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Documents for "Christianity: General":

• adoptionism Christian heresy taught in Spain after 782 by Elipandus, archbishop of Toledo, and Felix, bishop of Urgel (Seo de Urgel). They held that Jesus at the time of his birth was purely human and only...

• Advent [Lat.,=coming], season of the Christian ecclesiastical year preceding Christmas, lasting in the West from the Sunday nearest Nov. 30 (St. Andrew's Day) until Christmas Eve. In the Roman Catholic...

• Agnus Dei [Lat.], the Lamb of God, i.e., Jesus. The lamb of the Passover sacrifice is said to prefigure the crucifixion. Isaiah calls the expected Messiah the Lamb of God, and Jesus is met by John the Baptist with the words, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world." In the Mass the Agnus Dei, or Lamb of God, is said or sung while the communion bread is being broken for distribution. It is usually the final movement of choral masses. In Anglican worship it is sung during...

• All Saints' Day feast of the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, and day on which churches glorify God for all God's saints, known and unknown. It is celebrated on Nov. 1 in the West, since Pope Gregory IV...

• All Souls' Day Nov. 2 (exceptionally, Nov. 3), feast of the Roman Catholic Church on which the church on earth prays for the souls of the faithful departed still suffering in purgatory. The proper office is of the dead, and the Mass is a requiem. General intercessions for the dead (e.g., for those of a parish, a city, or a regiment) are very ancient (2 Mac. 12.43-45); but the modern feast was probably first established by Abbot Odilo of...

• Annunciation of the Virgin see Mary.

• Antichrist in Christian belief, a person who will represent on earth the powers of evil by opposing the Christ, glorifying himself, and causing many to leave the faith. He will be destroyed by Jesus at the...

• antinomianism [Gr.,=against the law], the belief that Christians are not bound by the moral law, particularly that of the Old Testament. The idea was strong among the Gnostics, especially Marcion. Certain heretical sects in the Middle Ages practiced sexual license as an expression of Christian freedom. In the Protestant Reformation theoretical antinomian views were maintained by the...

• Apollinarianism heretical doctrine taught by Apollinaris or Apollinarius (c.315-c.390), bishop of Laodicea, near Antioch. A celebrated scholar and teacher, author of scriptural commentary, philosophy, and...

• apostle [Gr.,=envoy], one of the prime missionaries of Christianity. The apostles of the first rank are saints Peter , Andrew , James (the Greater), John , Thomas , James (the Less), Jude (or Thaddaeus), Philip , Bartholomew , Matthew , Simon , and Matthias (replacing Judas Iscariot ). Traditionally the list of the Twelve Disciples includes Judas and not Matthias, and the list of the Twelve Apostles includes Matthias and not Judas. St. Paul is always classed as an apostle, and so sometimes are a few others, such as St. Barnabas. The principal missionary to any country is often called its apostle, e.g., St. Patrick is the apostle of Ireland, and St. Augustine of Canterbury the apostle of England. For the Apostles' Creed,...

• apostolic succession in Christian theology, the doctrine asserting that the chosen successors of the apostles enjoyed through God's grace the same authority, power, and responsibility as was conferred upon the apostles...

• Arianism Christian heresy founded by Arius in the 4th cent. It was one of the most widespread and divisive heresies in the history of Christianity. As a priest in Alexandria, Arius taught (c.318) that God created, before all things, a Son...

• Ascension name usually given to the departure of Jesus from earth as related in the Gospels according to Mark (16) and Luke (24) and in Acts 1.1-11. The annual commemoration of this is one of the principal...

• Ash Wednesday in the Western Church, the first day of Lent , being the seventh Wednesday before Easter. On this day ashes are placed on the foreheads of the faithful to remind them of death, of the sorrow they should feel for their sins, and of the...

• Assumption of the Virgin see Mary.

• baptism [Gr., =dipping], in most Christian churches a sacrament. It is a rite of purification by water, a ceremony invoking the grace of God to regenerate the person, free him or her from sin, and make that person a part of the church. Thus, baptism is usually...

