GLOSSARY

Allah -- The Moslem name of the Supreme Being.

Angels - the spiritual "messengers" of God. In the "Celestial Hierarchy" of the early Church Father, Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite (c. 500 A.D.), the angels are arranged in three hierarchies containing three choirs each, in the order of Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones; Dominlons, Powers, and Authorities; Principalities, Archangels and Angels.

Authorities -- see "Angels".

Brahma -- in Hindu theology, originally the absolute, self- existent, eternal essence or spirit of the universe, the source of all things, the object of the loftiest philosophical adoration -- later it became personified as the first person in the Hindu trinity with Vishnu (redeemer) and Siva (destroyer). Brahmna is represented by a red figure with four heads and four arms.

Buddha -- (Sanskrit = the enlightened one) tide given the founder of Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama (c. 563-c.483 B.C.). His father was a king of the warrior caste and raised his son in great luxury, but at the age of 29, Siddhartha renounced the world to become a wandering ascetic and search for a solution to the problems of death and human suffering. After six years of spiritual discipline, he achieved supreme enlightenment at the age of 35. He spent the rest of his life teaching his doctrines and establishing a community of monks to continue his work.

Cain -- in the Bible, the oldest son of Adam and Eve: he killed his brother, Abel (cf. Gen. 4).

Christology -- the study of the person of Christ, and in particular of the union in Him of the divine and human natures.

Dominions -- see "Angels."

empirical-- relying or based on experiments or experience; as in, the empirical method.

Fall -- 77:e Fall of Man or the Fall is, in Christian theology, the lapse of the human race from a state of innocence into one of innate sinfulness and original sin, owing to the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, when they ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Cf. Genesis, ch. 2 and 3).

Godhead -- divinity, godhood, the state or quality of being God; also, God Himself. Triune Godhead: the Holy Trinity as three Persons yet one Deity.

God-man -- (Serbian Bogochovek, Greek Theanthropos). In Orthodox Christian theology this term denotes the person of Jesus Christ, who possesses both a divine nature (from God the Father) and a human nature (from His mother, the Virgin Mary).

Herod -- ruled as king at the time of Christ's birth, according to Matt. 2:1-18 (cf. Luke 1:5). His infamous ruthlessness in defending his throne against any threat accounts for the story of the massacre of Bethiehem's innocent infants (cf. Matt. 2:16-17). Hindu -- any member of those peoples of India who speak languages derived from the Indic branch of Indo-European. Also an adherent of Hinduism.

hypostasis -- in Christian theology, (1) originally, the unique essence or na­ture of the Godhead and, therefore, of the three persons of the Trinity; (2) any of the three persons of the Trinity; (3) the personality of Christ as distinguished from His two natures, human and divine. (plural: hypostases).

I AM -- the first part of the formula by which God identified Himself to Moses on Mount Sinai: "I am who I am" = Yahweh or, as the name appears m the King James Version, "Jehovah." (See Ex. 3:14). Thus Jesus answered the Jews (in John 8:58): "Before Abraham was, I AM." See also the One who Is.

imam -- a Moslem priest who performs the regular service of the mosque.

Karma -- (Sanskrit: a deed, act) in Buddhism and Hinduism, the totality of a person's actions in one of the successive states (through reincarnation) of his existence, thought of as determining his fate in the next. Loosely: fate or destiny.

Kismet -- Turkish word (qismet) for doom, appointed lot, fate, or predeter­mined fortune.

knowledge, tree of-- See: tree of knowledge.

Krishna -- A very popular deity in Hinduism, the eighth avatar, or incarnation, of Vishnu.

Lao-tse (or Lao-tsu) -- A sixth-century B.C. Chinese philosopher and founder of Taoism.

Life, Tree of-- See Tree of Life.

Logos -- See Word of God.

lotus position -- in yoga, an erect sitting posture with the legs crossed and with each foot, Sole upturned, resting on the upper thigh of the opposite leg.

minaret -- a high slender tower attached to a Moslem mosque, with one or more projecting balconies, from which a muezzin,  or crier, calls the people to prayer.

Moriah -- the rocky hill in Jerusalem where Solomon built the Jewish Temple (2 Chron. 3:1).

muezzin -- in Moslem regions, a crier in a minaret or other lofty place who calls the people to prayer at the proper hours.

nirvana -- in Buddhism, the state of perfect blessedness achieved by the extinction of individual existence and by the absorption of the soul into the supreme spirit, or by the extinction of all desires and passions.

