💰 About church corruption 📜 A Gnostic follower 🕍 One who buys church roles

simonist

9.9

A person who trades church positions for money or favors

noun
/ˈsɪməˌnɪst/

: simonista

The council condemned the actions of the simonist who was selling church appointments for personal profit.

Examples

He was accused of being a simonist after offering bribes for a church office that should have been appointed based on merit.
Not only did these monks refuse the pope's command, but they also seem to have intensified their preaching activities, openly denouncing Mezzabarba both as a simonist and a heretic.

Academic text (2005)
Not in orders himself, John esteemed the priesthood so much that he would not allow himself, and by extension Vallombrosan monks, to accede to holy orders for fear that they might be ordained by a simonist.

Academic text (2005)
Many believe that the corrupt simonist undermined the integrity of the religious community by profiting from sacred positions.

Synonyms

simoniac

vssimonist

Formal

1 9.9

A person who buys or sells church jobs and holy things for money

focuses on exchange specifically for money or favors

Surface Forms

simonist singular

simonists plural

Morphology

simonist = Simon (opaque) = Simon + ist

Although the word is formally built from 'Simon' + '-ist', the present-day meaning 'practitioner of simony' is a specialized historical development and is not directly recoverable from the parts.

Etymology

Simonist comes from the story of Simon, which gave the word simony meaning 'buying church office', so a simonist is a person who buys or sells church positions for money or favors.