LAITY

(Gr. \aoc, 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 Tertullian; 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 fjiwrtnol, seculars, tSi , private men, and XntKul, laymen, are used indiferentlytoexpre this cla . [s. 651]