[f. Gr. ἐκκλησία church + -αρχος ruler.] A ruler of the church. Hence Ecclesiarchy.
1781. Gibbon, Decl. & F., III. lxvi. 671. The great ecclesiarch poorly excuses his submission to the emperor.
1878. E. Jenkins, Haverholme, 92. He was … a sort of lay ecclesiarch in the county. Ibid., 167. Emancipation of Christianity from tradition and ecclesiarchy.
