Convocation

1) In the Episcopal Church, a meeting of clergy and lay representatives from a section or area of a diocese. The term may also indicate the section or area of the diocese that is represented by the assembly. The name may be used by other church gatherings or assemblies. 2) In the Church of England, a provincial assembly of the clergy. There are two ancient convocations in the two provinces of the Church of England. The Convocation of Canterbury dates from the ecclesiastical reforms of Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, 668 to 690. The Convocation of York dates from 733. Convocation has met in two houses since the fifteenth century, with the bishops in the Upper House, and other clergy in the Lower House. Convocation is an exclusively clerical assembly, but a House of Laymen has been associated with the convocation in each province since 1885.