testament, traditionally ascribed to Solomon; Ecclesias′tic , one consecrated to the church, a priest, a clergyman.— adjs. Ecclē′siastic , -al , belonging to the church.— adv. Ecclesias′tically , in an ecclesiastical manner.— ns. Ecclesias′ticism , attachment to ecclesiastical observances, .: the churchman's temper or spirit; Ecclesias′tic us , name of a book of the Apocrypha; Ecclesiol′atry , exce ive reverence for church forms and traditions.— adj. Ecclesiolog′ical .— ns. Ecclesiol′ogist , a student of church forms and traditions; Ecclesiol′ogy , the science of building and decorating churches: the science relating to the church. [Low L.,—Gr. ekklesia , an a embly called out of the world, the church— ek , out, and kale in , to call.]