burg and in Berlin. Cloister provosts are not unknown to the Evangelical church, where the name denotes certain officials entrusted with supervision over the property of Evangelical sisterhood foundations. E. SEHLING.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bingham, Origines, II., ii. 4-5, xix. 14, III., xii.; F. J. Meyer, De dignitatibus in capitulis, 4, § xiii., Göttingen, 1782; A. J. Binterim, Denkwürdigkeiten, iii. 2, pp. 361-362, Mainz, 1826.

Chris

PRUDENTIUS, AURELIUS CLEMENS: tian poet; b. in the province of Tarragona, Spain, 348; d. after 403. He came of a distinguished Christian family and received an excellent education, studied law, became an office-holder and rose rapidly, was twice governor of a province, and finally received high office at the court of Theodosius. When past middle life, he came to view his course of life as little worthy and withdrew from public life to devote himself to poetry in the service of religion and the Church. His earliest poems are the twelve hymns contained in the Cathemerinon (for use in the morning, at meals, and at night, from which the collection took its name). The model of Prudentius in poetry was Ambrose, though there is a distinct independent development. He employs the events of the times, and is not restricted to the forms of verse used by Ambrose. While his verse is popular, the lyrical element often recedes in consequence of the introduction of the didactic and epic admixture. A second collection, the Peristephanon, shows still greater originality and variety of verse form. This celebrates Spanish and Roman martyrs, and may have been influenced by the inscriptions of Damasus (see DAMASUS I.) which celebrated the martyrs. The epic and dramatic elements here are quite pronounced. There are extant also two didactic-polemic poems: Apotheosis, in 1,408 hexameters, exalts the deity of Christ against Patripassians, Sabellians, Jews, and Eremites; Hamartigenia, in 966 hexameters, deals with the origin of evil in a polemic against Marcion's gnostic dualism. Both of these lean on Tertullian. He also left a purely polemic work in two books (657 and 1,132 hexameters) called Contra Symmachum, in which he combats the heathen state religion. It is under the influence of Ambrose's epistle against Symmachus. All three of these lastnamed contained passages of beauty, but the Hamartigenia is the noblest. A fourth work, of slight esthetic interest, but important from a literaryhistorical point of view (915 hexameters), is the Psychomachia, the first example in the West of allegorical poetry, setting forth the conflict of Christian virtues with heathen vices. It comes out of the times of the author and portrays the life of those times, and had a great influence during the Middle Ages. Finally, there is extant a collection of forty-nine quatrains in hexameter with the title Dittochaon, which sets forth a Biblical picture in each quatrain. It has been supposed that these explain decorations in the basilica attended by the author, twenty-four Old-Testament pictures on one side, twenty-four from the New Testament on the other, and one in the apse.

(G. KRÜGER.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Owing to the fact that the poems of Prudentius were great favorites in Germany and were even

Prudentius of Troyes

used as a text-book, a large number of excellent MSS, are extant (cf. the work of Stettiner below) and a prodigious number of German glosses. The number of editions is large. The noteworthy editions are: M. Heinsius, Amsterdam, 1667; F. Arevalo, 2 vols., Rome, 1788-89, reproduced with prolegomena, MPL, lix.-lx.; T. Obbar, Tübingen, 1845; and A. Dressel, Leipsic, 1860. In English may be noted the Cathemerinon, London, 1845; also a transl. of the Hymns, by G. Morison, 3 parts, Cambridge, 1889; by R. Martin Pope, London, 1905; Translations from Prudentius: a Selection, by F. St. J. Thackeray (in verse), London, 1890; Songs (Selected and Translated), by E. Giliat-Smith, London, 1898. Consult: A. Ebert, Geschichte der Litteratur des Mittelalters, i. 251-293, Leipsic, 1880 (indispensable); L. Paul, Étude sur Prudence, Strasburg, 1862; P. Gams, Kirchengeschichte Spaniens, ii. 1, pp. 337-358, Regensburg, 1864; C. Brockhaus, Aurelius Prudentius Clemens in seiner Bedeutung für die Kirche und seine Zeit, Leipsic, 1872; P. Allard, in Revue des questions historiques, xxv (1884), 345-385, xxxvi (1884), 5-61, xxxvii (1885), 353-405; A. Rosler, Der katholische Dichter Aurelius Prudentius Clemens, Freiburg, 1886 (detailed; has eye to church and doctrinal history); P. A. J. Puech, Prudence; étude sur la poesié latine chrétienne au 4. siècle, Paris, 1888 (elaborate); M. Manitius, Geschichte der christlich-lateinischen Poesie, pp. 61-99, Stuttgart, 1891; C. Weymann, in Commentationes Woelffliniana, pp. 281-287, Leipsic, 1891; G. Boissier, in RDM, xci (1889), 357390; idem, La Fin du paganisme, pp. 106-151, Paris, 1894; A. Baumgartner, Geschichte der Weltlitteratur, iv. 152 sqq., Freiburg, 1900; T. R. Glover, Life and Letters in the Fourth Century, pp. 249-277, Cambridge, 1901; O. Bardenhewer, Geschichte der altkirchlichen Literatur, ii. 396, 503, 635, 640, Freiburg, 1903; F. Maigret, Le Poète chrétien Prudence, Paris, 1903; E. O. Winstedt, in Classical Review, xvii (1903), 203-207; M. Schanz, Geschichte der römischen Litteratur, iv. 211-235, Munich, 1904 (has full list of references); R. Stettiner, Die illustrierten Prudentius-Handschriften, Berlin, 1905 (sumptuous); DCB, iv. 500-505. Richardson, Encyclopaedia, p. 889, furnishes references to some excellent periodical literature.

