archpresbytery

English

Etymology

From arch- +‎ presbytery.

Noun

archpresbytery (plural archpresbyteries)

1. (ecclesiastical) The absolute dominion of presbytery.
   • 1649 October, John Milton, chapter XIII, in Eikonoklastes. In Answer to a Book Intitled, Eikon Basilike, The PORTRAITURE of his SACRED MAJESTY in his Solitudes and Sufferings:

     “The government of their kirk we despised” not, but their imposing of that government upon us; not presbytery, but archpresbytery, classical, provincial, and diocesan presbytery, claiming to itself a lordly power and superintendency both over flocks and pastors, over persons and congregations no way their own.

References

• “archpresbytery”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.