high priest

plural high priests · alternative highpriest

1. lifestyleA clergyman with a higher function than a normal priest.

   Synonyms: abbot, archbishop, godi, head priest, chief priest, Kohen Gadol, Jewish high priest, mahant

2. 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. See Kohen Gadol.
3. ChristianityJesus Christ.
4. MormonismThe second-lowest office in the Melchizedek priesthood.

   Jake was ordained a high priest when he was called to be a counselor in a bishopric.

5. figurativelyA person holding a position of power or influence; an authority in a field of study, doctrine, art or a movement.

   The high priest of US arms controllers

   2020 June 23, John Bolton, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 172

   2 more examples

   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.

   2011, Robert Skidelsky, The Keynes-Hayek Rematch

   He perorated in a distinctly disturbed, and disturbing, manner, at least for a CIA high priest: “Technology is moving faster than government or law can keep up. It’s moving faster … than you can keep up: you should be asking the question of what are your rights and who owns your data.”

   2019 September 17, Edward Snowden, Permanent Record, New York, N.Y.: Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN

6. WiccaA second or third degree male witch in Wicca.