HIERARCH • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Hierarch

... namely persons of lesser authority, such as priests who have to instruct the people": and Dionysius says (Eccl. Hier. v) that "just as we see the whole hierarchy culminating in Jesus, so each office culminates in its respective godlike hierarch or bishop." Also it is said (XVI, qu. i, can. Cunctis): "Priests and deacons must all take care not to do anything without their bishop's permission." Wherefore it is evident that they stand in relation to their bishop as wardens or mayors to the ...

— Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) • Thomas Aquinas

... defined by some thus: "A character is a holy sign of the communion of faith and of the holy ordination conferred by a hierarch." Now a sign is in the genus of relation, not of power. Therefore a character is not a ...

— Summa Theologica, Part III (Tertia Pars) - From the Complete American Edition • Thomas Aquinas