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HIERARCHY (Gr. iepos, See also: guardian of See also: holy things, not a ruler of priests " or " priestly ruler " (see Boeckh, Corp. inscr
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Gr
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No
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1570), a See also: term commonly used in ecclesiastical language to denote the aggregate of those persons who exercise authority within the Christian See also: Church, the patriarchate, episcopate or entire three-
See also: fold See also: order of the See also: clergy
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The word lepapxia, which does not occur in any classical See also: Greek writer, owes its See also: present extensive currency to the celebrated writings of See also: Dionysius Areopagiticus
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Of these the most important are the two which treat of the See also: celestial and of the ecclesiastical hierarchy respectively
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De-fining hierarchy as the " See also: 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 See also: God proportionately to the Divine illuminations conceded to it," the author proceeds to enumerate the nine orders of the heavenly See also: host, which are subdivided again into hierarchies or triads, in descending order, thus: See also: Seraphim, See also: Cherubim, Thrones; Dominations, Virtues, See also: Powers; Principalities, Archangels, Angels
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These all exist for the See also: common See also: object of raising men through ascending stages of See also: purification and See also: illumination to perfection
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The ecclesiastical or earthly hierarchy is the counterpart of the other
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In it the first or highest triad is formed by See also: baptism, communion and chrism
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The second triad consists of the three orders of the See also: ministry, See also: bishop or hierarch, See also: priest and See also: minister or deacon (iepapxns, iepeus, Xetrovpryos); this is the earliest known in-stance in which the title hierarch is applied to a bishop
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The third or lowest triad is made up of monks, " initiated " and catechumens
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To Dionysius may be traced, through See also: Thomas Aquinas and other Catholic writers of the intervening
See also: period, the definition of the term usually given by See also: Roman Catholic writers—" coetus seu ordo praesidum et sacrorum ministrorum ad regendam ecclesiam gignendamque in hominibus sanctitatem divinitus institutus"'—although it immediately rests upon the authority of the See also: sixth See also: canon of the twenty-third session of the council of Trent, in which anathema is pronounced upon all who deny the existence within the Catholic Church of a hierarchy instituted by divine See also: appointment, and consisting of bishops, priests and ministers.2 (See ORDER, HOLY)
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