The Probert Encyclopaedia of Architecture

PRESBYTERY

In architecture a presbytery is that part of the church reserved for the officiating priest or the residence of a priest or clergyman. It is the part of a church in which the high altar is placed and forms the eastern termination of the choir, above which it is raised by several steps, and is occupied exclusively by those who minister in the services of the altar. The name is not infrequently used in a more extended sense to include the whole of the choir.
Research Presbytery