Glossary

A room adjoining a church where vestments, altar hangings and linens, sacred vessels, and liturgical books are kept until needed for use in worship.

A holy person, a faithful Christian, one who shares life in Christ. The term may also indicate one who has been formally canonized or recognized as a saint by church authority.

Liturgical dialogue of mutual greeting: “The Lord be with you”; “And also with you.” (In Rite I, the response is “And with thy spirit.”)

Eternal life in the fullness of God’s love.

Formally, the area of a church around the altar. In common usage, the entire worship space. See Nave.

From the Latin for holy, a hymn of adoration and praise which begins, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts.”

Sleeveless garment that hangs from the shoulders to the ankles.

A 19th-century Russian American who became missionary bishop to Shanghai and devoted much of his life to translating Christian writing for the Chinese people. Feast day: Oct. 14.

A formal and willful separation from the unity of the church. The earliest major schism from The Episcopal Church was the Reformed Episcopal Church in 1873, and the most recent was the establishment of the Anglican Church in North America in 2009.

An Episcopal seminary, The School of Theology at the University of the South is located in Sewanee, Tennessee. By 1878, the theological department of the university was formally organized as an Episcopal seminary. Education for Ministry (EfM) was developed at Sewanee.