• benefice in canon law, a position in the church that has attached to it a source of income; also, more narrowly, that income itself. The occupant of a benefice receives its revenue (temporalities) for the...

• Candlemas Feb. 2, Christian festival commemorating the Purification of the Blessed Virgin and the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. The name Candlemas is derived from the procession of candles, inspired...

• catechism [Gr.,=oral instruction], originally oral instruction in religion, later written instruction. Catechisms are usually written in the form of questions and answers. Almost as old as Christianity, they...

• Chaldaean rite see Nestorian Church.

• chalice [Lat.,=cup], ancient name for a drinking cup, retained for the eucharistic or communion cup. Its use commemorates the cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper. Celebrated examples are the Great Chalice...

• chiliasm see millennium.

• christening see baptism.

• Christianity religion founded in Palestine by the followers of Jesus. One of the world's major religions, it predominates in Europe and the Americas, where it has been a powerful historical force and cultural influence, but it also claims adherents in virtually...

• Christmas [Christ's Mass], in the Christian calendar, feast of the nativity of Jesus, celebrated in Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches on Dec. 25. In liturgical importance it ranks after Easter , Pentecost...

• church [probably Gr.,=divine], aggregation of Christian believers. The traditional belief has the church the community of believers, living and dead, headed by Jesus, who founded it in the apostles. This...

• communion see Eucharist ; Lord's Supper.

• confirmation Christian rite in which the initiation into the church that takes place by baptism is confirmed. In the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Eastern churches, it is a sacrament by which a Christian is strengthened in his faith. In the Lutheran and Anglican churches it is universally used, but it is not a sacrament (except among High Anglicans). In the East it is conferred...

• Copts the native Christian minority of Egypt; estimates of the number of Copts in Egypt range from 5% to 17% of the population. Copts are not ethnically distinct from other Egyptians; they are a...

• Corpus Christi [Lat.,=body of Christ], feast of the Western Church, observed on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday (or on the following Sunday). The feast, which celebrates the founding of the sacrament of the...

• crèche representation of the Infant Jesus in the manger, usually surrounded by figures of Mary, Joseph, shepherds, animals, and the Wise Men; also called Christmas Crib. The crèche has been displayed in...

• creed [Lat. credo =I believe], summary of basic doctrines of faith. The following are historically important Christian creeds.

• cross widely used symbol. In various forms, it can be found in such diverse cultures as those of ancient India, Egypt, and pre-Columbian North America. It also is found in the megalithic monuments of...

• Didache [Gr.,=teaching], early Christian work written in Greek, called also The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles. Dates for its composition suggested by scholars have ranged from AD 50 to AD 150. Discovered in 1875 by Bryennios, Greek Orthodox metropolitan of Nicomedia, it is an invaluable primary source for...

• disciple see apostle.

• Docetism [Gr.,=to appear], early heretical trend in Christian thought. Docetists claimed that Christ was a mere phantasm who only seemed to live and suffer. A similar tendency to deny Jesus' humanity...

• Donatism schismatic movement among Christians of N Africa (fl. 4th cent.), led by Donatus, bishop of Casae Nigrae (fl. 313), and the theologian Donatus the Great or Donatus Magnus (d. 355). The schism...

• Easter [A.S. Eastre, name of a spring goddess], chief Christian feast, commemorating the resurrection of Jesus after his crucifixion. In the West, Easter is celebrated on the Sunday following the full moon next after...

• Ebionites [Aramaic,=poor], Jewish-Christian sect of rural ancient Palestine, of the first centuries after Jesus. There were two groups, according to Origen. The Judaic Ebionites held closely to Mosaic law...

• ecumenical movement name given to the movement aimed at the unification of the Protestant churches of the world and ultimately of all Christians.

• Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? or Eloi, Eloi, lama sabach-thani? [ Eli, Eloi: Heb. or Aramaic,=Lord; lama sabachthani?: Aramaic,=why hast thou forsaken me?], in the New Testament, words of Jesus on the cross. The Greek text...

• ember days in the Western Church, traditionally the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday following the first Sunday in Lent; Whitsunday; Sept. 14 (Exaltation of the Cross); and Dec. 13 (St. Lucy's Day). They were...

• Epiphany [Gr.,=showing], a prime Christian feast, celebrated Jan. 6, called also Twelfth Day or Little Christmas. Its eve is Twelfth Night. It commemorates three events—the baptism of Jesus (Mark 1), the...

• Eucharist [Gr.,=thanksgiving], Christian sacrament that repeats the action of Jesus at his last supper with his disciples, when he gave them bread, saying, "This is my body," and wine, saying, "This is my blood." (Mat. 26; Mark 14; Luke 22; 1 Cor. 11.) Partaking is called communion. For Roman Catholics the sacrament is a bloodless reenactment of the crucifixion and therefore an act of sacrifice, but...

• faith see creed.

• fall, the i.e., the fall of man, in Christian thought: see original sin ; grace.

• flagellants term applied to the groups of Christians who practiced public flagellation as a penance. The practice supposedly grew out of the floggings administered as punishment to erring monks, although...

• Golden Rule in the New Testament, saying of Jesus. In the Gospel of Matthew he says, "In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets." The Gospel of St. Luke...

• Good Friday anniversary of Jesus' death on the cross. According to the Gospels, Jesus was put to death on the Friday before Easter Day. Since the early church Good Friday has been observed by fasting and...

• grace in Christian theology, the free favor of God toward humans, which is necessary for their salvation. A distinction is made between natural grace (e.g., the gift of life) and supernatural grace, by...

• Hermas, Shepherd of Christian apocalyptic work, composed in Rome c.AD 139-AD 155. It is a collection of revelations given to Hermas, a devout Christian, by an angel (Shepherd) and is divided into three sections:...

• Holy Family term referring to the child Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. In the Roman Catholic Church the feast in its honor falls usually on the first Sunday after the Epiphany. In art the theme of the Holy Family...

• Holy Ghost see Holy Spirit.

• Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost [ ghost, i.e., spirit, a translation of Gr. pneuma =breath, air], in Christian doctrine, the third person of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is sometimes defined as the aspect of God immanent in this world, in human beings, and in the church. Jesus' promise to his disciples of a Comforter (or Paraclete, i.e., advocate),...

• Holy Thursday see Ascension.

• Holy Week week before Easter. Its chief days are named Palm Sunday , Maundy Thursday , Good Friday , and Holy Saturday. In Christian life it is a week of devout observance, commemorating the Passion and Jesus'...

• holy year see jubilee.

• Homoeans   Homoiousians, and Homoousians: see Arianism.

• iconoclasm [Gr.,=image breaking], opposition to the religious use of images. Veneration of pictures and statues symbolizing sacred figures, Christian doctrine, and biblical events was an early feature of...

• Imitation of Christ, The Christian devotional book, of great popularity. It originated among the Brothers of the Common Life in the Netherlands and was written probably c.1425. Tradition (since c.1445) has ascribed it to Thomas à Kempis , whose name appears on an early Latin manuscript. A popular contemporary theory holds that Thomas copied out and edited The Imitation from manuscripts originating with Gerard Groote. The work encourages a life of mystical devotion to Christ and a distrust of the human intellect. The four books treat liberation from worldly inclinations, recollection as a preparation for...

• Immaculate Conception of Our Lady see Mary.

• Jacobite Church Christian church of Syria, Iraq, and India, recognizing the Syrian Orthodox patriarch of Antioch as its spiritual head, regarded by Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox as heretical. It was...

• Lady Day or Annunciation: see Mary.

• Lamb of God see Agnus Dei.

