con·gre·ga·tion   (kŏng'grĭ-gā'shən)    n.   The act of assembling. A body of assembled people or things; a gathering. A group of people gathered for religious worship. The members of a specific religious group who regularly worship at a church or synagogue. A religious institute in which only simple vows, not solemn vows, are taken. A division of the Curia. Roman Catholic Church A religious institute in which only simple vows, not solemn vows, are taken. A division of the Curia.

Congregation

Con`gre*ga"tion\, n. [L. congregatio: cf. F. congr['e]gation.]

1. The act of congregating, or bringing together, or of collecting into one aggregate or mass.

The means of reduction in the fire is but by the congregation of homogeneal parts. --Bacon.

2. A collection or mass of separate things.

A foul and pestilent congregation of vapors. --Shak.

3. An assembly of persons; a gathering; esp. an assembly of persons met for the worship of God, and for religious instruction; a body of people who habitually so meet.

He [Bunyan] rode every year to London, and preached there to large and attentive congregations. --Macaulay.

4. (Anc. Jewish Hist.) The whole body of the Jewish people; -- called also Congregation of the Lord.

It is a sin offering for the congregation. --Lev. iv. 21.

5. (R. C. Ch.) (a) A body of cardinals or other ecclesiastics to whom as intrusted some department of the church business; as, the Congregation of the Propaganda, which has charge of the missions of the Roman Catholic Church. (b) A company of religious persons forming a subdivision of a monastic order.

6. The assemblage of Masters and Doctors at Oxford or Cambrige University, mainly for the granting of degrees. [Eng.]

7. (Scotch Church Hist.) the name assumed by the Protestant party under John Knox. The leaders called themselves (1557) Lords of the Congregation.

Congregation

(Heb. kahal), the Hebrew people collectively as a holy community (Num. 15:15). Every circumcised Hebrew from twenty years old and upward was a member of the congregation. Strangers resident in the land, if circumcised, were, with certain exceptions (Ex. 12:19; Num. 9:14; Deut. 23:1-3), admitted to the privileges of citizenship, and spoken of as members of the congregation (Ex. 12:19; Num. 9:14; 15:15). The congregation were summonded together by the sound of two silver trumpets, and they met at the door of the tabernacle (Num. 10:3). These assemblies were convened for the purpose of engaging in solemn religious services (Ex. 12:27; Num. 25:6; Joel 2:15), or of receiving new commandments (Ex. 19:7, 8). The elders, who were summonded by the sound of one trumpet (Num. 10:4), represented on various occasions the whole congregation (Ex. 3:16; 12:21; 17:5; 24:1). After the conquest of Canaan, the people were assembled only on occasions of the highest national importance (Judg. 20; 2 Chr. 30:5; 34:29; 1 Sam. 10:17; 2 Sam. 5:1-5; 1 Kings 12:20; 2 Kings 11:19; 21:24; 23:30). In subsequent times the congregation was represented by the Sanhedrim; and the name synagogue, applied in the Septuagint version exclusively to the congregation, came to be used to denote the places of worship established by the Jews. (See CHURCH.) In Acts 13:43, where alone it occurs in the New Testament, it is the same word as that rendered "synagogue" (q.v.) in ver. 42, and is so rendered in ver. 43 in R.V.

congregation

an assembly of persons, especially a body assembled for religious worship or habitually attending a particular church. The word occurs more than 350 times in the King James Version of the English Bible, but only one of these references is in the New Testament (Acts 13:43). As it is used in the Old Testament, congregation sometimes refers to the entire Israelite community, and at other times it means a gathering or assembly of people

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