PRUDENTIUS OF TROYES: Bishop of Troyes from shortly before 847; d. Apr. 6, 861. He was a Spaniard named Galindo, and was educated at the Frankish court-school. In 849 he wrote to Hincmar of Reims and Pardulus of Laon championing Augustinianism in the predestination controversy of the time (see GOTTSCHALK, 1; HINCMAR OF REIMS). God predestinated the wicked not so much to sinning-Adam's fall was entirely free-as to wellmerited punishment; the elect alone are redeemed by Christ's death from the massa perditionis (MPL, cxv. 975-976). Nevertheless Prudentius seems to have signed the theses of Hincmar at Quierzy in 853, but in the same year (or in 856) he attacked them in four theses which he presented to a synod at Paris (MPL, cxv. 1365 sqq.). He remained Hincmar's bitter opponent, although he wrote no more in the controversy. His part in the Annales Bertiniani, for which he wrote the years 835-861, is his chief service to history. (R. SCHMID.) BIBLIOGRAPHY: The Annales Bertiniani of Prudentius are best in MGH, Script., i (1826), 429-454, then in MPL. cxv. 1377-1420, cxxv. 1203-1302; also ed. C. Dehaisnes, Paris, 1871, and G. Waitz, Hanover, 1883; the poems are in MGH, Poet. Lat. med. ævi, i (1884), 679–680. There is a Germ. transl., new ed. by W. Wattenbach, Leipsic, 1890, and Fr. transl. in Guizot, Collection des mémoires, vol. iv., Paris, 1824. Consult: J. Lebeuf, Dissertations sur l'hist. de Paris, i. 432-497, Paris, 1739; J. C. F. Bähr, Geschicte der römischen Literatur im karolingischen Zeitalter, pp. 167, 453-456, Carlsruhe, 1840; J. C. Pritchard, Life and Times of Hincmar, Littlemore, 1849; J. Girgensohn, .Prudentius und die bertinianischen Annalen, Riga, 1875; E. Dümmler, in NA, iv (1879), 314; A. Ebert, Geschichte der Literatur des Mittelalters, ii. 267, 365–368, Leipsic, 1880; Wattenbach, DGQ, i (1885), 196, 263, 277, i (1893), 214294, 295; idem, in NA, xvi (1891), 607–609.

