Noun
great chain of being (plural great chains of being)
(Christianity, historical) A hierarchical structure of all matter and life, descending from God through angels, humans, animals and plants to minerals, and thought in medieval times to have been decreed by God.
Great Chain of Being (plural Great Chains of Being)
Alternative letter-case form of great chain of being
Biology will relate every human gene to the genes of other animals and bacteria, to this great chain of being. Walter Gilbert
Christianity regarded all earthly existence as transient, while the Nazi thought in terms of rendering life eternal through a sort of biological Great Chain of Being. The individual was nothing, but the racial collective would endure through the aeons. Michael Burleigh
This included concepts such as the Great chain of being in the Western scholastic tradition. Source: Internet