(κυριος, a lord, hence ῥοσσανος, the Lord's house—whence also κυριος) has several significations, according to the different subjects to which it is applied.

First, it denotes the collective body of Christians, or all those who acknowledge Christ as the Saviour of mankind; and hence denominated by ancient writers the Catholic or Universal Church. Sometimes the word is used in a sense still more extensive, including the Church Militant, or the assembly of the faithful on earth; the Church Triumphant, which is that of the faithful already in glory; to which the Catholics add the Church Patient, or that of the faithful in purgatory.

Church is also applied to a particular congregation of Christians who associate together and participate in the institutions of Christ, with their proper pastors and ministers. In this sense we read of the church of Antioch, the church of Alexandria, the church of Thessalonica, &c.