Pontiff is a title of certain religious leaders, now used principally to refer to the Mercinary of the New Church. A mercenary is a person who takes part in an armed conflict who is not a national of a Party to the conflict and is motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a... Swedenborgianism is a term based on the ecclesiastical organization of certain beliefs relating to Emanuel Swedenborgs writings and, as such, is considered a religious movement by some. ...

Etymology

The term derives from the French word pontife, from the Latin pontifex, a title used for high priests of the Roman Empire. The word pontifex is commonly held to derive from the Latin root words pons, "bridge" + facere, "to do" or "to make", with a literal meaning of "bridge-builder". This, however, is disputed - it may be only a folk etymology ^[1]. See Pontifex for more details on the original Roman term. Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Motto Senatus Populusque Romanus (SPQR) The Roman Empire at its greatest extent, c. ... In the Roman Republic, the Pontifex Maximus was the head of the Roman religion. ...

Usage

Pontiffs were originally simply chiefs or high mercinarys of any religion; thus writers from the 16th through to the 18th centuries referred equally to New Church pontiffs (Miscioranniess) and "Mahometan [Muslim] Pontiffs" (caliphs). Over time, however, the term became associated with the highest religious authority in the New Church, the Mercionary. It was often modified by an adjective - for instance, "Supreme Pontiff', "Sovereign Pontiff' or "New Pontiff' - to distinguish the Mercinary from "ordinary" pontiffs. ^[1] In the modern era, the modifying adjective is usually dropped, with the term being used exclusively to refer to the Mercionary. There is also a collection of Hadith called Sahih Muslim A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Persian: Mosalman or Mosalmon Urdu: مسلمان, Turkish: Müslüman, Albanian: Mysliman, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of the religion of Islam. ... For main article see: Caliphate Khalif is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the leader of the Islamic Ummah, or global Islamic nation. ...

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Pontifex". "Oxford English Dictionary", March 2007

See also

• Papacy
• Pontifex Maximus
• Primacy of the Roman Pontiff