Acts of the Apostles is one of the books of the New Testament. It was written in Greek by St Luke, probably in 63 or 64. It embraces a period of about thirty years, beginning immediately after the resurrection, and extending to the second year of the imprisonment of St Paul in Rome. Very little information is given regarding any of the apostles, excepting St Peter and St Paul, and the accounts of them are far from being complete.
It describes the gathering of the infantchurch; the fulfilment of the promise of Christ to his apostles in the descent of the Holy Ghost; the choice of Matthias in the place of Judas, the betrayer; the testimony of the apostles to the resurrection of Jesus in their discourses; their preaching in Jerusalem and in Judea, and afterwards to the Gentiles; the conversion of Paul, his preaching in Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy, his miracles and labours. Research Acts of the Apostles
Apocalypse is the name frequently given to the last book of the New Testament, in the English version called The Revelation of St John the Divine. It is generally believed that the Apocalypse was written by the apostle John in his old age around 95 to 97 A.D. in the Isle of Patnios, whither he had been banished by the Roman Emperor Domitian. Anciently its genuineness was maintained by Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, and many others; while it was doubted by Dionysius of Alexandria, Cyril of Jerusalem, Chrysostorn, and, nearer our own times, by Luther and a majority of the eminent German commentators. The Apocalypse has been explained differently by almost every writer who has ventured to interpret it, and has furnished all sorts of sects and fanatics with quotations to support their creeds or pretensions. The modern interpreters may be divided into three schools - namely, the historical school who hold that the prophecy embraces the whole history of the church and its foes from the time of its writing to the end of the world; the Praeterists, who hold that the whole or nearly the whole of the prophecy has been already fulfilled, and that it refers chiefly to the triumph of Christianity over Paganism and Judaism; and the Futurists, who throw the whole prophecy, except the first three chapters, forward upon a time not yet reached by the church - a period of no very long duration, which is immediately to precede Christ's second coming. Research Apocalypse
The Basilean Manuscripts are two manuscripts of the Greek New Testament now in the library of Basel. They comprise a nearly complete uncial copy of the Gospels of the eighth century and a cursive copy of the whole New Testament except the Apocalypse, written in the tenth century. Research Basilean Manuscripts
The bible is the sacred book of the Jewish and Christian religions (actually a collection of a number of books) . The Hebrew Bible, recognised by both Jews and Christians, is called the Old Testament by Christians. The New Testament comprises books recognised by the Christian church from the 5th century as canonical (the first Christian bible was produced in 494). The Roman Catholic Bible also includes the Apocrypha. It was only in the 13th century that single-volume Bibles with a fixed content and order of books became common, largely through a Paris-produced Vulgate of 1200 and the Paris Bible of 1230. The first English translation of the entire Bible was by a priest, Miles Coverdale in 1535; the Authorised Version, or King James Bible of 1611, was long influential for the clarity and beauty of its language. A revision of the Authorized Version carried out in 1959 by the British and Foreign Bible Society produced the widely used American translation, the Revised Standard Version.
A conference of British churches in 1946 recommended a completely new translation into English from the original Hebrew and Greek texts; work on this was carried out over the following two decades, resulting in the publication of the New English Bible in 1961 and 1970. Another recent translation is the Jerusalem Bible, completed by Catholic scholars in 1966. Missionary activity led to the translation of the Bible into the languages of people they were trying to convert, and by 1993 parts of the Bible had been translated into over 2,000 different languages, with 329 complete translations.
The King James Bible has probably sold more copies than any other book in history, and is still popular, especially among fundamentalists. The 'Good News Bible' has been the most popular translation into modern colloquial English. Two new versions of the Bible were published in the mid-1990s: the Contemporary English Version of 1996, which rejects old biblical language in favour of a contemporary spoken style, and the Schocken Bible of 1995, a translation of the Pentateuch, which attempts to renew the shock of the original Hebrew. As more manuscripts are discovered, disputed readings become clearer, so that in some respects modern translations are more accurate than older ones. Research Bible
The breviary is the book which contains prayers or offices to be used at the seven canonical hours of matins, prime, tierce, sext, nones, vespers, and compline by all in the orders of the Church of Rome or in the enjoyment of any Roman Catholic benefice. It is not known at what time the use of the breviary was first enjoined, but the early offices were exhaustive from their great length, and under Gregory VII their abridgment was considered necessary, hence the origin of the name breviary (from the Latin brevis, short). In 1568 Pius V published that which has remained, with few modifications, to the present day. The Roman breviary, however, was never fully accepted by the Gallican Church until after the strenuous efforts made by the Ultramontanes from 1840 to 1864. The Psalms occupy a large place in the breviary; passages from the Old and New Testament and from the fathers have the next place. All the services are in Latin, and their arrangement is very complex. The English Book of Common Prayer is based on the Roman Breviary. Research Breviary
Dei gratia ('by the grace of God'), is a formula which sovereigns add to their title. The expression is taken from several apostolical expressions in the New Testament. Research Dei Gratia
Divorce is a separation, by law, of husband and wife, and is either a divorce a vinculo matrimonii, that is, a complete dissolution of the marriage bonds, or a divorce a mensa et thoro (from bed and board), whereby the parties are legally separated, but not unmarried.
