High priest

Supreme priest in several religions

The term "high priest" usually refers either to an individual who holds the office of ruler-priest, or to one who is the head of a religious organisation.

Ancient Egypt

Pinedjem II as High Priest of Amun in Thebes. From his Book of the Dead.

In ancient Egypt, a high priest was the chief priest of any of the many gods revered by the Egyptians.

Ancient Israel

Depiction of a high priest in biblical costume, end of the 17th century, orientalising representation with turban, in the collection of the Jewish Museum of Switzerland.

The High Priest of Israel served in the Tabernacle, then in the Solomon's Temple and the Second Temple in Jerusalem. The Samaritan High Priest is the high priest of the Samaritans.

Ancient world

China

India

Christianity

The Epistle to the Hebrews refers to Jesus as high priest.[4]

In Christianity, a high priest could sometimes be compared to the Pope in the Catholic Church, to a patriarch in the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Church of the East and the Eastern Orthodox Churches (the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is a primus inter pares) or to a primate in the Anglican Communion (the Archbishop of Canterbury is a primus inter pares), but it is traditional to refer to it only to Jesus Christ as the only high priest of Christianity. Throughout the episcopal body, except in the Anglican and Lutheran communions, bishops may also be referred to as high priests, since they share in or are considered earthly instruments of the high priesthood of Jesus Christ.

High priest is an office of the priesthood within the Melchizedek priesthood in most denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement.

Mandaeism

A high priest in Mandaeism is known as a ganzibra.[5] The head of all of the high priests within a Mandaean community is known as a rishama.

Other religions

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Non-religious usages

The phrase is also often used to describe someone who is deemed to be an innovator or leader in a field of achievement. For example, an 1893 publication describes ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes as having been "the high-priest of comedy".[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ Dodson, Aidan; Hilton, Dyan (2010). The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-28857-3.
  2. ^ Dodson and Hilton, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt, 2004.
  3. ^ Wilkinson, The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt, 2000, Thames and Hudson, p. 83.
  4. ^ see Hebrews 2:17, Hebrews 3:1, Hebrews 4:14–15, Hebrews 5:1; Hebrews 6:20, Hebrews 9:11–10:39
  5. ^ Gelbert, Carlos (2005). The Mandaeans and the Jews. Edensor Park, NSW: Living Water Books. ISBN 0-9580346-2-1. OCLC 68208613.
  6. ^ Maurice Maeterlinck, Charlotte Endymion Porter, Poet Lore: Volume 5 (1893), p. 246.
  7. ^ Eagleton, John. "Neil Boortz's Commencement Speech". Archived from the original on 1 January 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2012.