A hierophant (Ancient Greek: ἱεροφάντης, romanized: hierophántēs) is a person who brings religious congregants into the presence of that which is deemed holy. As such, a hierophant is an interpreter of sacred mysteries and arcane principles.
The word comes from ancient Greece, where it was constructed from the combination of τὰ ἱερά (ta hiera, 'the holy') and φαίνω (phainō, 'to reveal').
Sacred mysteries are the areas of supernatural phenomena associated with a divinity or a religious belief and praxis. Sacred mysteries may be either:
A mystagogue or hierophant is a holder and teacher of secret knowledge in the former sense above, while mysticism may be defined as an area of philosophical or religious thought focusing on mysteries in the latter sense.
A mystagogue (from Greek: μυσταγωγός, romanized: mystagōgós, lit. 'person who initiates into mysteries') is a person who initiates others into mystic beliefs, and an educator or person who has knowledge of the sacred mysteries of a belief system. Another word for mystagogue is hierophant.