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. [Eng.] -- Ecclesiastical law,
a combination of civil and
canon law as administered in ecclesiastical courts. [Eng.] -- 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.
Hear it pronounced