Ecclesia (ĕk-klē′ zĭ-ȧ), a popular assembly, especially of Athens, where the people had full sovereignty and at which every citizen of 20 years of age could vote. The Athenian ecclesia held originally four but finally 40 ordinary meetings in the year. The term was also given to the Jewish state, and so came to be used by New Testament writers to mean the church.