I. Introduction of Christianity: The people which in history is called Prussian is the population that in the migration of nations settled in that part of the Baltic coast-land which in the second half of the Middle Ages was known I. The as Prussia. Their name Pruzi, or, in Prussian its lengthened form, Prutheni (their People; country, Prucia or Prussia), is derived First Mis- from the Lithuanian Protas, i.e., insionary sight, understanding: they called Efforts. themselves Pruzi, the sagacious. The character of these people can hardly be established to-day, since they were extinct by the end of the seventeenth century. Their language has been preserved in two translations of the Lutheran catechism, the so-called Old Prussian catechism, Königsberg, 1545, 1561. From these linguistic fragments it is evident that the early Prussians were neither Germans nor Slavs, but belonged with their neighbors, among whom were the Lithuanians, to that special branch of the Indo-Germanic group which is called Lettish. As to the south of them the Poles had settled and to the west the Wends, they had no contact with Germany. Their religion was nature worship, a naive polytheism, deifying sun, moon, stars, thunder, birds, and quadrupeds. The common center of sacrifice was Romove, a place near Domnau (23 m. s.e. of Königsberg, East Prussia); the place of worship was under trees, especially the oak. The people believed in a future life and retribution of a material kind. They dwelt in free, independent communities without national feeling. Their pursuits were agriculture and cattle-raising, trade and the chase. They practised polygamy, while women were treated as merchandise and slaves. The sick were exposed or slain, and drunkenness was a common vice. Hospitality, however, stood in high esteem. Because of their exclusion toward the south and west, Christianity could not come to the Prussians before the Christianization of the Poles and Wends. The first missionary attempt was made in 997 by Bishop Adalbert of Prague (q.v.), but without success. Bruno, Count of Querfurt, a relative of Otto III., who made a similar attempt, was suddenly captured by the heathen, with eighteen of his companions, and beheaded in 1009. In 1207 Abbot Gottfried from the monastery of Lekno in Greater Poland baptized some people, but was prevented by his early death from organizing congregations. Another monk, named Christian, probably also from a Cistercian monastery in Greater Poland, had better success, owing to the energetic assistance of Duke Conrad of Masovia and Cujavia. Christian entered the socalled territory of Culm from the south, and between 1207 and 1210 preached Christianity in the neighborhood of Löbau (74 m. s.e. of Danzig) and on the boundary line of Pomerania under the authority

Evangelical.

State Church Government (§ 1). Congregational and Synodal Constitution (§ 2).

2. Roman Catholic.

of Pope Innocent III. Between 1212 and 1215 he became "bishop in Prussia. Two chiefs, Warpoda and Svabuno, with others were converted and received baptism in Rome. They granted pieces of land to their bishop, in the neighborhood of Löbau, and Duke Conrad of Masovia gave him the larger part of the territory of Culm, which possessions became a secure foundation of the Prussian bishopric.

To protect the converted Prussians from the hatred of their countrymen, Pope Honorius III. demanded, in Poland and Pomerania, in 1217, and in Germany, in 1218, the preaching of

2. Order of a crusade against the Prussian heathen. Teutonic Not until 1223 did the crusading armies Knights. from Silesia and Pomerania enter the territory of Culm. At the same time the Prussians fell fiercely upon Pomerania and Masovia. Christian, who had taken refuge in the fortified castle of Culm, and Conrad of Masovia were in the greatest peril and turned to the heroic Order of Teutonic Knights, promising them large grants of land for the conquest of Prussia. Hermann of Salza, the grand-master of the order, who sojourned at that time in Italy at the court of Ferdinand II. of Hohenstauffen, consented, although he was not immediately prepared to send an army; but in 1228 he sent a deputation of his knights to receive the land grant of Culm. In addition Bishop Christian also conferred upon him a tithe from his own possessions at Culm and in 1231 the gift of a third of his lands and its appurtenances. In the mean time Pope Gregory IX., in 1230, renewed the demand for a crusade against the Prussian heathen, and in 1231 Hermann Balke with an army of knights crossed the Vistula at Nassau and advanced toward Pomerania. Wherever the order gained a footing, fortresses were erected and German colonists attracted. Thus arose the towns of Thorn, Culm, Grandenz, Marienwerder (1233), Elbing (1237), and Königsberg (1255). In 1238 the Teutonic order in Prussia united with the Order of the Brethren of the Sword in Livonia so that it could extend its missionary and colonizing activity far into the East. Wherever a town was founded there arose a church. Here and there a church or monastery was erected in the country. During an invasion from Samland, Bishop Christian was taken captive in Pomerania (1232). After his release in 1238 through Christian merchants, he accused the order of having made no efforts at ransom and of having robbed him of his possessions and privileges. The pope sent a legate who decided in favor of the order, conceding to the bishop only one-third of the conquered land and only the spiritual functions in the territory of the order. A reason why Christian did not enjoy any longer the favor of the papal court is to be found in the fear of leaving such a

large territory under the rule of one person. Pope Innocent IV. accordingly divided Prussia, in 1243, into four episcopal dioceses: Culm, Pomerania, Ermland, and Samland; and these four bishoprics together with those of the Baltic provinces were put under the authority of the archbishop of Riga. This was entirely after the desire of the Teutonic order; for an archbishop living in Riga could not hinder their plans in Prussia. Moreover, the Teutonic knights established the tradition that the bishoprics and cathedral chapters should be occupied by priests from their own order. The treaty of peace between the Prussians and the order, concluded at Christburg in 1249, throws light upon the inner history of the mission. The Prussians prom

nothing for learning, and did not effect the Christianization of the people. The first to introduce real Christianity was the first Evangelical prince of the duchy of Prussia, Albert of Prussia (q.v.; 1525– 1568); but by his time the pitiable remnant of the knights had been almost entirely absorbed by the Germanic colonization. (PAUL TSCHACKERT).

