(1):
(n.) A rank or order of holy beings.
(2):
(n.) A body of officials disposed organically in ranks and orders each subordinate to the one above it; a body of ecclesiastical rulers.
(3):
(n.) Dominion or authority in sacred things.
(4):
(n.) A form of government administered in the church by patriarchs, metropolitans, archbishops, bishops, and, in an inferior degree, by priests.