Archdeacon

Archdeacon [fr. apxwv, chief, and diakovew, Gk., to minister], a substitute for the bishop, having ecclesiastical dignity and jurisdiction over the clergy and laity next after the bishop, either throughout the diocese or in some part of it only. He visits his jurisdiction once every year, and has a Court where he may hear ecclesiastical causes, subject to an appeal to the bishop, by 24 Hen. 8, c. 12, commonly called the Act of Appeals. He examines candidates for holy orders, and inducts clerks upon receipt of the bishop's mandate, Wood's Inst. 30. The Law styles him the bishop's vicar or vicegerent.