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| St. George's Anglican Church St. Paul's Anglican Church Battleford, Saskatchewan North Battleford, Saskatchewan | ||
TERMINOLOGY
ADVENT - Coming; coming to; approach; arrival. (religion, Christianity) The first or the expected second coming of Christ. The period or season of the Christian church year between Advent Sunday and Christmas. A Sunday, the first day of Advent, 30 November (St Andrew's day) or the nearest Sunday to it.
ALTAR - An altar is any structure upon which sacrifices or other offerings are made for religious purposes, or some other sacred place where ceremonies take place.
ANGLICAN - The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a mediæval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 meaning the English Church. Adherents of Anglicanism are termed Anglicans.
ANGLICANISM - is rooted in the beliefs and practices of Christian churches which either have historical connections with the Church of England or maintain a liturgy compatible with it.
ANOINT - is to grease with perfumed oil, milk, water, melted butter or other substances, a process employed ritually by many religions and races. It also means to be in the presence of God. People and things are anointed to symbolize the introduction of a sacramental or divine influence, a holy emanation, spirit or power. It can also be seen as a spiritual mode of ridding persons and things of dangerous influences and diseases, especially of the demons which are believed to be or cause those diseases.
APOSTOLIC - The Twelve Apostles of Jesus, or something related to them.
ARCHBISHOP - is an elevated bishop. In the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion and others, this means that they lead a diocese of particular importance called an archdiocese, or in the Anglican Communion an Ecclesiastical Province, but this is not always the case. An archbishop is equivalent to a bishop in sacred matters but simply has a higher precedence or degree of prestige.
ARCHDIOCESE - In the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion, an important diocese is called an archdiocese (usually due to size, historical significance, or both), which is governed by an Archbishop, who may be exempt from or have Metropolitan authority over the other dioceses within a wider jurisdiction called an ecclesiastical province.
ASH WEDNESDAY - In the Western Christian calendar, Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent and occurs forty days before Easter (excluding Sundays). It falls on a different date each year, because it is dependent on the date of Easter; it can occur as early as February 4 or as late as March 10.
BAPTISM - In Christianity, baptism meaning "immersing", "performing ablution" is the sacramental act of cleansing in water that admits one as a full member of the Church. Most Christians, such as Anglicans,Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Lutherans, are baptized as infants. Most Christians baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but some baptize in Jesus' name only.
BEATITUDES - (from Latin "beatus", meaning "blessed") in other words a blessing, is the beginning portion of the Sermon on the Mount of the Gospel of Matthew . Some are also recorded in the Gospel of Luke. In the section, Jesus describes the qualities of the inhabitants of the Kingdom of heaven and indicates how each is or will be blessed.
BISHOP - is an ordained member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. The office of bishop is one of the three ordained offices within Christianity, the other two being those of priest and deacon.
CATHOLIC - is an adjective derived from the Greek adjective 'katholikos', meaning "general; universal."
CHRISTMAS - is an annual holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. It refers both to the day celebrating the birth, as well as to the season which that day inaugurates, which concludes with the Feast of the Epiphany. The date of the celebration is traditional, and is not considered to be his actual date of birth.
CHURCH - is an association of people with a common set of religious beliefs, respectively their place of worship. It is a building used for prayer, worship, or other public religious services, usually referring specifically to those for Christian worship.
CHURCH OF ENGLAND - is the officially established Christian church in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national churches. The Church of England considers itself to be both Catholic and reformed: Reformed insofar as many of the principles of the early Protestant reformers as well as the subsequent Protestant Reformation have influenced it via the English Reformation and also insofar as it does not accept Papal supremacy or the Counter-Reformation.
CLERGY - is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. The term comes from Greek kleros (a lot, that which is assigned by lot (allotment) or metaphorically, heritage). Depending on the religion, clergy usually take care of the ritual aspects of the religious life, teach or otherwise help in spreading the religion's doctrine and practices. They often deal with life-cycle events such as childbirth, baptism, circumcision, coming of age ceremonies, marriage, and death.
CONFIRMATION - Confirmation is a process, a chance to take on for yourself the promises that were made for you at your baptism. If you aren't prepared to say these things for yourself, then you shouldn't be being confirmed.
DEACON - is a role in the Christian Church which is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. In many traditions, the diaconate is a clerical office; in others, it is for laity.
DEITY - is a postulated preternatural or supernatural being, who is always of significant power, worshipped, thought holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, or respected by human beings.
DIVINE - (of or pertaining to a god): deific, godlike, godly - (eternal, holy): hallowed, holy, sacred. (of superhuman or surpassing excellence): supreme, ultimate - (beautiful, heavenly): beautiful, delightful, exquisite, heavenly, lovely, magnificent, marvellous/marvelous, splendid, wonderful.
