kənˈsist(ə)rē, -ri Brit also ˈkänsist(ə)ri noun
( -es )
Etymology: Middle English consistorie, from Middle French, from Medieval Latin & Late Latin; Medieval Latin consistorium church tribunal, from Late Latin, place of assembly, imperial council, from Latin consistere to stand still or firm + -orium -ory — more at consist
1.
a. obsolete : a place of assembly (as a council chamber)
b. : a solemn assembly : council
2. : a church tribunal or governing body: as
a. also consistory court : a diocesan court with jurisdiction in matters (as of marriage and titles) relating to general ecclesiastical and moral discipline ; specifically : a similar court in the Church of England presided over by the bishop's chancellor or commissary and dealing only with spiritual and ecclesiastical matters
b. : a solemn meeting of Roman Catholic cardinals convoked and presided over by the pope
c. : an advisory body in the Eastern Orthodox Church assisting the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople in the affairs of his diocese
d. : a church council in certain churches with a presbyterian polity (as the Dutch and other Reformed churches) charged with managing the general affairs of a church and composed of the ministers, the elders, and sometimes (as in the Evangelical and Reformed church) the deacons of the congregation
e. : an administrative body of clerical and lay officers appointed by civil authority to administer ecclesiastical affairs in Lutheran state churches
3.
a. : the organization or a branch of the organization that confers the degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry usually from the 19th to the 32d inclusive ; also : a meeting of such an organization or branch
b. : a building serving as headquarters for a Masonic consistory