ELDER

any of about 20 to 30 species, mainly shrubs and small trees, comprising the genus Sambucus of the family Caprifoliaceae. Most are native to forested temperate or subtropical areas of both hemispheres. They are important as garden shrubs, as forest plants, and for their berries, which provide food for wildlife and are used for wines, jellies, pies, and medicines. An elder has divided leaves and flat, roundish clusters of tiny, yellowish white, saucer-shaped flowers that are followed by small red, blue-black, black, or yellow berries. The American, or sweet, elder (S. canadensis), of North America is the most important species horticulturally. It grows to 2.4 metres (8 feet) tall and produces large clusters of white flowers, succeeded by abundant clusters of fruit. This fruit, called elderberry, is sometimes collected from wild trees, but a number of cultivated varieties have been developed for home and commercial use. The berries may be mixed with grapes for jelly or combined with apples as a pie filling. In some areas, the juice is traditionally fermented into wine. The unopened flower buds are sometimes pickled as a substitute for capers. In folk medicine, the elderberry has been touted as a remedy for stomach upsets, as an eye lotion, as a salve for bruises, and as a diuretic. Other species of elders include the European, or black, elder (S. nigra; see ), which reaches 9 m (29 feet), and the blue, or Mexican, elder (S. caerulea), which grows to 15 m (48 feet). European red elder (S. racemosa), native from northern Europe to North China, has round clusters of scarlet berries and reaches 4 m (13 feet). Red-berried elder (S. pubens), with dark pith, is a similar North American species. Danewort (S. ebulus), widespread in Europe and North Africa, is a perennial with annually herbaceous growth to 1 m (3 feet). Its clusters of black berries were once a source of dye. in Christianity, any of various church officers. In modern times the title of elder has been used notably in the Presbyterian and Reformed churches and in Mormonism. In the early Christian Church the term elder (Hebrew zaken, Greek presbyteros), though possibly influenced by the use of the title for secular magistrates in Asia Minor, was derived from the Israelites, who shared it with other Semitic peoples. Moses appointed 70 elders as intermediaries between himself and the people (Num. 11:16). In the New Testament, elders are mentioned together with bishops (episcopoi) as leaders of local churches; in some passages the two terms seem interchangeable. Later the word presbyteros came to mean presbyter (i.e., priest). It is thus difficult to decide on its exact significance in the early church. After the threefold ministry of bishop, priest, and deacon became fully adopted in the 2nd and following centuries, the office of elder lapsed in the Roman Catholic Church. During the Reformation in the 16th century the office of elder was revived by certain churches, notably the Presbyterians. According to Presbyterian theory of church government, there are two classes of elders: the teaching elders, called ministers, ordained and especially set apart to the pastoral office, and the ruling elders, who are lay persons chosen generally by the congregation and ordained to assist the minister in the oversight and government of the church. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormonism, an elder is a male member aged 20 or over. This church makes no distinctions between a layperson and a priest. At age 12, all worthy Mormon males become deacons; and before the age of 20 they become priests. At that age a man becomes an elder in the Melchizedek priesthood. In later life he may possibly rise to become a high priest, a member of the so-called seventy. Among Methodists the term elder refers to a fully ordained minister. In the Lutheran Church the terms elder and deacon are often used interchangeably with reference to lay persons chosen by a congregation to assist the pastor in his official duties; they and the pastor form a board of elders, with advisory powers.