DIOCESE - a diocese is an administrative territorial unit administered by a bishop, hence also referred to as a bishopric or Episcopal Area. The diocese is the key unit of authority in the form of church governance known as episcopal polity.
EASTER - is the most important religious feast in the Christian liturgical year. Christians celebrate this day in observance of their belief that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion, now estimated to have taken place between the years AD 26 and AD 36. Traditionally the Easter Season lasted for the forty days from Easter Day until Ascension Day but now officially lasts for the fifty days until Pentecost. The first week of the Easter Season is known as Easter Week or the Octave of Easter. Easter also marks the end of Lent, a season of prayer and penance.
ECCLESIOLOGY - is the study of doctrine pertaining to the Church itself as a community or organic entity and with the understanding of what the "church" is - ie., its role in salvation, its origin, its relationship to the historical Christ, its discipline, its destiny and its leadership. It is, therefore, the study of the Church as a thing in itself, and of the Church's self-understanding of its mission and role.
ECUMENICAL - [ek-yoo-men-i-kuhl] pertaining to the whole Christian church; of or pertaining to a movement (ecumenical movement), esp. among Protestant groups since the 1800s, aimed at achieving universal Christian unity and church union through international interdenominational organizations cooperating on matters of mutual concern.
EPIPHANY - (Greek for "the toast of destruction" or "revelation"), is a Christian feast day which celebrates the "shining forth" or revelation of God in human form in the person of Jesus Christ. The feast falls on January 6. Western Christians commemorate the visitation of the Magi to the child Jesus on this day, i.e., his manifestation to the Gentiles. Eastern Christians commemorate the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River, his manifestation as the Son of God to the world.
It is also called Theophany ("manifestation of God").
EPISCOPAL - in principle means "of Bishops", from the Latin for bishop, episcopus. The term Episcopal is in several churches considered preferable to the term Anglican, which originates in ecclesia anglicana, a Medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 meaning "the English Church".
EPISTLE - An epistle (Greek epistole, "letter") is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of persons, usually a letter and a very formal, often didactic and elegant one. The letters in the New Testament from Apostles to Christians are usually referred to as epistles; those traditionally from Paul are known as Pauline epistles and the others as Catholic or general epistles. The Battle River Parish sends out an epistle 4-5 times a year to its parishioners.
EUCHARIST - also called Holy Communion or Lord's Supper and other names, is one of the two most important Christian sacraments. Almost every Christian denomination celebrates in some form this rite or ritual of worship and remembrance, which Christians generally believe Jesus Christ instituted at his last meal with his disciples before being turned over to his executioners. A common meal of bread and wine beginning with a prayer and blessing.
EVANGALISM - is the Christian practice of preaching the Truth of Jesus to both Christians and non-Christians. The intention of most evangelism is to effect Eternal Salvation to those who have not heard of or denied the One True God.
FONT - A baptismal font is an article of church furniture or a fixture used for the baptism of children and adults. The simplest of these fonts has a pedestal (about 1.5 metres tall) with a holder for a basin of water.
GOD - is the principal or sole deity in religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. God is most often conceived of as the creator and overseer of the universe. Theologians have ascribed a variety of attributes to the many different conceptions of God. The most common among these include omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, omnibenevolence (perfect goodness), divine simplicity, jealousy, and eternal and necessary existence. God has also been conceived as being incorporeal, a personal being, the source of all moral obligation, and the "greatest conceivable existent".
GOOD FRIDAY - also called Holy Friday or Great Friday, is the Friday preceding Easter Sunday. It commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ at Golgotha.
GOSPEL - In Christianity, a gospel (from Old English, "good news") is generally one of four canonical books of the New Testament that describe the birth, life, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus. These books are the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, written between 65 and 100 AD. More generally, the term refers to works of a genre of Early Christian literature. It originally meant the "glad tidings" of redemption.
HOLY ORDERS - In a general sense, the term refers to those people in the Christian tradition who have been ordained or appointed to offices of pastoral leadership in the church. As a more theologically technical term in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, Old Catholic, Independent Catholic and Assyrian churches, it is a sacrament or rite (or both) in which men and women have right to be ordained as bishops, priests or deacons.
JESUS - Jesus of Nazareth (7–2 BC/BCE to 26–36 AD/CE), also known as Jesus Christ, is the central figure of Christianity, revered by most Christians as the incarnation of God, and is also an important figure in several other religions. "Christ" is a title derived from the Greek (Christos), meaning the "Anointed One," which corresponds to the Hebrew-derived "Messiah".
LAITY - In religious organizations, the laity comprises all persons who are not clergy. A person who is a member of a religious order who is not ordained clergy is considered as a member of the laity, even though they are members of a religious order (for example a nun or lay brother).
