LAITY

( Gr. Kxes, people.) The great body of the faithful, as opposed to those who are set apart for the ministration of the services and sacraments — the clergy. This distinction is plainly observed in the writers of the third century— Origen, Cyprian, and TertuUian; and is generally supposed to have' prevailed from the first foundation of Christianity. The word laity is properly a general name for the people: in the writings of the Fathers ^lurixti, seculars, iStSren, private men, and Xutxo), laymen, are used indifferently to expre this cla . [s. 646]