hierarch

American  

[hahy-uh-rahrk, hahy-rahrk] / ˈhaɪ əˌrɑrk, ˈhaɪ rɑrk /

noun

1. a person who rules or has authority in sacred matters; high priest.

2. a person having high position or considerable authority.

3. one of a body of officials or minor priests in certain ancient Greek temples.

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hierarch British  

/ ˈhaɪəˌrɑːk /

noun

1. 1. a person in a position of high priestly authority

   2. a person holding high rank in a religious hierarchy

2. a person at a high level in a hierarchy

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Other Word Forms

• antihierarchal adjective
• hierarchal adjective

Etymology

Origin of hierarch

1480–90; < Medieval Latin hierarcha < Greek hierárchēs steward of sacred rites, equivalent to hier- hier- + -archēs -arch

Example Sentences

“I had the honor of knowing a hierarch who did not hesitate to directly express his opinion, regardless of whether this would displease his interlocutor or even a section of society,” Anastasiades said.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 12, 2022

Those include Bartholomew Samaras, a key confidante of the patriarch; Emmanuel Adamakis, an influential hierarch in the church; and Elpidophoros Lambriniadis, who heads a prestigious seminary on the Turkish island of Halki.

From Washington Times • Aug. 27, 2018

No human, from the greenest convert to the most supreme hierarch, can “lower the bar.”

From Washington Post • May 4, 2018

Some theosophists had grown to look for a hierarch, a consecrated boy through whose lips the secret God should speak and in whose body God should be made manifest.

From Time Magazine Archive

He was no ordinary scholar, this man, but the apotheosis of scholars: the most famous personage in Zosma, save the queen and the hierarch, and the most popular, bar none.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

Related Words

• bishop