LECTERN - (from the Latin lectus, past participle of legere, "to read") is a reading desk with a slanted top, usually placed on a stand or affixed to a some other form of support, on which documents or books are placed as support for reading aloud, as in a Scripture reading.
LENT - in most Christian denominations, is the forty-day liturgical season of fasting and prayer before Easter. The forty days represent the time Jesus spent in the desert, where, according to the Bible, he endured temptation by Satan. Different churches calculate the forty days differently. The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
LITURGY - A liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to their particular traditions. The word may refer to an elaborate formal ritual.
MESSIAH - Literally means "The Anointed (One)", typically someone anointed with holy anointing oil. Figuratively, anointing is done to signify being chosen for a task; so, Messiah means "The Chosen (One)", particularly someone divinely chosen.
MISSIONARY - a member of a religion who works to convert those who do not share the missionary's faith; someone who proselytizes.
NARTHEX - of a church is the entrance, vestibule or lobby area, located at the end of the nave, at the far end from the church's main altar leading to the sanctuary.
NATIVITY - the Nativity, is the story of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth in the Gospels.
NAVE - the nave is the central approach to the high altar.
ORDAINED - individuals who have performed the various religious rites and ceremonies required in the process of Ordination.
ORDINATION - is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. In most Protestant churches, ordination to the pastoral office is the rite by which their various churches: (1)recognize and confirm that an individual has been called by God to ministry,
(2) acknowledges that the individual has gone through a period of discernment and training related to this call, and
(3)authorizes that individual to take on the office of ministry. For the sake of authorization and church order, and not for reason of 'powers' or 'ability', individuals in most mainline Protestant churches must be ordained in order to preside at the sacraments (Baptism and Holy Communion), and to be installed as a called pastor of a congregation or parish.
OMNIPOTENCE - (from Latin root Omni Potens: "all power") is power unlimited power.
PASSIONTIDE - (in the Christian liturgical year) is a name for the last two weeks of Lent, beginning on Passion Sunday (the beginning of Forty Hours' Devotion) and ending on Holy Saturday.
PASSOVER - is a Jewish and Samaritan holy day and festival commemorating the Exodus from Egypt and the liberation of the Israelites from slavery. It is also known as Festival of the Unleavened Bread. In the story of Moses, God set ten plagues upon the Egyptians to convince Pharaoh to release the Israelites. The tenth plague was the killing of the firstborn sons. However, the Israelites were instructed to mark the doorposts of their homes with the blood of a spring lamb, and upon seeing this, the spirit of the Lord passed over these homes, hence the term "passover".
PENTECOST - (Ancient Greek: pentekoste [hemera], "the fiftieth day") is one of the prominent feasts in the Christian liturgical year, celebrated the 49th day (7 weeks) after Easter Sunday (the tenth day after Ascension Thursday). Historically and symbolically related to the Jewish harvest festival of Shavuot, it commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus as described in the Book of Acts, Chapter 2. Pentecost is also called Whitsun, Whitsunday, or Whit Sunday, especially in the United Kingdom.
PEW - is a long bench used for seating members of a church's congregation.
PRAYER - is the act of attempting to communicate, commonly with a sequence of words, with a deity or spirit for the purpose of worshipping, requesting guidance, requesting assistance, confessing sins, as an act of reparation or to express one's thoughts and emotions. The words of the prayer may take the form of intercession, a hymn, incantation or a spontaneous utterance in the person's praying words. Secularly, the term can also be used as an alternative to "hope".
PRIEST - or priestess is a person having the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities.
PRIESTHOOD - is a body of priests, shamans, or oracles who have special religious authority or function. The term priest is derived from Latin presbyter.
PROPITIATION - In Christian theology, propitiation is the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, by which He fulfills the wrath of God (both an emotional response of anger and a moral response of indignation), and conciliates Him who would otherwise be offended by our sin and would demand that we pay the penalty for it. The concept of propitiation is associated in some Christian theological systems with indemnity, imputed righteousness, and substitutionary atonement.
PROSELYTISM - is the practice of attempting to convert people to another opinion and, particularly, another religion.
PROTESTANT - The word is derived from the Latin protestatio meaning declaration.
PROTESTANTISM - encompasses the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated with the doctrines of the Reformation. Protestant doctrine, in contradistinction to that of Roman Catholicism, rejects papal authority and doctrine, and is also known in continental European traditions as Evangelical doctrine. It holds that biblical scripture (rather than tradition or ecclesiastic interpretation of scripture) is the only source of revealed biblical truth, and also that salvation can be achieved through God's grace alone.
