Hi″er‐arch′y (–y̆), n.; pl.Hierarchies (–ĭz). [Gr. ιεραρχἴα: cf. F. hiérarchie.] 1. Dominion or authority in sacred things.
2. A body of officials disposed organically in ranks and orders each subordinate to the one above it; a body of ecclesiastical rulers.
3. A form of government administered in the church by patriarchs, metropolitans, archbishops, bishops, and, in an inferior degree, by priests. Shipley.
4. A rank or order of holy beings.
Standards and gonfalons... for distinction serve
Of hierarchies, of orders, and degrees. Milton.