Heresiarch
# Heresiarch

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

## Examples

* Marcion, the founder of Marcionism
* Arius, the founder of Arianism
* St. Augustine refers to Mani, the founder of Manichaeism, as a heresiarch.
* 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.
* 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." Among the historical figures that Dante specifically lists as arch-heretics are Epicurus, Farinata Degli Uberti, Frederick I of Sicily, and Pope Anastasius II.

