会吏长是圣公会规例中清楚列明之职位，由教区主教任命的资深圣品，被委任辅助主教处理教区内的行政和教规上的事务，特别是会吏的首长，督导教区内的圣品。会吏长要履行下列权责：

在天主教会中，会吏长；即总执事：初期由主教任命，协助主教处理事务。中世纪时，由于权力增大，时有妄用职权之弊，故在特伦多大公会议中予以取消。

一般来说，其他基督新教的各宗派是不设会吏长一职的。

An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Syriac Orthodox Church, Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that of most clergy and below a bishop. In the High Middle Ages it was the most senior diocesan position below a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church. An archdeacon is often responsible for administration within an archdeaconry, which is the principal subdivision of the diocese. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church has defined an archdeacon as "A cleric having a defined administrative authority delegated to him by the bishop in the whole or part of the diocese." The office has often been described metaphorically as that of oculus episcopi, the "bishop's eye".