ECCLESIASTICAL

ecclesiastical. Ecclesiastical, a. of or relating to the church

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Ec‐cle′si‐as″tic‐al (?), a. [[See Ecclesiastical, a.]] Of or pertaining to the church; relating to the organization or government of the church; not secular; as, ecclesiastical affairs or history; ecclesiastical courts. Every circumstance of ecclesiastical order and discipline was an abomination. Cowper. Ecclesiastical commissioners for England, a permanent commission established by Parliament in 1836, to consider and report upon the affairs of the Established Church. — Ecclesiastical courts, courts for maintaining the discipline of the Established Church; — called also Christian courts. — Ecclesiastical law, a combination of civil and canon law as administered in ecclesiastical courts. — Ecclesiastical modes (Mus.), the church modes, or the scales anciently used. — Ecclesiastical States, the territory formerly subject to the Pope of Rome as its temporal ruler; — called also States of the Church.