a title of office among the Jews, first applied to the seventy who assisted Moses in the government. In the New Testament it is equivalent to the term presbyter, and is applied to the highest ecclesiastical office-bearers under the apostles. In Presbyterian churches, elders are of two classes, viz., those who only rule in the church, and those who teach as well as rule. In popular phraseology the term elder is applied only to the former class. See PRESBYTERIANS.