Heresiarch

In this Gustave Dore engraving, Dante and Virgil speak to a Heresiarch trapped within a burning tomb. Dante placed arch-heretics in the Sixth Circle of Hell.

In Christian theology, a heresiarch (also hæresiarch, according to the Oxford English Dictionary; from Greek: αἱρεσιάρχης, hairesiárkhēs via the late Latin haeresiarcha[1]) or arch-heretic is an originator of heretical doctrine or the founder of a sect that sustains such a doctrine.[1]

  1. ^ a b Cross and Livingstone, Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church 1974