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Sanhedrin

(Encyclopedia)Sanhedrin sănhĕdˈrĭn [key], ancient Jewish legal and religious institution in Jerusalem that appears to have exercised the functions of a court between c.63 b.c. and c.a.d. 68. The accounts of it ...

Flacius Illyricus, Matthias

(Encyclopedia)Flacius Illyricus, Matthias məthīˈəs flāˈshəs ĭlĭrˈĭkəs [key], 1520–75, German Lutheran reformer, whose original name was Matthias Vlachich or Francowich, b. Istria. After studying for t...

Esau

(Encyclopedia)Esau ēˈsô [key] [Heb.,=hairy], in the Bible, son of Isaac, who sold his birthright to his younger twin, Jacob, for lentil stew and who was tricked by Jacob out of his father's blessing. Also known ...

All Saints' Day

(Encyclopedia)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 Gr...

Philippians

(Encyclopedia)Philippians fəlĭpˈēənz [key], letter of the New Testament, written by St. Paul from captivity probably in Rome (c.a.d. 60) to the Christians of Philippi (in Macedonia), the first European city th...

Dead Sea Scrolls

(Encyclopedia)Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient leather and papyrus scrolls first discovered in 1947 in caves on the NW shore of the Dead Sea. Most of the documents were written or copied between the 1st cent. b.c. and the...

Persian language

(Encyclopedia)Persian language, member of the Iranian group of the Indo-Iranian subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Indo-Iranian languages). The official language of Iran, it has about 38 millio...

Psalms

(Encyclopedia)Psalms sôlˈtər [key], book of the Bible, a collection of 150 hymnic pieces. Since the last centuries b.c., this book has been the chief hymnal of Jews, and subsequently, of Christians. The hymns ar...

Hebrew language

(Encyclopedia)Hebrew language, member of the Canaanite group of the West Semitic subdivision of the Semitic subfamily of the Afroasiatic family of languages (see Afroasiatic languages). Hebrew was the language of t...

Nazareth

(Encyclopedia)Nazareth năzˈərĭth [key], town (1993 pop. 53,500), N Israel, in Galilee. As the home of Jesus, it is a great pilgrimage and tourist center. Nazareth is also the trade center for an agricultural re...