The Dominions — also called Lordships or Kyriotetes in the Greek — are the first order of the second sphere of the celestial hierarchy. Paul names them in Colossians 1:16 and Ephesians 1:21 as one of the named angelic ranks created in Christ and subjected to him. Pseudo-Dionysius describes their function as 'imitating the divine sovereignty' — they regulate, govern, and order the duties of the lower angels, mirroring on the celestial level the way divine providence rules creation.
If the first sphere ministers in the immediate light of God's presence, the second sphere is the order of cosmic government. The Dominions stand at the top of this sphere: they receive the divine will from above and distribute the executive order to the Virtues and Powers below them. They are the angelic image of just rule — authority exercised not for itself but in submission to the higher will it serves.
Patristic theology emphasizes that the Dominions are utterly free from the love of mastery for its own sake. Their authority is contemplative as well as administrative — they rule by gazing upon God and reflecting his governance. Thomas Aquinas, drawing on Dionysius, says the Dominions 'preside over all earthly principalities' — meaning that the legitimate rule of human powers is, in its right form, an icon of the Dominions' celestial rule.
The eschatological weight of the order is captured in Ephesians 1:21 — Christ is exalted 'far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion.' Every level of created authority, including this one, is now subject to the risen Lord.