eldership

noun5

1. •
   The position of being elder or senior; seniority, precedence of birth, primogeniture.

   • Primogenitura, or eldership of birth, was greatly respected by God. — 1549
2. •
   The office or position of elder in a church.

   • The office of eldership is equallie distributed betweene the bishop and the minister. — 1577
3. •
   The collective body of (ecclesiastical) elders; a body or court of elders, a presbytery.

   • That gyft, which was geuen thee by prophecie with the laying on of the handes, by the Eldership. — 1557
4. •
   The smallest administrative division in Lithuania, equivalent to a ward.
5. •
   The personality of an elderly person.

   • So irresistible to their elderships to be flattered. — 1748