PULPIT - (from Latin pulpitum "scaffold", "platform", "stage") is a small elevated platform where a member of the clergy stands in order to read the Gospel lesson and/or deliver a sermon.
PURGATORY - In Roman Catholic Christianity, purgatory is the condition, process, or place of purification or temporary punishment in which the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for heaven.
RECONCILIATION - The reestablishment of friendly relations; conciliation or rapprochement. A Catholic sacrament involving contrition, confession, punishment and absolution; penance.
RELIGION - A system of beliefs, including belief in the existence of at least one of the following: a human soul or spirit, a deity or higher being, or self after the death of one’s body.
SACRAMENT - a rite, instituted by Christ, that mediates grace, constituting a sacred mystery. The most conventional functional definition of a sacrament is that it is an outward sign, instituted by Christ, that conveys an inward, spiritual grace through Christ. The two most widely accepted sacraments are Baptism and the Eucharist; the majority of Christians recognize seven Sacraments or Divine Mysteries : Baptism, Confirmation (Chrismation in the Orthodox tradition), and the Eucharist, Holy Orders, Reconciliation of a Penitent (confession), Anointing of the Sick, and Matrimony. Taken together, these are the Seven Sacraments as recognised by churches in the High church tradition - notably Roman Catholic, Eastern Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Independent Catholic, Old Catholic and some Anglicans, while the Orthodox Church typically does not limit the number of sacraments, viewing all encounters with reality in life as sacramental in some sense, and the acknowledgment of the number of sacraments at seven.
SACRIFICE - (from a Middle English verb meaning "to make sacred", from Old French, from Latin sacrificium: sacer, "sacred" + facere, "to make") is commonly known as the practice of offering food, money or the lives of animals or people to the gods as an act of worship.
SIN - (theology) A violation of a moral or religious law; an error.
SPIRITUALITY - in a narrow sense, concerns itself with matters of the spirit, a concept closely tied to religious belief and faith, a transcendent reality, and God. Spiritual matters are thus those matters regarding humankind's ultimate nature and purpose, not only as material biological organisms, but as beings with a unique relationship to that which is beyond both time and the material world.
SHROVE - is a past tense of the English verb "shrive," which means to obtain absolution for one's sins by confessing and doing penance.
SHROVE MONDAY - sometimes known as Collop Monday, Rose Monday, Merry Monday or Hall Monday, is the Monday before Ash Wednesday.
SHROVE TUESDAY - is the term used in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada to refer to the day after Shrove Monday (or the more old fashioned Collop Monday) and before Ash Wednesday (the liturgical season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday). In Ireland, the UK, and amongst Anglicans, Lutherans and possibly other Protestant denominations in Canada including Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, this day is also known as Pancake Day or Pancake Tuesday, because it is customary to eat pancakes on this day.[
SYNOPTIC GOSPELS - (from Greek syn, together, and opsis, seeing) are the first three gospels — Matthew, Mark, and Luke — found in the New Testament of the Bible. These gospels often recount the same stories about Jesus, generally follow the same sequence and use similar wording. The hows and whys of these books' similarities and differences to each other and to other gospels is known as the synoptic problem.
THEOLOGIANS - Those that study religion and use various forms of analysis and argument (philosophical, ethnographic, historical) to help understand, explain, test, critique, defend or promote any of a myriad of religious topics.
THEOLOGY - is the study of religion from a religious perspective. It has been defined as reasoned discourse about God or the gods, or more generally about religion or spirituality.
THEOPHANY - From the Greek , theo (God), and phainein (to show forth), theophaneia which translates "appearance/showing of God", theophany means an appearance of a God to man, or a divine disclosure.
TRINITY - The Trinity is a Christian doctrine, stating that God is one Being Who exists, simultaneously and eternally, as a mutual indwelling of three persons: the Father, the Son (incarnate as Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit.
VESTRY - In the Episcopal Church the vestry remains a body of lay members, elected by the congregation as a whole, which elects the rector of the church and conducts its secular business. A vestry is also a room within or attached to a church which is used to store vestments and other items used in worship. It is usually of sufficient size to allow those using vestments to change into them, and thus in England and elsewhere was often used for meetings dealing with the administration of the local parish.
WORSHIP - usually refers to specific acts of religious praise, honour, or devotion, typically directed to a supernatural being such as God, a god or goddess. It is the informal term in English for what sociologists of religion call cultus, the body of practices and traditions that correspond to theology.
ZION - The term Zion came to designate the area of Jerusalem where the fortress stood, and later became a metaphor for Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, the city of Jerusalem and the entire Promised Land to come, in which, according to the Hebrew Bible, God dwells among his chosen people. It commonly referred to a specific mountain near Jerusalem (Mount Zion), on which stood a Jebusite fortress of the same name that was conquered by David and was named the City of David.