II. Statistics: The modern kingdom of Prussia with an area of 134,588 square miles contained, according to the census of Dec., 1905, I. Gain a population of 37,293,324 (1900, and Loss. 34,472,509), who are distributed among 88 town districts and 489 country districts. The confessional distribution of the population is shown in the following table:

ised to renounce heathenism entirely and adopt Christianity; however, a long time passed before the entire country as far as the Lithuanian boundary was subjected. The order was assisted in 1254 by Ottocar II., king of Bohemia, to whom was assigned the castle of Königsberg; and in 1266 by Margrave Otto III. of Brandenburg, who built the fortress of Brandenburg. By 1283 the knights were masters of the country from the Vistula to the Eastern border of modern East Prussia. In 1309 the grand master removed his seat to Marienburg (27 m. s.e. of Danzig), and for about 100 years from that time the order performed a leading part in the events of eastern Europe until the envy and hatred of the Poles broke their power in the terrible battle of Tannenberg (75 m. s.w. of Königsberg) (1410). The territory west of the Vistula was surrendered to the sovereignty of Poland, and that eastward of the river was accepted as a fief. The seat of the order became Königsberg in 1466. The Teutonic order had conquered Prussia in its own interest as a support to the German nobility, became wealthy through trade but the object of hatred, built at the seats of occupation such churches as the cathedral at Königsberg and the Church of St. Mary at Danzig, and allowed the entrance of twenty-four monasteries for men and nine for women; but it did

392,322 9,813 1.14% 0.03%

From 1817 to 1900 the percentage of Evangelical population increased steadily, so that finally Protestants and Roman Catholics were almost equally proportioned. From 1900 there is noticeable a retrogression on the Evangelical side, due among other causes to Polish immigration. From change of confession as well as additions and losses the Evangelical church in Prussia had, in 1905, a gain of 6,911 persons against a loss of 3,741. Conversions from the Roman Catholic to the Evangelical church have increased in the last ten years in proportion to the increase of population: in 1895, 3,228; in 1905, 5,939. The loss of the Evangelicals to the Roman Catholics is far smaller: in 1895, 295; in 1905, 441. The Prussian state churches were increased also by the conversion of 346 Jews. The sects, however, and especially the dissidents of the Evangelical church, caused heavy losses. In Berlin and vicinity more than 1,000 people left the Evangelical church in 1905, mostly from anti-Christian motives; in the whole of Prussia there were 3,245 withdrawals, so that the net gain was reduced to 3,170. According to the latest statistics of 1906, 12,007 persons left the State Church as dissidents. It is to be assumed that most of them renounced Church and Christianity through the agitation of the Social Democrats.

The religious needs of the Evangelical population with reference to clergy, church buildings, and funds can not be supplied in equal proportion throughout the country. On Jan. 1, 1905, entire Prussia had 24 general superintendents, 639 superintendents (including the metropolitans), 9,620 clergymen in independent offices, 8,390 parishes,

