In recent decades, linguists have paid considerable attention to the consideration of various terminological systems. Until now, the terms of material culture have been mainly studied. Despite the existence of a significant spiritual sphere for a person, religious vocabulary is insufficiently studied. The semantics of terms of religious content was considered by F. P. Sergeev in the work "Formation of Russian diplomatic terminology (According to written monuments of the XI-XVII centuries)" - Lviv, 1978. In our study, we will focus on words that denote the hierarchy of the Christian Church, which is the basic principle of the organization of Orthodox and Catholic clergy and the subordination of clergy with church authority. The common name for clergy of the highest degree of the Christian church hierarchy is hierarch (Greek) "a clergyman who has the episcopal rank, the supreme head of the church in the rank of bishop" (Large Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian language. Edited by S. A. Kuznetsov, St. Petersburg, 2000). This word is used along with the lexemes bishop, archpastor (Markunas A., Uczitiel T. Leksykon chrzescijaristwa. Poznaii, 1999). The basis of the Catholic church organization consists of three degrees of priesthood (deacon, priest, bishop), which are considered a divine institution, and in turn are divided into two ranks: the highest, consisting of those who receive their authority directly from the pope (cardinals, apostolic vicars), and the lowest, consisting of those whose authority comes from from the bishop (vicars general representing the bishop in the exercise of his jurisdiction, and synodics, i.e. members of the ecclesiastical tribunal appointed by the bishop). Papa (lat. Pope is the title of the head of the Catholic Church, the supreme ruler of the Vatican City state. Full title of the Pope: Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Patriarch of the West, Primate ... Read more