church hierarchy
Clerical chain of command
Church hierarchy is the ranked system of authority within a religious organization, typically with clergy arranged in levels of power and responsibility.
In Christianity, this often means a structure ascending from deacons through priests to bishops, archbishops, and beyond: The church hierarchy opposed the reforms.
The term can describe any religious institution's chain of command or, more critically, suggest rigid institutionalism distant from ordinary believers.
- dioceseBishop's territorial jurisdiction
- prelateSenior church official
- bishopDiocesan clergy head
- episcopacyChurch rule by bishops
- ordinationClergy appointment ceremony
mitre · parish · laying on of hands · priest · parish priest · papacy · College of Cardinals · canon law · deacon · patriarchate · clergy · synod · suffragan · excommunication · pope · chapter · crozier · cardinal
- hierarchiestier, tiers, level, levels, rank
- church historyapostles, Protestant Reformation, Christian history, baptism, Reformation
- American Catholicismarchdiocese, parish council, archdioceses, Catholic school, Catholic schools
- church authoritypapacy, bishops, papal authority, popes, papal supremacy
- early churchapostles, apostolic fathers, Acts of the Apostles, Council of Nicaea, Paul
- Anglican Politydioceses, parishes, synods, archbishops, bishops
church hierarchyQuaker meeting
Silent communal religious service
shared leadership · anti-clericalism · independent church · house church · radical reformation
church hierarchycivil authority
Non-religious governmental power
state power · state apparatus · separation of church and state