Wretched person belonging to religious faction (6)
I believe the answer is:
insect
'wretched person' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'belonging to religious faction' is the wordplay.
'belonging to' becomes 'in' (in can mean being a member of).
'religious faction' becomes 'sect' (I've seen this before).
'in'+'sect'='INSECT'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for insect that I've seen before include "Segmented invertebrate" , "Fly, say?" , "Member of the largest class of creatures" , "Eg, ant" , "Eg, beetle or bee" .)