High priest

The term "high priest" usually refers either to an individual who holds the office of ruler-priest, or to one who is the head of a religious organisation.

[4] In Christianity, a high priest could sometimes be compared to the Pope in the Catholic Church, to a patriarch in the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Church of the East and the Eastern Orthodox Churches (the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is a primus inter pares) or to a primate in the Anglican Communion (the Archbishop of Canterbury is a primus inter pares), but it is traditional to refer to it only to Jesus Christ as the only high priest of Christianity.

Throughout the episcopal body, except in the Anglican and Lutheran communions, bishops may also be referred to as high priests, since they share in or are considered earthly instruments of the high priesthood of Jesus Christ.

The phrase is also often used to describe someone who is deemed to be an innovator or leader in a field of achievement.

For example, an 1893 publication describes ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes as having been "the high-priest of comedy".