10,456 spiritual offices, 11,795 churches,

2. Ecclesi- and 4,322 other buildings devoted to astical church service. The province of SaxFacilities. ony, the mother country of the Reformation, is best provided for; as it possesses on the average one clergyman for every 1,600 and one church for every 1,000 Evangelicals. The most unsatisfactory conditions exist in Berlin and in the provinces of East Prussia, West Prussia, Posen, Westphalia, and Rhenish Prussia; in Berlin on account of the densely crowded population for whom there are only few churches and proportionately few clergymen; in the provinces on account of the wide extent of local districts, and because these are frequently merged into one parish, owing to the preponderance of Roman Catholic numbers. To illustrate the inequitable distribution in spite of the progress made, the Church of the Apostle Paul in Schöneberg, Berlin, has seven clergymen to 140,000 in comparison with sundry rural congregations of one clergyman to 300. In the matter of dioceses, some consist of twenty to forty parishes; others of only two to ten. The Prussian Evangelical military clergy stands under the chaplain-general of the army, who is at the same time over the imperial body-guard and chaplain of the navy. Every provincial army-corps and the guard have their superior chaplains, of whom there are in Prussia thirteen, with seventy-six subordinate division and garrison chaplains. Special difficulties regarding the care of congregations in individual localities arise from the fact that the language of the Evangelical population is not everywhere German, the Slavic in its various dialects being the main exception. At the close of 1907 there were in Prussia about 197 Evangelical congregations using the Polish language, East Prussia alone having 123 Polish congregations with 136 clergymen, and 71 congregations in which 88 clergymen preached Lithuanian. The Danish language was used in 113 churches of Sleswick-Holstein. The supply of the churches with clergy has not kept pace with the increase of population. From 1895 the number of candidates for the ministerial office has decreased more than one-half. In the old Prussian state church 523 candidates were examined in 1895; in 1906 only 202: ordained in 1895, 312; in 1906, 242. In 1907 there were only 46 candidates available in East and West Prussia, Pomerania, Posen, Silesia, and Westphalia, in Saxony about 25. In consequence a great many assistant pastorates remain vacant. So far as ascertained for 1907, 38 new parishes with 98 clerical positions were organized to an increase in the Evangelical population of 300,000. The number of theological students decreased from 4,536 in 1900 to 2,228 in the winter semester of 1907-08.

In the mean time a marked improvement and legal regulation in the remuneration of the clergy

and the care of the retired and of the bereft survivors has been made; such as, from 1895, the uniform regulation of a common fund for the widows

and orphans of clergymen; from 1899,

3. Auxiliary of an auxiliary salary fund uniformly Support. regulating incomes to the limit of 4,800 marks; and the synodical legislation in 1907-08 for the extension of the latter and the establishment of a retired pension fund for the Evangelical clergy. These measures, it is hoped, will offset the alarming decline in clerical and church facilities. The auxiliary salary fund by the act which went into effect Apr. 1, 1908, regulates salaries up to a benefice of 6,000 marks. Below that all positions are divided into nine classes based upon their ground income and ranging by intervals of 300 marks from class I., 1,800 marks, to class IX., 5,400. Thus, a pastor receives, beside parsonage or equivalent, in class I., 1,800 marks, to which the auxiliary fund adds 600. Moreover, this classification serves also as the scale for increments due to length of service, beginning at the end of the third and proceeding by intervals of three years to the end of the twenty-fourth. The auxiliary fund contributes the excess beyond the ground income and advances additions so that every clergyman is guaranteed from 2,800 marks after the third year of service to 6,000 after the twenty-fourth. Besides, in cases of necessity, additions can also be made, even permanently, to the ground income. By the synodical act of Dec., 1907, the pastor will receive a recompense for removal from charge to charge. The auxiliary fund is instituted by the state churches, and enjoys a legal status. It is administered by a presiding board of five members appointed by the king and an administrative committee of fifty-five members, representatives of the national synods. The parishes have to render, under receipt of the income of the prebendary estate, besides the ground income and various additions to the clerical incumbent, an insurance contribution, graduated according to the class to which they belong, ranging from 1,500 marks in class I. to 300 marks in classes V.-IX. In the case of inability, they may receive revocable aid from the reenforcement fund of the consistory (see below). To inaugurate the adequate disbursement of the fund the state budget for 1908-09 assigned 10,000,000 marks. The deficit is covered by the state churches which tax their members on the basis of the state levy. With reference to the retired pension fund, by the act which went into effect Apr. 1, 1908, every clerical who is disqualified by physical disability or the decline of physical or mental powers, or in any case after attaining the age of seventy, is entitled to an annual pension, which is in no case to be less than 1,800 marks nor more than 6,000. This fund, organized like the auxiliary fund, is raised, apart from the contributions for the clergy of societies in Prussia and elsewhere, by an annual state appropriation of 1,600,000 marks, and the levy of the state churches which covers the deficit. In consequence of the legislation of 1889 and 1892 there was founded a special fund for the widows and orphans of deceased clergymen. In 1895 the other state churches joined the fund and it is now

