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Good Thief

(Encyclopedia)Good Thief or Penitent Thief, in the New Testament, the malefactor crucified with Jesus who did not revile Him; Jesus promised him Paradise that day. In the Roman martyrology his feast is Mar. 25. His...

parable

(Encyclopedia)parable, the term translates the Hebrew word “mashal”—a term denoting a metaphor, or an enigmatic saying or an analogy. In the Greco-Roman rhetorical tradition, however, “parables” were illu...

Lord's Prayer

(Encyclopedia)Lord's Prayer or Our Father, the principal Christian prayer that Jesus in the New Testament (Mat. 6.9–13; Luke 11.2–4) taught his followers, beginning, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your na...

Transfiguration

(Encyclopedia)Transfiguration, in the New Testament, manifestation wherein Jesus appeared “shining” before Peter, James, and John. The traditional explanation is that in it Jesus' divine glory shone in his eart...

Ephphatha

(Encyclopedia)Ephphatha ĕfˈəthə [key] [Aramaic,=be opened], in the Gospel of St. Mark, words addressed by Jesus to a deaf-mute as Jesus made him hear and speak. As elsewhere in Mark, the Greek text retains and ...

Thomas, Gospel of

(Encyclopedia)Thomas, Gospel of, a collection of sayings, composed originally in Greek, attributed to the “living” (i.e., resurrected) Jesus. Some of the sayings were previously known from papyri discovered at ...

Judas Iscariot

(Encyclopedia)Judas Iscariot ĭskârˈēət [key], Jesus' betrayer, possibly from the village of Kerioth, the only Judaean disciple among the Twelve, and, according to the Gospel of St. John, their treasurer. Judas...

Barabbas

(Encyclopedia)Barabbas bərăbˈəs [key] [Aram.,=son of the father], bandit held in jail at the time of Jesus' arrest. Pontius Pilate, who, according to the Gospels, annually released a prisoner at Passover, offer...

Kazantzakis, Nikos

(Encyclopedia)Kazantzakis, Nikos nēˈkôs käˌzändzäˈkēs [key], 1883?–1957, Greek writer, b. Crete. After obtaining a law degree he studied philosophy under Henri Bergson in Paris and traveled widely in Eur...

Justus

(Encyclopedia)Justus, in the Bible. 1 Surname of Joseph Barsabas. 2 or Titus Justus, Corinthian host of St. Paul. 3 Jesus Justus: see Jesus (2.) ...