# high priest
## English
### Alternative forms

* highpriest

### Noun

high priest (plural high priests)
* (religion) A clergyman with a higher function than a normal priest.
* In the Bible, the male individual who was responsible for making the annual sacrifice on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur); always a descendant of Aaron, the older brother of Moses.
* (Christianity) Jesus Christ.
* (Mormonism) The second-lowest office in the Melchizedek priesthood.
    Jake was ordained a high priest when he was called to be a counselor in a bishopric.
* A person holding a position of power or influence; an authority in a field of study, doctrine, art or a movement.
** 2011, Robert Skidelsky, The Keynes-Hayek Rematch:The global economic collapse of 2007-2008 discredited “rational expectations” economics (though its high priests have yet to recognize this) and brought both Keynes and Hayek back into posthumous contention.
** 2020 June 23, John Bolton, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 172:The high priest of US arms controllers
* (Wicca) A second or third degree male witch in Wicca.

#### Synonyms

* abbot (leader of a Christian or Buddhist monastery)
* archbishop
* godi (high priest in some Asatru or Germanic neopagan groups)
* head priest, chief priest (high priest of a local temple or shrine)
* mahant (high priest in some Hindu temples)
* volkhv (high priest in some Slavic neopagan temples)

#### Coordinate terms

* high priestess

#### Derived terms

* highpriesthood
* highpriestly
* highpriestship

#### Related terms

* high church, High Mass

#### Translations

Akkadian: 𒂗 m (enu)
Bulgarian: първосвеще́ник (bg) m (pǎrvosvešténik), върхо́вен жрец (vǎrhóven žrec)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 大祭司 (daai$^6$ zai$^3$ si$^1$)
Mandarin: 大祭司 (zh) (dà jìsī), 儒生 (zh) (rúshēng) (Confucian high priest)
Coptic: ⲁⲣⲭⲓⲉⲣⲉⲩⲥ m (arkhiereus)
Dutch: hogepriester (nl) m
Egyptian: (ḥm-nṯr tpj m)
Esperanto: ĉefpastro
Finnish: ylipappi (fi)
French: grand prêtre (fr) m, grand-prêtre (fr) m
German: Hohepriester (de) m
Greek:
Ancient: ἀρχιερεύς m (arkhiereús)
Hindi: महान्त m (mahānt) (in some temples as a leader)
Hungarian: főpap (hu)
Irish: ardsagart m, uachtarán na sagart m
Italian: sommo sacerdote m
Japanese: 大祭司 (ja) (だいさいし, daisaishi), 宮司 (ja) (ぐうじ, guuji) (head priest of a Shinto shrine), 住職 (ja) (juushoku) (abbot of a Buddhist temple)
Latin: pontifex, antistes m
Macedonian: првосвештеник m (prvosveštenik)
Malay: paderi tinggi
Manx: ard-saggyrt m
Plautdietsch: Huagapriesta m
Polish: arcykapłan (pl) m
Portuguese: sumo sacerdote m
Romanian: mare preot (ro) m
Russian: первосвяще́нник (ru) m (pervosvjaščénnik), волхв (ru) m (volxv) (Slavic neopaganaism)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: главни свештеник, главни жрец
Roman: glavni sveštenik, glavni žrec
Spanish: sumo sacerdote m
Thai: มหาปุโรหิต
Ugaritic: 𐎗𐎁 𐎋𐎅𐎐 (rb khn)
Yup'ik: allgiliyaq :
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

#### References

"High Priest," Bible Dictionary, The Official Scriptures of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2006.