Nous -- (Greek) In philosophy, mind, understanding, intellect, reason; in theology and patristic literature, the Son of God is sometimes referred to as the Nous of God the Father.

One Who Is, the -- the name by which God identified Himself to Moses on Mt. Sinai (Ex. 3:14), also translated as "I am Who I am" (see: I AM). In Hebrew this name is "Yahweh" and appears in the King James Version as "Jehovah." In the Septuagint Greek version of the Old Testament the divine epithet is translated by three letters which often appear in the cruciform halo behind Christ's head in Orthodox iconography.

Powers -- see "Angels."

Principalities -- see "Angels."

Rishis -- in Hindu legend it is said that in ancient days seven Wise Men, or Rishis, acquired, by penance and meditation, complete knowledge of all things. Later applied to the sages and saints of India, both Hindu and Bud­dhist, who were viewed as their avatars through reincarnation.

Sadducees -- A Jewish politico-religious sect, opposed to the Pharisees. Though never popular, they stood for the interests of the priestly aris­tocracy and the rich, and exercised great political influence at the time of Christ. They rejected belief in an afterlife and the resurrection, and took a leading part against Christ in collaboration with the Romans. They also at tacked Christ's Apostles for proclaiming His resurrection. They disappear from history after the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome in 70 A.D.

scribes -- (as used here:) the teachers or doctors of the Old Testament Jewish law who, together with the Pharisees, rigidly insisted on meticulous external adherence to that law and frequently criticized and condemned Christ for following the spirit, rather than the letter, of the law.

slava -- (Serbian word meaning "glory") in Serbian Orthodox religious tradition, the rites performed with special bread (kolach) and wine in order to glorify one's patron saint on his feast day, usually accompanied by a sumptuous meal and large numbers of guests in one's home.

Tao -- (see Taoism).

Taoism -- A Chinese philosophical system (which later evolved into a religion) deriving chiefly from writings ascribed to Lao-tse (6th cent. B.C.). According to its teaching, man's ideal state of freedom from desire and of effortless simplicity is achieved by following the Tao (Chinese = "way"), the spontaneous, creative functioning of the universe.

Thrones -- see "Angels."

tree of knowledge -- in the Bible, the tree whose fruit Adam and Eve tasted in disobedience to God. See Genesis, ch. 2 and 3. Also referred to as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Tree of Life -- in the Bible, a tree in the Garden of Eden bearing fruit which, if eaten, gave everlasting life (cf. Gen. 2:9 and 3:22). Also, in the New Testament, a tree in the heavenly Jerusalem whose leaves are for heal­ing the nations (cf. Rev. 22:2).

triad -- a union or set of three; a group of three persons, things ideas, etc.; a trinity: hence Holy Triad = Holy Trinity.

Ultimate Man, the -- a term coined by Bishop Nikolai to describe Jesus Christ as the Son of God, as the "new Adam," as the ideal, total, complete and Ultimate Man (Svechovek), who possesses the pure, true and genuine nature of unfallen man as well as the divine nature of God the Father in His divine-human personality. All who unite themselves to the God-man, Jesus Christ, regain the fullness of their "ultimate humanity," which the descendants of Adam have lost since the expulsion from the Garden of Eden.

Wisdom -- one of the appellations of Jesus Christ in the Bible. Cf. 1 Cor. 1:24-- "Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." Christian theol ogy also links Christ to certain passages about wisdom in the Old Testament (cf. Proverbs 9:1-11).

Word of God -- in Christian theology, the Logos or Word; Jesus Christ as the second person of the Holy Trinity.

yoga -- (Sanskrit = "union") in Hindu philosophy a practice involving intense and complete concentration upon something, especially the deity, in order to establish identity of consciousness with the object of concentration: it is a mystic and ascetic practice, usually involving the discipline of prescribed postures, controlled breathing, etc.

Zoroaster -- (c. 628 B.C. - c. 551 B.C.) religious teacher and prophet of ancient Persia who founded Zoroastrianism.

Zoroastrianism -- the religious system of the Persians before their conversion to Islam. Its principles include belief in an afterlife and in the continuous struggle of the universal spirit of good (Ormazd) with the spirit of evil (Ahriman), the good ultimately to prevail.