Crossword clues for laity
laity
- Church members
- Members of the congregation
- Worshippers not in the clergy
- Clergy counterpart
- Whom preachers preach to
- Those attended to by clergy
- They rarely do clerical work
- The non-professionals
- Secular body
- Pews occupants
- People in the pews
- Pastor's followers
- Parishioners, e.g
- Parishioners, collectively
- Ones outside a profession
- Not the clergy
- Not clergy
- Non-clergy group
- Italy (anag)
- Group sitting in pews
- Group in pews
- Flock at church
- Clergyman's audience
- Clergy's counterpart
- Clergy opposite
- Churchgoing group
- Church brothers and sisters
- Nonsecular types
- Churchgoers, collectively
- Hymn singers
- Parishioners, as a group
- Nonprofessionals
- Flock, so to speak
- Congregation members
- Pastor's flock
- Body that's not the clergy
- Church group
- Everyone except the clergy
- Those not of the clergy
- People in the service
- Nonclerical group
- Nonclergy
- Ordinary churchfolk
- Nonclerics
- The mass of the people
- Parishioners, to a pastor
- Parishioners, e.g.
- Ordinary people bet about it
- Ordinary people
- Non-clerical people
- Unordained people
- Hoi polloi
- Members of the flock
- Members of a flock
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Laity \La"i*ty\ (l[=a]"[i^]*t[y^]), n. [See Lay, a.]
-
The people, as distinguished from the clergy; the body of the people not in orders.
A rising up of the laity against the sacerdotal caste.
--Macaulay. The state of a layman. [Obs.]
--Ayliffe.Those who are not of a certain profession, as law or medicine, in distinction from those belonging to it.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"body of people not in religious orders," early 15c., from Anglo-French laite, from lay (adj.) + -ity.
Wiktionary
n. 1 people of a church who are not ordained clergy or clerics. 2 the common man or woman 3 the unlearned, untrained or ignorant as in “The Layman’s Guide to Basket Weaving”
WordNet
n. everyone except the clergy [syn: temporalty] [ant: clergy]
Wikipedia
In religious organizations, the laity consists of all members who are not a part of the clergy, whether they are or are not members of religious institutes, e.g. a nun or lay brother, with it being true for all individuals appearing as members who are part such "religious organizations" whether or not they are part of the clergy and whether or not they are part of any religious or any other types of organizations.
In Christian cultures, the term lay priest is sometimes used in the past to refer to a secular priest, a diocesan priest who is not a member of a religious institute. Terms such as lay priest, lay clergy and lay nun were also once used in Buddhist cultures to indicate ordained persons who continued to live in the wider community instead of retiring to a monastery.
In the context of specialized professions, the term lay is often used to refer to those who are not members of that profession.
The word lay derives from the Anglo-French lai (from Late Latin laicus, from the Greek λαϊκός, laikos, of the people, from λαός, laos, the people at large).
Usage examples of "laity".
Let the laity undergo the judgment of the secular arm, that either sewn up in sacks they may be carried out to Neptune, or planted in the earth may fructify for Pluto, or may be offered amid the flames as a fattened holocaust to Vulcan, or at least may be hung up as a victim to Juno: while our nursling at a single reading of the book of life is handed over to the custody of the Bishop, and rigour is changed to favour, and the forum being transferred from the laity, death is routed by the clerk who is the nursling of books.
But the priests in the Heptarchy, after the first missionaries, were wholly Saxons, and almost as ignorant and Barbarous as the laity.
The general stress on the priesthood of all believers had made both clergy and laity less sure about the role of the clergy, even to the point, figuratively speaking, of seeming to unordain the ordained, and without clearly defining the ministry of the lay member.
From these materials, with the counsel and approbation of the patriarch and barons, of the clergy and laity, Godfrey composed the Assise of Jerusalem, a precious monument of feudal jurisprudence.
It claims to be an everlasting protest against priestly tyranny, and monkish authority, and abject spiritual servitude in the laity.
Hussites who deny transubstantiation and demand the cup for the laity.
May God forgive us all, both laity and clergy, every cruel word, every uncharitable thought, every hasty judgment.
Like so many of the beleaguered Catholics in England, men and women, the laity as well as the axxi priesthood, nobles and serving people, Father Weston wondered whether a new reign might not bring relief.
This was in effect a revival of the so-called Donatist doctrine, that the laity had a right to judge the priesthood.
It was strongest and most apparent among laymen, for a famous monastic writer of the fourteenth century testified that the laity led better lives than the clergy.
Tulkinghorn, one of its trustiest representatives--may scatter, on occasion, in the eyes of the laity.
When a breeze from the country that has lost its way takes fright and makes a blind hurry to rush out again, it flings as much dust in the eyes of Allegory as the law-or Mr. Tulkinghorn, one of its trustiest representatives--may scatter, on occasion, in the eyes of the laity.
For, however barbarous and bloody the common superstitions often are to the laity, they usually turn to the advantage of the holy order.
The chancel was, as in most of the new churches built at this time, only deep enough for the sanctuary, as surpliced choirs had not been thought possible in villages, and so many old chancels had been invaded by the laity that it was an object to keep them out.
The chancel was, as in most of the new churches built at this time, only deep enough for the sanctuary, as surpliced choirs had not been thought possible in villages, and so many old chancels had been invaded by the laity that it was an object to keep them out.