• Last Supper in the New Testament, meal taken by Jesus and his disciples on the eve of the passion. Jesus broke bread and passed a cup of wine among the disciples, identifying himself with the bread and the...

• Lent [Old Eng. lencten, =spring], Latin Quadragesima (meaning 40; thus the 40 days of Lent). In Christianity, Lent is a time of penance, prayer, preparation for or recollection of baptism, and preparation for the celebration of Easter. Observance of Lent is as old as the 4th cent. In Eastern churches it is reckoned as the six weeks before Palm Sunday. In the West the penitential season begins liturgically with Septuagesima, the...

• Lucifer [Lat.,=light-bearing], in Christian tradition a name for Satan. In the Vulgate, Lucifer served as a translation of the Hebrew epithet meaning "Day Star," a name associated with the presumptuous King of Babylon in the Book of Isaiah. Some early Christian writers found a parallel in the Gospel of St. Luke, where Jesus refers to Satan falling like...

• Maundy Thursday [Lat. mandatum, word in the ceremony], traditional English name for Thursday of Holy Week , so named because it is considered the anniversary of the institution of the Eucharist by Jesus at the Last Supper (that is, the mandatum novum or "new commandment" ). In some churches, Jesus's washing of the disciples' feet is symbolically reenacted. In Great Britain there is a survival in the distribution by the sovereign of special "maundy money" to certain of the poor at Westminster Abbey. In the Roman Catholic Church, Maundy Thursday is a general communion day; a single Mass is sung, in the evening, and a Host, consecrated for the morrow,...

• Michaelmas see Michael , archangel.

• millennium [Lat.,=1,000 years], the period of 1,000 years in which, according to some schools of Christian eschatology, Christ will reign again gloriously on earth. Belief in the millennium, based on Rev. 20,...

• modernism in religion, a general movement in the late 19th and 20th cent. that tried to reconcile historical Christianity with the findings of modern science and philosophy. Modernism arose mainly from the...

• monarchianism [Gr.,=belief in the rule of one], the concept of God that maintains his sole authority even over Christ and the Holy Spirit. Its characteristic tenet, that God the Father and Jesus are one person,...

• Monophysitism [Gr.,=belief in one nature], a heresy of the 5th and 6th cent., which grew out of a reaction against Nestorianism. It was anticipated by Apollinarianism and was continuous with the principles of Eutyches , whose doctrine had been rejected in 451 at Chalcedon (see Chalcedon, Council of ). Monophysitism challenged the orthodox definition of faith of Chalcedon and taught that in Jesus there were not two natures (divine and human) but one (divine). Discussion of this belief was...

• Monotheletism or Monothelitism [Gr.,=one will], 7th-century opinion condemned as heretical by the Third Council of Constantinople in 680 (see Constantinople, Third Council of ). This doctrine, by declaring that Christ operated with but one will, although he had two natures, opposed the intent of the Council of Chalcedon. Monotheletism was first proposed in 622 and was...

• Montanism apocalyptic movement of the 2d cent. It arose in Phrygia (c.172) under the leadership of a certain Montanus and two female prophets, Prisca and Maximillia, whose entranced utterances were deemed...

• Nag Hammadi a town in Egypt near the ancient town of Chenoboskion, where, in 1945, a large cache of gnostic texts in the Coptic language was discovered. The Nag Hammadi manuscripts, dating from the 4th cent...

• Nestorian Church Christian community of Iraq, Iran, and Malabar, India. It represents the ancient church of Persia and is sometimes called the Assyrian (or East Syrian) Church. It numbers about 175,000, including...

• Nestorianism Christian heresy that held Jesus to be two distinct persons, closely and inseparably united. In 428, Emperor Theodosius II named an abbot of Antioch, Nestorius (d. 451?), as patriarch of...

• Nicene Creed see creed.

• offertory [Lat.,=offering], in the Roman Catholic Mass and in derived liturgical forms, the preparation of bread and wine on the altar and their formal offering to God. It takes place after the gospel and the creed and before the preface. A short psalm...

