CLERGY

From Agepedia

CLERGY (from the Latin clerus, derived from the Greek icXtipos, the share or heritage) signifies the body of ecclesiastical persons, in contradistinction to the laymen. The Greek word was applied in this sense, in order to indicate that this class was to be considered as the particular inheritance and property of Goda metaphor taken from the Old Testament. The clerus WJLS divided, in the ancient church, into the high and low. To the former belonged the bishops, presbyters and deacons; to the latter, all the other ecclesiastical persons. The support of the clergy in different countries constitutes an interesting subject in political economy, and has been investigated in a work entitled, Remarks on the Consumption of tlie Public Wealth by the Clergy of every jYation; Lorirdon, 1822, 2ded. (See Church, and Ecclesiastical Establishments.) When a Catholic priest receives the tonsure, he repeats a part of the 16th psalm, " The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance," &c. The Catholie clergyman, according to the doctrine of the Roman church, is endowed, in his spiritual character, with a supernatural power, which distinguishes him essentially from the laymanr as the power to forgive sins, and to consecrate the bread, so as to convert it into the real body of Christ, &c.