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Bethesda, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Bethesda bĕthĕzˈdə, –thĕsˈ– [key], pool in Jerusalem, perhaps the one discovered under the Crusaders' Church of St. Anne near St. Stephen's Gate in the northeast corner of the city. Accordin...

Rahab

(Encyclopedia)Rahab rāˈhăb [key], in the Bible. 1 Prostitute of Jericho whose protection of Joshua's two spies saved her and her family from destruction. She may be the same woman mentioned in the Gospel genealo...

John, Saint

(Encyclopedia)John, Saint, one of the Twelve Apostles, traditional author of the fourth Gospel, three letters, and the Book of Revelation (see John, Gospel according to Saint; John, letters; Revelation); it is high...

Loisy, Alfred Firmin

(Encyclopedia)Loisy, Alfred Firmin älfrĕdˈ fērmăNˈ lwäzēˈ [key], 1857–1940, French theologian, biblical critic, and leading exponent of biblical modernism. He was ordained (1879) a Roman Catholic priest ...

Eliakim

(Encyclopedia)Eliakim ēlīˈəkĭm [key]. 1 King of Judah: see Jehoiakim. 2 Important officer of state under King Hezekiah. 3 Priest at the dedication of the new wall at Jerusalem. 4, 5 Names appearing in the Gosp...

Eleazar

(Encyclopedia)Eleazar ĕlēāˈzər [key], in the Bible. 1 Son of Aaron. 2 Keeper of the Ark of the Covenant. 3 Mighty man of David. 4 Man in the genealogy in the first chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew. 5 One o...

Basilides

(Encyclopedia)Basilides bəsĭlˈĭdēz [key], fl. 120–145, Gnostic teacher of Alexandria. He wrote Exegitica (his personal gospel with 24 books of commentary) and poems. He claimed to possess a secret tradition ...

Star of Bethlehem, in the Gospels

(Encyclopedia)Star of Bethlehem, name given to the luminous celestial object rising in the sky that, as related in the Gospel of Matthew, led the Wise Men of the East to the manger in Bethlehem where Jesus was born...

Seth, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Seth, in the Bible, son of Adam and Eve, father of Enosh. In the chronology in the Gospel of St. Luke, Seth is an ancestor of Jesus. The Nag Hammadi codices preserve revelatory discourses ascribed to ...

Philip, Saint, one of the seven deacons chosen by the Twelve Apostles

(Encyclopedia)Philip, Saint, one of the seven deacons chosen by the Twelve Apostles. He is also called St. Philip the Evangelist and St. Philip the Deacon. He evangelized Samaria and later converted an important eu...