Faith & RitualGreek → English
Heresiarch
/həˈriːziɑːrk/noun
The founder or leading figure of a heresy.
The Greek roots
αἵρεσις
haíresis
choice, sect
ἀρχός
arkhós
leader, chief
Literally: “chief of a sect”
The story of the word
Haíresis began neutral. It meant a choosing, then a school of thought, and Josephus uses it of the Pharisees and Sadducees without any sting; the poison is a Christian development, in which choosing for yourself became the offence. A heresiarch was therefore not merely wrong but the source of other people's wrongness, which is why Arius and Nestorius earned the noun while their followers got only adjectives.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Late Latin → English
- First recorded
- 17th century
Same family
heresyhereticpatriarchmonarch
In a sentence
Every council needed a heresiarch to condemn by name.