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Good Friday

(Encyclopedia)Good Friday, anniversary of Jesus' death on the cross. According to the Gospels, Jesus was put to death on the Friday before Easter Day. Since the early church Good Friday has been observed by fasting...

Mark, Gospel according to

(Encyclopedia)Mark, Gospel according to, 2d book of the New Testament. The shortest of the four Gospels and probably the earliest, it is usually thought to have been composed shortly before the destruction of the T...

Mormons

(Encyclopedia)Mormons: see Latter-day Saints, Church of Jesus Christ of. ...

Hebrews, book of the New Testament

(Encyclopedia)Hebrews, an anonymous New Testament homily with closing greetings normally associated with the letter genre, written before c.a.d. 96. It is addressed to Jewish Christians who were being pressured to ...

Maundy Thursday

(Encyclopedia)Maundy Thursday mônˈdē [key] [Lat. mandatum, word in the ceremony], traditional English name for Thursday of Holy Week, so named because it is considered the anniversary of the institution of the E...

Agnus Dei

(Encyclopedia)Agnus Dei ăgˈnəs dēˈī, änˈyo͝os dāˈē [key] [Lat.], the Lamb of God, i.e., Jesus. The lamb of the Passover sacrifice is said to prefigure the crucifixion. Isaiah calls the expected Messiah ...

Agapemone

(Encyclopedia)Agapemone ăgəpĕmˈənē [key] [Gr.,=abode of love], English religious community of men and women, holding all goods in common. It was founded (c.1850) at the village of Spaxton, Somerset, by Henry ...

Joanna, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Joanna, in the New Testament. 1 Wife of Herod's steward Chuza. She was a follower of Jesus and was one who found the tomb empty. 2 Ancestor of St. Joseph. ...

Calvary

(Encyclopedia)Calvary gŏlˈgəthə [key] [Heb.,=a skull], in the Gospels, place where Jesus was crucified, outside what was then the wall of Jerusalem. Its location is not certainly known. The traditional identifi...

Martha

(Encyclopedia)Martha, in the New Testament, friend of Jesus, sister of Mary and Lazarus of Bethany. In Christian literature, Martha has been a symbol of the active, as opposed to the contemplative, life. Feast: Jul...