heresiarch

[ huh-ree-zee-ahrk, -see-, her-uh-see- ]

noun

1. a leader in heresy; the leader of a heretical sect.

heresiarch

/ hɪˈriːzɪˌɑːk /

noun

1. the leader or originator of a heretical movement or sect

Word History and Origins

Origin of heresiarch¹

1615–25; < Late Latin haeresiarcha < Greek hairesiarchḗs the leader of a school, equivalent to haíresi ( s ) heresy + -archēs -arch

Example Sentences

A century later, in Dante's "Divine Comedy," Muhammad was portrayed being tortured as a heresiarch, with his body split open and his entrails hanging out.

From Salon

There is no proof even that he was concerned in the condemnation of the Beghard heresiarch Berthold von Rohrback, who in 1356 expiated his heresy in the flames.

From Project Gutenberg

It is no wonder that his work proved not merely ephemeral; that his fame as a heresiarch filled all the schools and became everywhere synonymous with rebellion against the sacerdotal system; that simple Waldenses in Spain and Germany became thereafter known as Wickliffites.

From Project Gutenberg

Wickliff’s career as a heresiarch was unexampled, and its peculiarities serve to explain much that would otherwise be incomprehensible in the growth and tolerance of his doctrines in Bohemia, and in the simplicity with which Huss refused to believe that he could himself be regarded as a heretic.

From Project Gutenberg

It was not until the Council of Rome, in 1413, that there was a formal and authoritative condemnation pronounced, and it was left for the Council of Constance, in 1415, to proclaim Wickliff as a heresiarch, to order his bones exhumed, and to define his errors with the authority of the Church Universal.

From Project Gutenberg