APPENDED
June 1, 08
8:22 p.m.
ADVENT - Coming; coming to; approach; arrival. (religion, Christianity) The first or the expected second coming of Christ. The period or season of the Christian church year between Advent Sunday and Christmas. A Sunday, the first day of Advent, 30 November (St Andrew's day) or the nearest Sunday to it.
ALTAR - An altar is any structure upon which sacrifices or other offerings are made for religious purposes, or some other sacred place where ceremonies take place.
ANGLICAN - The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a mediæval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 meaning the English Church. Adherents of Anglicanism are termed Anglicans.
ANGLICANISM - is rooted in the beliefs and practices of Christian churches which either have historical connections with the Church of England or maintain a liturgy compatible with it.
ANOINT - is to grease with perfumed oil, milk, water, melted butter or other substances, a process employed ritually by many religions and races. It also means to be in the presence of God. People and things are anointed to symbolize the introduction of a sacramental or divine influence, a holy emanation, spirit or power. It can also be seen as a spiritual mode of ridding persons and things of dangerous influences and diseases, especially of the demons which are believed to be or cause those diseases.
APOSTOLIC - The Twelve Apostles of Jesus, or something related to them.
ARCHBISHOP - is an elevated bishop. In the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion and others, this means that they lead a diocese of particular importance called an archdiocese, or in the Anglican Communion an Ecclesiastical Province, but this is not always the case. An archbishop is equivalent to a bishop in sacred matters but simply has a higher precedence or degree of prestige.
ARCHDIOCESE - In the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion, an important diocese is called an archdiocese (usually due to size, historical significance, or both), which is governed by an Archbishop, who may be exempt from or have Metropolitan authority over the other dioceses within a wider jurisdiction called an ecclesiastical province.
ASH WEDNESDAY - In the Western Christian calendar, Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent and occurs forty days before Easter (excluding Sundays). It falls on a different date each year, because it is dependent on the date of Easter; it can occur as early as February 4 or as late as March 10.
BAPTISM - In Christianity, baptism meaning "immersing", "performing ablution" is the sacramental act of cleansing in water that admits one as a full member of the Church. Most Christians, such as Anglicans,Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Lutherans, are baptized as infants. Most Christians baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but some baptize in Jesus' name only.
BEATITUDES - (from Latin "beatus", meaning "blessed") in other words a blessing, is the beginning portion of the Sermon on the Mount of the Gospel of Matthew . Some are also recorded in the Gospel of Luke. In the section, Jesus describes the qualities of the inhabitants of the Kingdom of heaven and indicates how each is or will be blessed.
BISHOP - is an ordained member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. The office of bishop is one of the three ordained offices within Christianity, the other two being those of priest and deacon.
CATHOLIC - is an adjective derived from the Greek adjective 'katholikos', meaning "general; universal."
CHRISTMAS - is an annual holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. It refers both to the day celebrating the birth, as well as to the season which that day inaugurates, which concludes with the Feast of the Epiphany. The date of the celebration is traditional, and is not considered to be his actual date of birth.
CHURCH - is an association of people with a common set of religious beliefs, respectively their place of worship. It is a building used for prayer, worship, or other public religious services, usually referring specifically to those for Christian worship.
CHURCH OF ENGLAND - is the officially established Christian church in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national churches. The Church of England considers itself to be both Catholic and reformed: Reformed insofar as many of the principles of the early Protestant reformers as well as the subsequent Protestant Reformation have influenced it via the English Reformation and also insofar as it does not accept Papal supremacy or the Counter-Reformation.
CLERGY - is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. The term comes from Greek kleros (a lot, that which is assigned by lot (allotment) or metaphorically, heritage). Depending on the religion, clergy usually take care of the ritual aspects of the religious life, teach or otherwise help in spreading the religion's doctrine and practices. They often deal with life-cycle events such as childbirth, baptism, circumcision, coming of age ceremonies, marriage, and death.
CONFIRMATION - Confirmation is a process, a chance to take on for yourself the promises that were made for you at your baptism. If you aren't prepared to say these things for yourself, then you shouldn't be being confirmed.
DEACON - is a role in the Christian Church which is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. In many traditions, the diaconate is a clerical office; in others, it is for laity.
DEITY - is a postulated preternatural or supernatural being, who is always of significant power, worshipped, thought holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, or respected by human beings.
DIVINE - (of or pertaining to a god): deific, godlike, godly - (eternal, holy): hallowed, holy, sacred. (of superhuman or surpassing excellence): supreme, ultimate - (beautiful, heavenly): beautiful, delightful, exquisite, heavenly, lovely, magnificent, marvellous/marvelous, splendid, wonderful.