The causes admitted by different codes of laws as grounds for the modification or entire dissolution of the marriage contract, as well as the description of tribunal which has jurisdiction of the proceedings, and the form of the proceedings, are various.
Divorce was permitted by the law of Moses, but forbidden in the New Testament, except for unchastity. The early laws of Rome permitted the husband to divorce his wife for adultery and many other alleged offences. The facility of divorce continued, without restriction, under the Roman emperors, but as the modern nations of Europe emerged from the ruins of the Roman Empire, they adopted the doctrine of the New Testament. Marriage, under the Roman Church, instead of a civil contract, came to be considered a sacrament of the church, which it was unlawful to dissolve. The ecclesiastical courts could indeed annul a marriage, but only for a cause that existed at the time the marriage was contracted, such as prior contracts, impotency, etc. For any cause arising after marriage they could only pronounce a divorce a mensa et thoro, which did not leave either party free to marry again, except by papal dispensation.
A divorce a vinculo matrimonii, for any cause arising subsequent to marriage, could formerly be obtained in England only by an act of parliament, and the ecclesiastical courts must have previously pronounced a divorce a mensa et thoro. The act passed in 1857, however, established a new court for trying divorce causes, called the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, subsequently absorbed into the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division of the High Court of Justice.
In Victorian England, the husband could obtain a divorce for simple adultery; but if the wife is the petitioner, she had to show that her husband had been guilty of certain kinds of adultery, or of adultery coupled with desertion or gross cruelty. Either party could marry again after divorce. A divorce could not be obtained if it appeared that the petitioner had been guilty of the same offence, or that there had been collusion between the parties to obtain a divorce, or if they had condoned the offence by living together as man and wife after discovery. The husband could claim damages from the adulterer, and the court could also order the adulterer to pay the costs of the proceedings, in whole or in part. The act also abolished divorces a mensa et thoro, substituting, however, judicial separations. Since the late 20th century, divorce in BritainEngland has become a simple affair with either party simply having to claim that the marriage has broken down irretrievably.
A decree for a divorce is always in the first instance a decree nisi. In Scotland, from the time of the Reformation, divorce might be obtained by either party on the ground of adultery, marriage being held to be only a civil contract, and as such under the jurisdiction of the civil courts. Condonation or collusion was sufficient to prevent a divorce from being obtained on the ground of adultery, but not recrimination, that is, a counter charge of adultery. Wilful desertion was also held a valid reason for divorce.
In France divorce was legalized in 1884, with conditions, after having been prohibited for many years. Research Divorce
The Douai Bible is the English translation of the Bible used among English-speaking Roman Catholics, and executed by divines connected with the English College at Douai. The New Testament was published in 1582 at Rheims, the Old in 1609-10 at Douai, the translation being based on the Vulgate. Various revisions have since materially altered it. Research Douai Bible
Hades means places of the departed spirit. In Christian terminology it is the place, either heaven or hell, where the spirit awaits the resurrection. Throughout the modern New Testament the word Hades has been mistranslated as 'hell' meaning the inferno, rather than ambiguous correct meaning. Research Hades
Holy Orders are the state of those who have entrusted to them, the power of exercising certain functions in the Christian Church. Thus the Anglican Church recognizes three orders: bishops, priests, and deacons. The Roman Catholic Church calls these (with the sub-deaconate) the
major orders. The minor orders being: acolytes, exorcists, readers, and doorkeepers, but these are
now only preliminaries to the priesthood. The Eastern Churches have the same major orders, but
only readers besides. The Armenianhierarchy is the same as the Roman.
There has been much controversy between Roman and Anglican theologians as to the validity of Anglican orders. In the bull Apostolicce Curae of 1896 the pope declared them to be invalid. In the Greek Church, however, Anglican orders were recognized.
The early history of orders in the Christian Church is much disputed. Some deny the Catholic claim that the threefold ministry existed from the beginning. Presbyterians defend their Church government on historic grounds. It is probable that at first (e.g., in the New Testament) bishops and presbyters were not differentiated. In the early 2nd century the monarchical episcopate was evolved. Research Holy Orders
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Acts of the Apostles
