ARCHDEACON

An Ecclesiastical officer, ranking next to the bishop. As deacons were originally attendants upon the bishop, so the archdeacon was one selected from among the deacons of several dioceses, His functions were confined to attending upon and a isting the bishop in the discharge of his spiritual duties and the management of his diocese, and had at first no jurisdiction. There are now more archdeacons than one in each diocese, the whole number in England being sixty; and they are employed by their bishops in visiting the clergy of the diocese, and in the dispatcli of other matters relating to the episcopal superintendence. [s. 85]