hierophant

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“
Not knowing but that from one of the numerous crannies or mayhap from the open roof the wrathful eye of a hierophant was upon him, he had to content himself with a prayer from the pagoda, which proved on close inspection to be a furnace for the burning of the paper slips on which the aspirations of the faithful were written.

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Definitions (5)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun An ancient Greek priest who interpreted sacred mysteries, especially the priest of the Eleusinian mysteries.
  2. noun An interpreter of sacred mysteries or arcane knowledge.
  3. noun One who explains or makes a commentary.

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Examples (50)

  • For one testicle-shriveling moment he thought he saw black velvet amongst the sog; he does, but it's a torn shirt, not a puffy hat All magickal acts leave a resonance behind, unless the magician takes great pains to hide: Hardhands knows every archon, hierophant, sorceress, bibliomatic, and avatar in the City, but he doesn't recognize the author of this Working. —  FSF, July 2006
  • He who is curious cannot do better than consult this great hierophant, (his work is entitled Tableau de l'Inconstance des mauvais Anges et Demons. —  Discovery of Witches The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster
  • The divinity of the ordinary hierophant is clothed in the minds of the worshippers with the highest human qualities they happen to be capable of conceiving, and this is the self-acting machinery by which worship refreshes and recruits what is best in man. —  Critical Miscellanies, Vol. I Essay 2: Carlyle
  • Now Love, which is the realisation in experience of spiritual existence, has an unique value as a hierophant of the highest mysteries. —  Outspoken Essays
  • So he, though in a lesser degree, was an inspired interpreter, a hierophant (as he expressed it in the language of the Greek mystics) who expounded the Divine Word to his own generation by the gift of the Divine wisdom. —  Philo-Judaeus of Alexandria
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Late Latin hierophanta, from Greek hierophantēs : hieros, holy; see eis- in Indo-European roots + -phantēs, one who shows (from phainein, phan-, to show; see bhā-1 in Indo-European roots).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = French hiérophante = Spanish hierofante = Portuguese hierophante, from Late Latin hierophanta, hierophantes, from Greek ἱεροφάντης, hierophant, from ἱερός, sacred, + -φαντης, from φαίνειν, show, explain.
 

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/ˈhaɪərəfænt/
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