organized in the same way as the other funds. Widows accordingly receive from 700 marks to 1,300 marks; orphans receive to the end of the eighteenth year 400 marks and half-orphans, 250. On the basis of extensive guaranties of the State the Evangelical church in Prussia is now supported by two kinds of taxes: (1) such as every member owes to his parish, district, and province, within the consistorial district; (2) such as benefit his state church in its widest relations, including pension, auxiliary, and widows' funds, and the support of ecclesiastical administration and general objects. Regarding the second, for instance, the state church of the older provinces raises a legally established assessment of 5 per cent of the state taxes. Beside these revenues the state church of the older provinces raises a not inconsiderable sum by a biennial collection for the most urgent necessities of needy congregations in the Evangelical state churches. Various provincial churches are heavily endowed for general and parish purposes. Besides, there is a state contribution for Evangelical clergymen and churches which in 1907-08 amounted to 2,080,037 marks. The right of appointment in the nine older provinces, for about 3,000 positions, belongs to the state church government, 2,257 of these in alternation with parish organizations, since 1874; for 2,265 positions, it belongs to patrons; for about 700, to communal corporations; for about 1,350, to congregations; and for about 90 to provincial boards other than ecclesiastical. The number of positions filled by the church government and private patrons is by far the largest, but in all cases the congregations possess the right to submit protests against candidates on the grounds of doctrine, conduct, or qualification. In the later provinces, Hanover, Hesse-Nassau, Sleswick-Holstein, the state church authorities control the majority of appointments.

1. State

Church Government.

III. Ecclesiastical Organization. 1. Evangelical: The church governing boards culminate in the person of the king, following tradition from the time of the Reformation, on account of, first, an organic connection of Church and State of an ecclesiastico-political nature, guaranteeing the peaceful relations of both; and, secondly, on practical grounds, to provide, within the monarchy, over against the presbyterial form, a stable executive and protection for the Evangelical bodies. At the head of the state church comprising the older Prussian provinces stands the Evangelical supreme church council at Berlin. Including the secular president and spiritual vice-president it consists of thirteen ordinary members, including the chaplaingeneral. They are appointed for life by the king, at the common proposal of the supreme council and the minister of worship. The duties of the council comprise, among others, consultation with the king in all affairs of legislation and administration reserved for supreme decision; communication with the state central boards on matters of common resort; and the privileges and duties, according to the order of June 29, 1850, of the synodal system, the supervision of worship in relation to dogma and liturgy, of the preparation of candidates for the spiritual office, of the employment, office-bearing,

and discipline of clergymen, and the decision in cases arising over elections, grievances, and other legal questions.

At the head of every province there is a consistory under the direction of a secular president and with its seat at the capital of the province. In subordination to the supreme council the consistory is entrusted with the administration of the external and internal affairs of the Church in its province, and the general superintendent is one of the members. The latter keeps the church government in touch with the clergy and congregations, takes part in the synods, introduces the superintendents, conducts the general church visitations, and consecrates new churches. Under the auspices of the consistory acts the commission for the examination of candidates, offering the two tests, for the privilege of preaching and of assuming office. The provinces of the state consistories, with the single exception of the district of Frankfort, are divided into dioceses (ephorien) presided over by superintendents, who are state officials. They mediate between the consistories and the congregations and their ministers, exercise immediate personal supervision over the official conduct of clergymen and the life of the congregations, and over candidates residing within their dioceses. A principal part of the work of half of the superintendents of Prussia is the inspection of the district schools.

According to the historical development of the individual state churches of the monarchy, the internal constitution is based upon various legal acts which are valid only for their respec

2. Congre- tive territories. According to that of gational the Eastern provinces, which may be and Synodal Consti- considered the type of all Prussian tution. church organization, the ministers, who in doctrine, pastoral care, administration of the sacraments, and the other ministerial functions remain independent, are assisted in the congregation by a smaller and a larger representative corporation. Both are elected by the male members above the age of twenty-four who have lived at least one year in the place. All men entitled to election are eligible, in so far as they have proved their interest in the church by participation in the services and sacraments. No one is eligible for the smaller body (elders) who is less than thirty years of age. The elections are valid for six years. The number of elders shall be not more than twelve and not less than four; the number of representatives of the congregation shall be three times as many. The patron may personally claim the office of the elder or have a representative. In very small congregations the meeting of all members entitled to election takes the place of the representatives of the congregation or vestry. The minister presides over these bodies. The smaller body ("church council," or presbytery) covers a great variety of duties, religious, disciplinary, administrative, and others pertaining to instruction and charities. The larger body forms a wider outer circle, and, with the church council, exercises mainly material and fiscal functions. Wider self-administration is constituted by the representatives of a whole diocese in a district synod. In their consti