DIOCESE - a diocese is an administrative territorial unit administered by a bishop, hence also referred to as a bishopric or Episcopal Area. The diocese is the key unit of authority in the form of church governance known as episcopal polity.
EASTER - is the most important religious feast in the Christian liturgical year. Christians celebrate this day in observance of their belief that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion, now estimated to have taken place between the years AD 26 and AD 36. Traditionally the Easter Season lasted for the forty days from Easter Day until Ascension Day but now officially lasts for the fifty days until Pentecost. The first week of the Easter Season is known as Easter Week or the Octave of Easter. Easter also marks the end of Lent, a season of prayer and penance.
ECCLESIOLOGY - is the study of doctrine pertaining to the Church itself as a community or organic entity and with the understanding of what the "church" is - ie., its role in salvation, its origin, its relationship to the historical Christ, its discipline, its destiny and its leadership. It is, therefore, the study of the Church as a thing in itself, and of the Church's self-understanding of its mission and role.
ECUMENICAL - [ek-yoo-men-i-kuhl] pertaining to the whole Christian church; of or pertaining to a movement (ecumenical movement), esp. among Protestant groups since the 1800s, aimed at achieving universal Christian unity and church union through international interdenominational organizations cooperating on matters of mutual concern.
EPIPHANY - (Greek for "the toast of destruction" or "revelation"), is a Christian feast day which celebrates the "shining forth" or revelation of God in human form in the person of Jesus Christ. The feast falls on January 6. Western Christians commemorate the visitation of the Magi to the child Jesus on this day, i.e., his manifestation to the Gentiles. Eastern Christians commemorate the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River, his manifestation as the Son of God to the world.
It is also called Theophany ("manifestation of God").
EPISCOPAL - in principle means "of Bishops", from the Latin for bishop, episcopus. The term Episcopal is in several churches considered preferable to the term Anglican, which originates in ecclesia anglicana, a Medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 meaning "the English Church".
EPISTLE - An epistle (Greek epistole, "letter") is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of persons, usually a letter and a very formal, often didactic and elegant one. The letters in the New Testament from Apostles to Christians are usually referred to as epistles; those traditionally from Paul are known as Pauline epistles and the others as Catholic or general epistles. The Battle River Parish sends out an epistle 4-5 times a year to its parishioners.
EUCHARIST - also called Holy Communion or Lord's Supper and other names, is one of the two most important Christian sacraments. Almost every Christian denomination celebrates in some form this rite or ritual of worship and remembrance, which Christians generally believe Jesus Christ instituted at his last meal with his disciples before being turned over to his executioners. A common meal of bread and wine beginning with a prayer and blessing.
EVANGALISM - is the Christian practice of preaching the Truth of Jesus to both Christians and non-Christians. The intention of most evangelism is to effect Eternal Salvation to those who have not heard of or denied the One True God.
FONT - A baptismal font is an article of church furniture or a fixture used for the baptism of children and adults. The simplest of these fonts has a pedestal (about 1.5 metres tall) with a holder for a basin of water.
GOD - is the principal or sole deity in religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. God is most often conceived of as the creator and overseer of the universe. Theologians have ascribed a variety of attributes to the many different conceptions of God. The most common among these include omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, omnibenevolence (perfect goodness), divine simplicity, jealousy, and eternal and necessary existence. God has also been conceived as being incorporeal, a personal being, the source of all moral obligation, and the "greatest conceivable existent".
GOOD FRIDAY - also called Holy Friday or Great Friday, is the Friday preceding Easter Sunday. It commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ at Golgotha.
GOSPEL - In Christianity, a gospel (from Old English, "good news") is generally one of four canonical books of the New Testament that describe the birth, life, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus. These books are the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, written between 65 and 100 AD. More generally, the term refers to works of a genre of Early Christian literature. It originally meant the "glad tidings" of redemption.
HOLY ORDERS - In a general sense, the term refers to those people in the Christian tradition who have been ordained or appointed to offices of pastoral leadership in the church. As a more theologically technical term in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, Old Catholic, Independent Catholic and Assyrian churches, it is a sacrament or rite (or both) in which men and women have right to be ordained as bishops, priests or deacons.
JESUS - Jesus of Nazareth (7–2 BC/BCE to 26–36 AD/CE), also known as Jesus Christ, is the central figure of Christianity, revered by most Christians as the incarnation of God, and is also an important figure in several other religions. "Christ" is a title derived from the Greek (Christos), meaning the "Anointed One," which corresponds to the Hebrew-derived "Messiah".
LAITY - In religious organizations, the laity comprises all persons who are not clergy. A person who is a member of a religious order who is not ordained clergy is considered as a member of the laity, even though they are members of a religious order (for example a nun or lay brother).
