mystagogue

American  

[mis-tuh-gawg, -gog] / ˈmɪs təˌgɔg, -ˌgɒg /

noun

1. someone who instructs others before initiation into religious mysteries or before participation in the sacraments.

2. a person whose teachings are said to be founded on mystical revelations.

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mystagogue British  

/ ˌmɪstəˈɡɒdʒɪk, ˈmɪstəˌɡɒdʒɪ, ˈmɪstəˌɡɒɡ /

noun

1. (in Mediterranean mystery religions) a person who instructs those who are preparing for initiation into the mysteries

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Other Word Forms

• mystagogic adjective
• mystagogical adjective
• mystagogically adverb
• mystagoguery noun
• mystagogy noun

Etymology

Origin of mystagogue

1540–50; < Latin mystagōgus < Greek mystagōgós, equivalent to mýst ( ēs ) ( mystic ) + ágōgos -agogue

Example Sentences

Marshall McLuhan, the 1960s' mystagogue of the media, has proposed something of an explanation�or at any rate, a suggestive metaphor for the collision that has occurred in Indochina.

From Time Magazine Archive

Dr. Alfred Rosenberg, who began life as a drawing teacher and is now chief mystagogue of National Socialism, spends much of his time in private sanatoria.

From Time Magazine Archive

But the mystagogue succeeds because he gets himself misunderstood; although, as a rule, he is not even worth misunderstanding.

From All Things Considered by Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith)

Carlyle is frequently called a "mystic," and mystagogue he certainly is—a man who interprets mysteries.

From Brann the Iconoclast — Volume 01 by Brann, William Cowper

Apollonius of Tyanus is a popular Alexandrianist, and Jamblicus is Plotinus become a priest, mystagogue, and hierophant.

From Lectures on the true, the beautiful and the good by Cousin, Victor