• original sin in Christian theology, the sin of Adam , by which all humankind fell from divine grace. Saint Augustine was the fundamental theologian in the formulation of this doctrine, which states that the...

• Palm Sunday in the Christian calendar, the Sunday before Easter , sixth and last Sunday in Lent , and the first day of Holy Week. It recalls the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem riding upon an ass, when his followers shouted "Hosanna" and scattered palms in his path. In the Roman Catholic and some Protestant churches, ceremonies of the day are the blessing and distribution of crosses made from palm leaves and the recitation of...

• Patripassians see monarchianism.

• patristic literature Christian writings of the first few centuries. They are chiefly in Greek and Latin; there is analogous writing in Syriac and in Armenian. The first period of patristic literature (1st-2d cent.)...

• Paulicians Christian heretical sect. The sect developed in Armenia from obscure origins and is first mentioned in the middle of the 6th cent., where it is associated with Nestorianism. The teachings of the Paulicians seem to show some gnostic influence, possibly that of Marcion or Paul of Samosata , and many of the adherents leaned toward adoptionism. The sect especially valued the Gospel of Luke and the Pauline Epistles. They rejected the sacraments but nevertheless considered baptism of the greatest importance. They were iconoclasts and...

• Pelagianism Christian heretical sect that rose in the 5th cent. challenging St. Augustine's conceptions of grace and predestination. The doctrine was advanced by the celebrated monk and theologian Pelagius (c.355-c.425). He was probably born in Britain. After studying Roman law and rhetoric and later theology in England and...

• Pentecost [Gr.,=fiftieth], important Jewish and Christian feast. The Jewish feast of Pentecost, in Hebrew Shavuot , the Feast of Weeks, one of the three pilgrimage festivals, arose as the celebration of the closing of the spring grain harvest, which began formally in Passover 50 days prior; there are numerous...

• Real Presence expression of the belief among certain Christians, especially Roman Catholics and some Anglicans, that the actual presence of the body and blood of Jesus is in the Eucharist. Saints Ignatius of Antioch , Justin Martyr , and Irenaeus wrote of the bread and wine of the Eucharist as the actual body and blood of Christ. In the 4th cent. the focus shifted to the substantial transformation of the elements; by the 7th cent. the idea...

• resurrection [Lat.,=rising again], arising again from death to life. The emergence of Jesus from the tomb to live on earth again for 40 days as told in the Gospels has been from the beginning the central fact...

• Rogation Days in the calendar of the Western Church, four days traditionally set apart for solemn processions to invoke God's mercy. They are Apr. 25, the Major Rogation, coinciding with St. Mark's Day; and the...

• sacrament [Lat.,=something holy], an outward sign of something sacred. In Christianity, a sacrament is commonly defined as having been instituted by Jesus and consisting of a visible sign of invisible grace...

• saint [O.Fr., from Latin sanctus =holy], in Christianity, a person who is recognized as worthy of veneration.

• Satan [Heb.,=adversary], traditional opponent of God and humanity in Judaism and Christianity. In Scripture and literature the role of the opponent is given many names, such as Apolyon, Beelzebub,...

• Semi-Pelagianism see Pelagianism.

• Seven Sleepers of Ephesus in a Christian version of a widespread story, martyrs immured in a cave near Ephesus during the persecutions by Decius (c.250). Long afterward, in the 5th cent., they awoke (as from sleep) and...

• Shrove Tuesday day before Ash Wednesday (the beginning of Lent ). In the Latin countries it is the last day of the carnival, called by the French Mardi Gras.

• Theodotians small heretical sect, formed c.190 by Theodotus, a Byzantine. It lasted until the end of the 4th cent. The Theodotians taught that Jesus was a man, who became the Christ only after his baptism (a...

• tonsure [Lat.,=to shave], formerly, practice in some Christian churches of cutting some of the hair from the scalp of clerics. In the West the tonsure consisted of a circular patch on the crown of the head...