HIERARCHY. From tepapyys, meaning a steward or guardian of holy things, is derived fcpapyia, naturally signifying the office of such a steward or guardian (not a “ruler of priests” or “priestly ruler”; see Boeckh, Corp. Inscr. Gr., No. 1570), but most commonly used in ecclesiastical language to denote the aggregate of those persons who exercise authority within the Christian Church,—-the patriarchate, episcopate, or entire threefold order of the clergy. The word, which does not occur in any classical Greek writer, owes its present extensive currency to the celebrated writings of Dionysius Pseudo-Areopagita, which, originating probably in the age of Justinian, exerted during the 9th and following centuries so remarkable an influence on the current of theological speculation, both in the Eastern and in the Western Church. Of these the most important ate the two which treat of the celestial and of the ecclest- astical hierarchy respectively. Defining hierarchy as the “function which comprises all sacred things,” or, more fully, as ‘a sacred order and science and activity, assimilated as far as possible to the godlike, and elevated to the imitation of God proportionately to the Divine illuminations conceded to it,” the author proceeds to enumerate the nine orders of the heavenly host, which are subdivided again into hierarchies or triads, in descending order, thus :—Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones ; Dominations, Virtues, Powers ; Prin- cipalities, Archangels, Angels. These all exist for the common object of raising men through ascending stages of purification and illumination to perfection. The ecclesi- astical or earthly hierarchy is the counterpart of the other. In it the first or highest triad is formed by baptism, com- munion, and chrism. The second triad consists of the three orders of the ministry, bishop or hierarch, priest, and minister or deacon (tepapyys, tepevs, Aevrovpyds) ; this is the earliest known instance in which the title hierarch is applied to a bishop. The third or lowest triad is made up of monks, “ initiated,” and catechumens. To Dionysius may be traced, through Thomas Aquinas and other Catholic writers of the intervening period, the definition of the term usually given by Roman Catholic writers—“ ccetus seu ordo presidum et sacrorum ministrorum ad regendam ecclesiam gignendamque in hominibus sanctitatem divinitus institutus”[1]—although it immediately rests upon the authority of the sixth canon of the twenty-third session of the council of Trent, in which anathema is_pro- nounced upon all who deny the existence within the Catholic Church of a hierarchy instituted by divine appoint- ment, and consisting of bishops, priests, and ministers.[2] This definition, however, relates only to what is called the ‘hierarchy of orders,” to which hierarchy, it must further be borne in mind, belong the lesser orders of sub-deacon, acolyth, exorcist, lector, and doorkeeper (to which that of singer 1s sometimes added) ; though these are to be regarded as institutions of ecclesiastical authority only, while the other three are of divine right, and therefore pre-eminently “holy.” The ‘hierarchy of jurisdiction,” as distinguished from that of “orders,” is represented by the Roman pontiff alone, who enjoys supreme authority over all bishops, even when these are assembled in general council. This supreme authority he holds by divine right as the successor of Peter, who received immediately from Christ the primacy of honour and of jurisdiction over the universal church.[3]A Between the pope and the bishops occur the metropolitans or archbishops and the patriarchs; but these intermediate grades are not regarded as essential, and, for the present at least, the rank of patriarch may almost be said to be, in the Roman com- munion, purely titular. The Greek Church, like the Roman, recognizes a threefold clerical order, distinct jure divino from other Christians, of bishops, priests, and deacons. The five patriarchs, of equal dignity, hold the highest rank in the episcopate; and the episcopal body united in a general council represents the church, and infallibly decides, under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, all matters of faith and ecclesiastical life. The Anglican Church acknowledges the superior and divinely conferred authority of the episcopal order, but, seeking its hierarchical doctrine in the records of acomparatively early period of church history, holds the substantial equality of all bishops, and, while acknowledging the validity, does not maintain the necessary infallibility, of their decisions when met in general council. Thus in form of government the Rotnan Church may be said to be a hierarchical monarchy, the Greek in some sense a patriar- chal oligarchy, and the Anglican an episcopal aristocracy. For historical and other details relating to the growth and development of the hierarchical system the reader is referred to the articles Apostle, Archbishop, Bishop, Cardinal, Church, Clergy, Council, Diocese, Episcopacy, Exarch, Patriarch, Pope, &c.
Some kind of hierarchy, both of orders and of jurisdic- tion, may, from the nature of the case, be looked for in every religious system that has attained any considerable degree of visibility and external organization. The ancient Jewish and Egyptian hierarchies, for example, find parallels in Parsism and Mahometanism ; while in some regions Buddhism has. attained a degree of complexity in its ecclesiastical government strikingly suggestive of many features of the present Roman hierarchy.
