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Webster 1913 Edition

Hierarchy

Hi′er-archˊy

(hī′ẽr-ärkˊy̆)
,
Noun.
;
pl.
Hierarchies
(hī′ẽr-ärkˊĭz)
.
[Gr.
ἰεραρχία
: 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.

Webster 1828 Edition

Hierarchy

HI'ERARCHY

,
Noun.
An order or rank of angels or celestial beings; or a subordination of holy beings. Some of the Rabbins reckon four, and others ten hierarchies,or orders of angels.
1.
Constitution and government of the christian church, or ecclesiastical polity, comprehending different orders of clergy; as the hierarchy of England.

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