Heresiarch

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]

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.

List of heresiarchs

• Simon Magus, the purportedly founder of Gnosticism, 1st century
• Nicholas of Antioch, one of the Seven Deacons, founder of Nicolaism, 1st century
• Montanus, founder of Montanism, mid to late 2nd century
• Theodotus of Byzantium, propounder of Adoptionism, late 2nd century
• Valentinus, founder of Valentinianism, 2nd century
• Sabellius, founder of Sabellianism, 3rd century
• Marcion, founder of Marcionism, 2nd century
• Basilides, founder of Basilideanism, 2nd century
• Novatian, founder of Novatianism, 3rd century
• Arius, founder of Arianism, 3rd and 4th centuries
• Donatus Magnus, founder of Donatism, 4th century
• Apollinaris of Laodicea, founder of Apollinarianism, 4th century
• John Philoponus (6th century), founder of tritheism,
• Macedonius I of Constantinople, founder of Macedonianism, 4th century
• Aëtius & Eunomius, leaders of Anomoeanism, 4th century
• Bonosus of Serdica, propounder of Antidicomerianism, 4th century
• Priscillian, founder of Priscillianism, 4th century
• Pelagius, founder of Pelagianism, 4th century
• Eutyches of Constantinople, founder of Eutychianism, 5th century
• Sergius I of Constantinople, founder of monoenergism, 7th centrury
• Augustine of Hippo refers to Mani, the founder of Manichaeism, as a heresiarch.^[2]
• Nestorius & Theodore of Mopsuestia, condemned as heresiarchs by the Council of Ephesus & Controversy of Three Chapters, for promoting Nestorianism, but venerated in Church of the East denominations. 5th century
• Dioscorus of Alexandria & Severus of Antioch, condemned as heresiarchs by the Council of Chalcedon, for promoting allegedly monophysitism, thereby causing the Chalcedonian schism, but the Oriental Orthodox Church disagrees with this interpretation, stating that they believed not in monophysitism, but in miaphysitism, in contrast to the dyophisitism espoused by Pope Leo I. 5th and 6th century
• Photius of Constantinople, condemned as a heresiarch, due to the Photian schism. The Eastern Orthodox Church counters this by labelling Pope Nicholas I as a heresiarch due to the filioque. 9th century
• Menocchio, an Italian miller who was burned at the stake in 1599
• Catholics, especially traditionalist Catholics such as Hilaire Belloc, consider Martin Luther, John Calvin, and other leaders of the Protestant Reformation to be arch-heretics.^[3]
• Conversely, some fundamentalist Protestants (including Alexander Hislop and Charles Chiniquy) have used the term to refer to the papacy and the members of the Roman Curia.
• Martin of Armenia, the fictional founder of the Old Russian Rite used by the Old Believers

Dante's Inferno

In his Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri represents the heresiarchs as being immured in tombs of fire in the Sixth Circle of Hell. In Cantos IX and X of the Inferno, Virgil describes the suffering these souls experience, saying "Here are the Arch-Heretics, surrounded by every sect their followers... / Like with like is buried, and the monuments are different in degrees of heat."^[4] Among the historical figures that Dante specifically lists as arch-heretics are Epicurus, Farinata Degli Uberti, Frederick II of Sicily, and Pope Anastasius II.

See also

• Christianity portal

• List of Christian heresies
• Heresy in Christianity