LECTERN - (from the Latin lectus, past participle of legere, "to read") is a reading desk with a slanted top, usually placed on a stand or affixed to a some other form of support, on which documents or books are placed as support for reading aloud, as in a Scripture reading.
LENT - in most Christian denominations, is the forty-day liturgical season of fasting and prayer before Easter. The forty days represent the time Jesus spent in the desert, where, according to the Bible, he endured temptation by Satan. Different churches calculate the forty days differently. The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
LITURGY - A liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to their particular traditions. The word may refer to an elaborate formal ritual.
MESSIAH - Literally means "The Anointed (One)", typically someone anointed with holy anointing oil. Figuratively, anointing is done to signify being chosen for a task; so, Messiah means "The Chosen (One)", particularly someone divinely chosen.
MISSIONARY - a member of a religion who works to convert those who do not share the missionary's faith; someone who proselytizes.
NARTHEX - of a church is the entrance, vestibule or lobby area, located at the end of the nave, at the far end from the church's main altar leading to the sanctuary.
NATIVITY - the Nativity, is the story of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth in the Gospels.
NAVE - the nave is the central approach to the high altar.
ORDAINED - individuals who have performed the various religious rites and ceremonies required in the process of Ordination.
ORDINATION - is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. In most Protestant churches, ordination to the pastoral office is the rite by which their various churches: (1)recognize and confirm that an individual has been called by God to ministry,
(2) acknowledges that the individual has gone through a period of discernment and training related to this call, and
(3)authorizes that individual to take on the office of ministry. For the sake of authorization and church order, and not for reason of 'powers' or 'ability', individuals in most mainline Protestant churches must be ordained in order to preside at the sacraments (Baptism and Holy Communion), and to be installed as a called pastor of a congregation or parish.
OMNIPOTENCE - (from Latin root Omni Potens: "all power") is power unlimited power.
PASSIONTIDE - (in the Christian liturgical year) is a name for the last two weeks of Lent, beginning on Passion Sunday (the beginning of Forty Hours' Devotion) and ending on Holy Saturday.
PASSOVER - is a Jewish and Samaritan holy day and festival commemorating the Exodus from Egypt and the liberation of the Israelites from slavery. It is also known as Festival of the Unleavened Bread. In the story of Moses, God set ten plagues upon the Egyptians to convince Pharaoh to release the Israelites. The tenth plague was the killing of the firstborn sons. However, the Israelites were instructed to mark the doorposts of their homes with the blood of a spring lamb, and upon seeing this, the spirit of the Lord passed over these homes, hence the term "passover".
PENTECOST - (Ancient Greek: pentekoste [hemera], "the fiftieth day") is one of the prominent feasts in the Christian liturgical year, celebrated the 49th day (7 weeks) after Easter Sunday (the tenth day after Ascension Thursday). Historically and symbolically related to the Jewish harvest festival of Shavuot, it commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus as described in the Book of Acts, Chapter 2. Pentecost is also called Whitsun, Whitsunday, or Whit Sunday, especially in the United Kingdom.
PEW - is a long bench used for seating members of a church's congregation.
PRAYER - is the act of attempting to communicate, commonly with a sequence of words, with a deity or spirit for the purpose of worshipping, requesting guidance, requesting assistance, confessing sins, as an act of reparation or to express one's thoughts and emotions. The words of the prayer may take the form of intercession, a hymn, incantation or a spontaneous utterance in the person's praying words. Secularly, the term can also be used as an alternative to "hope".
PRIEST - or priestess is a person having the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities.
PRIESTHOOD - is a body of priests, shamans, or oracles who have special religious authority or function. The term priest is derived from Latin presbyter.
PROPITIATION - In Christian theology, propitiation is the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, by which He fulfills the wrath of God (both an emotional response of anger and a moral response of indignation), and conciliates Him who would otherwise be offended by our sin and would demand that we pay the penalty for it. The concept of propitiation is associated in some Christian theological systems with indemnity, imputed righteousness, and substitutionary atonement.
PROSELYTISM - is the practice of attempting to convert people to another opinion and, particularly, another religion.
PROTESTANT - The word is derived from the Latin protestatio meaning declaration.
PROTESTANTISM - encompasses the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated with the doctrines of the Reformation. Protestant doctrine, in contradistinction to that of Roman Catholicism, rejects papal authority and doctrine, and is also known in continental European traditions as Evangelical doctrine. It holds that biblical scripture (rather than tradition or ecclesiastic interpretation of scripture) is the only source of revealed biblical truth, and also that salvation can be achieved through God's grace alone.
PULPIT - (from Latin pulpitum "scaffold", "platform", "stage") is a small elevated platform where a member of the clergy stands in order to read the Gospel lesson and/or deliver a sermon.
