- Arius:
- Arius taught that Christ was created by God, thereby denying Christ's divinity. This position was condemned by the Church during the First Ecumenical Council which was held in Nicea in 325.
- Belial:
- According to the New Oxford Annotated Bible (RSV), Belial is another name for Satan. As a term for Satan, it first appeared in the intertestamental literature, and was later used by the Apostle Paul in 2 Cor. 6:15.
- Bride:
- This is a reference to the woman who wandered through the streets of the city in search of her beloved, as described in The Song of Solomon 3:2.
- Caesar:
- The Jewish people had been anticipating the eventual arrival of God's "anointed one" (the Messiah, the Christ) who would reign over them as their king. Most Jewish people expected the Messiah to have a worldly kingdom, while those followers of Jesus who accepted Him as the Messiah came to regard Him as reigning over a spiritual kingdom. After Christ's arrest, when the crowd was asked whether Jesus was their king, they replied We have no king but Caesar, thereby rejecting Christ's spiritual kingship.
- John, beloved of Christ:
- This is a reference to one of Christ's twelve disciples. During the Last Supper, John is described as leaning his head against Christ's chest or breast. See John 13:23.
- Judas Iscariot:
- The disciple who betrayed Jesus for 30 silver pieces by identifying Jesus to his would-be captors with a kiss. When Judas learned that as a consequence of this betrayal Jesus had been condemned to death, Judas, full of remorse, returned the 30 silver pieces and took his own life.
- Macedonius:
- Macedonius taught that the Holy Spirit was a power of God, thereby depriving It of personhood and subordinating It to the Father and the Son. This position was condemned by the Church during the Second Ecumenical Council which was held in Constantinople in 381.
- Nicodemus:
- A Pharisee who both sought Jesus' spiritual guidance (John 3:1-15) and tried to speak up for Jesus before his fellow Pharisees (John 7:32,45-53). Following Jesus' crucifixion, Nicodemus purchased the spices and perfumes that he and Joseph of Arimathaea used to prepare Jesus' body for burial (John 19:38-42).
- Peter:
- One of Christ's twelve disciples; the one whom Christ chose as the "rock" on which he was going to build His church. After Christ was arrested, Peter followed Him to an adjoining courtyard where he waited to see what was going to happen to Jesus. However other people in the courtyard seemed to recognize Peter as being one of Christ's disciples, and challenged him on this. Because he was afraid of being associated with Christ, who was now in custody, he vehemently denied knowing Him. Just then a rooster crowed bringing to mind Christ's prophesy that Peter would in fact deny Him three times before the cock crowed. At the time of Christ's prophesy, Peter didn't believe that he could ever do such a thing, but when the cock's crowing brought the prophesy back to mind, Peter was overcome with bitter remorse.
- Pharisee:
- The Pharisees of Jesus' time engaged in numerous, personal religious practices that would seem to reflect an exceptional devotion to God. Among other things, Jesus mentions that they proselytized others, and that they practiced tithing, fasting, prayer, and ritual cleanliness. The latter practice involved washing oneself and the objects one used in dining in a special way. Since all of these practices were performed publicly, most of Jesus' contemporaries considered the Pharisees to be patently devout individuals. However Jesus disagreed. He harshly condemned the Pharisees because:
- Their outward acts of devotion disguised an inward contempt for God's commandments and for His prophets (e.g., Matt. 15:1-7, Matt. 23:23-36).
- Their real motivation behind the public performance of these practices was to win the esteem of others (e.g., Matt. 23:1-7).
- All religious practices should be based on truths which God has revealed to man; however the Pharisees' had dreamed up many of their own religious practices which they subsequently transmitted to following generations. This resulted in a tradition of the elders that came into conflict with God's wishes for mankind. (e.g., Mark 7:5-13).
The New Testament reports that most Pharisees felt great rancor toward Jesus. In their interactions with Him they are often depicted as posing difficult questions on Jewish Law in order to trip Jesus up. At first it seems that their objective was to undermine His popular support by showing the public that Jesus had no expertise in spiritual matters. When they failed to do this (John 12:19), they pursued the same course of questions with a new aim: to gather evidence of blasphemy which they could then use to prosecute Jesus in a court of Jewish law (Matt. 12:14, Luke 11:53-54).
Despite all this, a number of Pharisees came to believe in Jesus, most notably Nicodemus and the Apostle Paul (Philippians 3:3-7).
- Prodigal Son:
- This refers to a character in a parable told by Jesus Christ. There was a father with two sons. The youngest son requested his inheritance for his immediate use, while the older son remained with his father and continued helping him in his work. Once the youngest son was in possession of his inheritance, he went to a far away land and blew all his money indulging in sensual pleasures (hence the name, "prodigal"). Once he was broke, he was reduced to working as a hired hand tending swine, but the swine were eating better than he was. He resolved to go home and ask his father to hire him as a servant, since his father treated his servants much more humanely than he was being treated as a servant in this foreign land. Because of this sinful episode in his life, the prodigal son felt that he no longer merited being regarded as a son. Yet when he returned and asked his father for a job, his father was overjoyed to have his son back, and immediately accepted him back into the family, throwing a party to share his great happiness with others. The older son was a bit miffed at this, since his father had never had such a grand party in his honor. So the father explained that to his older son that he loved him and that he would continue sharing in everything he had. Yet the occasion of his younger son's return truly begged celebration for it was as if he had been dead, and then came back to life.
- Publican:
- A tax collector. During the period of Christ's public ministry, these individuals were held in disdain. In general people don't like paying taxes, but since these taxes helped support the Roman occupying forces they were doubly disliked. Furthermore it was left to the individual tax collector to extract his own wages by adding a "surcharge" to the tax. Most people felt that these surcharges were excessive. Consequently tax collectors were viewed as greedy, good-for-nothing, collaborators who lined their pockets at the people's expense. Evidence of the tax collector's marginal status in Jewish society is found in a number of Jesus' statements (e.g. Matthew 18:17).
Although the Pharisees and other religious leaders wouldn't have anything to do with tax collectors, Jesus brought His ministry to them and even called one tax collector to join His inner circle of disciples (i.e. Matthew, also known as Levi; see Luke 5:27-32, Matthew 10:2-4).
- Symeon the Pious:
- The personal, spiritual father of St. Symeon the New Theologian.
- Theotokos:
- The God-bearer, or the person who bears God within her. This is a Patristic and Eastern Orthodox title for the Virgin Mary, who contained the Uncontainable within her womb while she was pregnant with Jesus.
In several wonderful passages, St. Symeon the New Theologian describes the Virgin Mary's experience as forshadowing that of mystics such as himself who are blessed with the conscious experience of bearing God within their hearts. Among other things he states:
O excess of love! He Who embraces all things makes His home within a mortal corruptible man..., and the man becomes as a woman heavy with child... He carries Him within as a treasure inexpressible, unspeakable, without quality, quantity, or form, immaterial, shapeless, yet with form in beauty inexplicable, altogether simple, like light, Him Who transcends all light.
(On the Mystical Life (Vol. 2), p. 135)
St. Cyril of Alexandria states something similar in his exegesis of Gal. 4:19
But if Christ's form is being created in us in a different way, perceptible to the mind and spiritually, the appearance of the divine nature cannot be like our visible appearance. For it does not consist of parts and limbs as we do but as incorporeal without quantitative and limiting shape... {For God} is, indeed, viewed intellectually by the reality of the heart as one possessing supra-mundane glory...
(Cyril of Alexandria: Select Letters, pp. 138-139, quoting "Answers to Tiberius" 1)