confessor

plural confessors · alternative obsolete confessour

1. One who confesses faith in Christianity in the face of persecution, but who is not martyred.

   Long before Edward I, the English had a King Edward who they considered a martyr and a King Edward who they considered a confessor.

   1 more example

   Confessors provided the troubled Church with an alternative sort of authority based on their sufferings, particularly when arguments began about how and how much to forgive those Christians who had given way to imperial orders – the so-called ‘lapsed’.

   2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 174

2. One who confesses to having done something wrong.

   Near-synonym: confessant

   Synonyms: confessant

3. Eastern OrthodoxyCatholicismA priest who hears confession and then gives absolution.

   Synonyms: father confessor

4. broadlyfigurativelySomeone who acts as listener and helper.

   1 more example

   They do not feel connected to any gay/lesbian communities. Nor do they feel able to establish relationships with anyone who can support them. Thus an inexperienced but sincere young heterosexual actor can find himself playing not only role model but also confessor and phantom friend to people in great need.

   1994 October, Larry Gross, “Coming Out On the Soaps”, in Gay Community News, page 14