PURGATORY - In Roman Catholic Christianity, purgatory is the condition, process, or place of purification or temporary punishment in which the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for heaven.
RECONCILIATION - The reestablishment of friendly relations; conciliation or rapprochement. A Catholic sacrament involving contrition, confession, punishment and absolution; penance.
RELIGION - A system of beliefs, including belief in the existence of at least one of the following: a human soul or spirit, a deity or higher being, or self after the death of one’s body.
SACRAMENT - a rite, instituted by Christ, that mediates grace, constituting a sacred mystery. The most conventional functional definition of a sacrament is that it is an outward sign, instituted by Christ, that conveys an inward, spiritual grace through Christ. The two most widely accepted sacraments are Baptism and the Eucharist; the majority of Christians recognize seven Sacraments or Divine Mysteries : Baptism, Confirmation (Chrismation in the Orthodox tradition), and the Eucharist, Holy Orders, Reconciliation of a Penitent (confession), Anointing of the Sick, and Matrimony. Taken together, these are the Seven Sacraments as recognised by churches in the High church tradition - notably Roman Catholic, Eastern Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Independent Catholic, Old Catholic and some Anglicans, while the Orthodox Church typically does not limit the number of sacraments, viewing all encounters with reality in life as sacramental in some sense, and the acknowledgment of the number of sacraments at seven.
SACRIFICE - (from a Middle English verb meaning "to make sacred", from Old French, from Latin sacrificium: sacer, "sacred" + facere, "to make") is commonly known as the practice of offering food, money or the lives of animals or people to the gods as an act of worship.
SIN - (theology) A violation of a moral or religious law; an error.
SPIRITUALITY - in a narrow sense, concerns itself with matters of the spirit, a concept closely tied to religious belief and faith, a transcendent reality, and God. Spiritual matters are thus those matters regarding humankind's ultimate nature and purpose, not only as material biological organisms, but as beings with a unique relationship to that which is beyond both time and the material world.
SHROVE - is a past tense of the English verb "shrive," which means to obtain absolution for one's sins by confessing and doing penance.
SHROVE MONDAY - sometimes known as Collop Monday, Rose Monday, Merry Monday or Hall Monday, is the Monday before Ash Wednesday.
SHROVE TUESDAY - is the term used in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada to refer to the day after Shrove Monday (or the more old fashioned Collop Monday) and before Ash Wednesday (the liturgical season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday). In Ireland, the UK, and amongst Anglicans, Lutherans and possibly other Protestant denominations in Canada including Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, this day is also known as Pancake Day or Pancake Tuesday, because it is customary to eat pancakes on this day.[
SYNOPTIC GOSPELS - (from Greek syn, together, and opsis, seeing) are the first three gospels — Matthew, Mark, and Luke — found in the New Testament of the Bible. These gospels often recount the same stories about Jesus, generally follow the same sequence and use similar wording. The hows and whys of these books' similarities and differences to each other and to other gospels is known as the synoptic problem.
THEOLOGIANS - Those that study religion and use various forms of analysis and argument (philosophical, ethnographic, historical) to help understand, explain, test, critique, defend or promote any of a myriad of religious topics.
THEOLOGY - is the study of religion from a religious perspective. It has been defined as reasoned discourse about God or the gods, or more generally about religion or spirituality.
THEOPHANY - From the Greek , theo (God), and phainein (to show forth), theophaneia which translates "appearance/showing of God", theophany means an appearance of a God to man, or a divine disclosure.
TRINITY - The Trinity is a Christian doctrine, stating that God is one Being Who exists, simultaneously and eternally, as a mutual indwelling of three persons: the Father, the Son (incarnate as Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit.
VESTRY - In the Episcopal Church the vestry remains a body of lay members, elected by the congregation as a whole, which elects the rector of the church and conducts its secular business. A vestry is also a room within or attached to a church which is used to store vestments and other items used in worship. It is usually of sufficient size to allow those using vestments to change into them, and thus in England and elsewhere was often used for meetings dealing with the administration of the local parish.
WORSHIP - usually refers to specific acts of religious praise, honour, or devotion, typically directed to a supernatural being such as God, a god or goddess. It is the informal term in English for what sociologists of religion call cultus, the body of practices and traditions that correspond to theology.
ZION - The term Zion came to designate the area of Jerusalem where the fortress stood, and later became a metaphor for Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, the city of Jerusalem and the entire Promised Land to come, in which, according to the Hebrew Bible, God dwells among his chosen people. It commonly referred to a specific mountain near Jerusalem (Mount Zion), on which stood a Jebusite fortress of the same name that was conquered by David and was named the City of David.
June 1, 08
8:22 p.m.