159-1031: Lent ( Latin : Quadragesima , 'Fortieth') is the solemn Christian religious observance in the liturgical year commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan , according to the Gospels of Matthew , Mark and Luke , before beginning his public ministry . Lent is usually observed in the Catholic , Lutheran , Moravian , Anglican , United Protestant and Orthodox Christian traditions, among others. Some Anabaptist , Baptist , Methodist , Reformed (including certain Continental Reformed , Presbyterian and Congregationalist churches), and nondenominational Christian churches also observe Lent, although many churches in these traditions do not. Which days are enumerated as being part of Lent differs between denominations (see below ), although in all of them Lent
318-478: A Lenten sacrifice , in which Christians give up a personal pleasure for the duration of 40 days, is a traditional practice during Lent. During Shrovetide and especially on Shrove Tuesday , the day before the start of the Lenten season, many Christians finalize their decision with respect to what Lenten sacrifices they will make for Lent. Examples include practicing vegetarianism and teetotalism during Lent as
477-557: A "dead language" , Latin did not undergo language death . By the 6th to 9th centuries, natural language change eventually resulted in Latin as a vernacular language evolving into distinct Romance languages in the large areas where it had come to be natively spoken. However, even after the fall of Western Rome , Latin remained the common language of international communication , science, scholarship and academia in Europe until well into
636-455: A Lenten sacrifice. While making a Lenten sacrifice, it is customary to pray for strength to keep it; many often wish others for doing so as well, e.g. "May God bless your Lenten sacrifice." In addition, some believers add a regular spiritual discipline, to bring them closer to God, such as reading a Lenten daily devotional . For Catholics, Lutherans, Moravians, Anglicans, United Protestants, and Lent-observing Methodists and Reformed Christians,
795-578: A Lenten spiritual discipline, such as reading a daily devotional or praying through a Lenten calendar , to draw themselves near to God . Often observed are the Stations of the Cross , a devotional commemoration of Christ's carrying the Cross and crucifixion . Many churches remove flowers from their altars and veil crucifixes , religious statues that show the triumphant Christ, and other elaborate religious symbols in violet fabrics in solemn observance of
954-737: A basket in the narthex to collect the previous year's Holy Week palm branches that were blessed and distributed during the Palm Sunday liturgies; on Shrove Tuesday, churches burn these palms to make the ashes used during the services held on the very next day, Ash Wednesday. In historically Lutheran nations, Shrovetide is known as Fastelavn . After attending the Mass on Shrove Sunday , congregants enjoy Shrovetide buns (fastelavnsboller), "round sweet buns that are covered with icing and filled with cream and/or jam." Children often dress up and collect money from people while singing. They also practice
1113-801: A beard, a depiction largely derived from, and justified by, the near-physical, but still figurative, description of the Ancient of Days . In the Annunciation by Benvenuto di Giovanni in 1470, God the Father is portrayed in the red robe and a hat that resembles that of a Cardinal. However, even in the later part of the 15th century, the symbolic representation of the Father and the Holy Spirit as "hands and dove" continued, e.g. in Verrocchio's Baptism of Christ in 1472. In Renaissance paintings of
1272-525: A classicizing form, called Renaissance Latin . This was the basis for Neo-Latin which evolved during the early modern period . In these periods Latin was used productively and generally taught to be written and spoken, at least until the late seventeenth century, when spoken skills began to erode. It then became increasingly taught only to be read. Latin grammar is highly fusional , with classes of inflections for case , number , person , gender , tense , mood , voice , and aspect . The Latin alphabet
1431-468: A cornerstone of modern Christian understandings of God—however, some Christian denominations hold nontrinitarian views about God . Christians, in common with Jews and Muslims , identify with the biblical patriarch Abraham to whom God revealed himself. It is believed that Abraham was the first to affirm monotheism (the belief in one God) and had an ideal relationship with God. The Abrahamic religions believe that God continuously interacted with
1590-600: A descendant of Arabic, the term Randan is used, which is distinctive when compared to the dialects of Arabic. Despite the centuries of Catholic influences, the term remains unchanged since the Arab occupation of Malta . The pattern of fasting and praying for 40 days is seen in the Christian Bible , on which basis the liturgical season of Lent was established. In the Old Testament , the prophet Moses went into
1749-438: A different logical dynamic which from such attributes as infinite goodness since there are relative forms of the latter but not of the former. In Christian theology, the name of God has always held deeper significance than purely being a label, considered instead to have divine origin and be based upon divine revelation. The Bible usually uses the name of God in the singular (e.g., Exodus 20:7 or Psalms 8:1), generally using
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#17327583081891908-526: A faster pace. It is characterised by greater use of prepositions, and word order that is closer to modern Romance languages, for example, while grammatically retaining more or less the same formal rules as Classical Latin. Ultimately, Latin diverged into a distinct written form, where the commonly spoken form was perceived as a separate language, for instance early French or Italian dialects, that could be transcribed differently. It took some time for these to be viewed as wholly different from Latin however. After
2067-691: A few in German , Dutch , Norwegian , Danish and Swedish . Latin is still spoken in Vatican City, a city-state situated in Rome that is the seat of the Catholic Church . The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part, in substantial works or in fragments to be analyzed in philology . They are in part the subject matter of the field of classics . Their works were published in manuscript form before
2226-404: A few. Famous and well regarded writers included Petrarch, Erasmus, Salutati , Celtis , George Buchanan and Thomas More . Non fiction works were long produced in many subjects, including the sciences, law, philosophy, historiography and theology. Famous examples include Isaac Newton 's Principia . Latin was also used as a convenient medium for translations of important works first written in
2385-574: A formal doctrine of the Trinity as such, "it does repeatedly speak of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit... in such a way as to compel a Trinitarian understanding of God". Around 200 AD, Tertullian formulated a version of the doctrine of the Trinity which clearly affirmed the divinity of Jesus. This concept was later expanded upon at the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, and
2544-677: A last opportunity for excess before Lent begins. Some of the most famous are the Carnival of Barranquilla , the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife , the Carnival of Venice , Cologne Carnival , the New Orleans Mardi Gras , the Rio de Janeiro carnival , and the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival . In stark contrast to traditions of merrymaking and feasting, Oriental Orthodox Churches practice a pre-Lenten fast in preparation for Lent which
2703-478: A later definitive form was produced by the Ecumenical Council of 381 . The Trinitarian doctrine holds that God the Son, God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit are all different hypostases (Persons) of one substance, and is not traditionally held to be one of tritheism . Trinitarianism was subsequently adopted as the official theological doctrine through Nicene Christianity thereafter, and forms
2862-411: A military loss which he attributed to the undue veneration of icons. The edict (which was issued without consulting the church) forbade the veneration of religious images, but did not apply to other forms of art, including the image of the emperor, or religious symbols such as the cross. Theological arguments against icons then began to appear with iconoclasts arguing that icons could not represent both
3021-408: A number of references to the Holy Spirit, with the theme which appears in 1 Thessalonians 4:8 – "...God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit" – appearing throughout his epistles. In John 14:26, Jesus also refers to "the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name". By the end of the 1st century, Clement of Rome had repeatedly referred to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and linked
3180-525: A period of fasting before Pascha [Easter]). However it is known that the 40-day period of fasting – the season later named Lent – before Eastertide was clarified at the Nicene Council. In 363-64 AD, the Council of Laodicea prescribed the Lenten fast as "of strict necessity". The 40 days of Lent are calculated differently among the various Christian denominations that observe it, depending on how
3339-496: A period of forty days and forty nights...merited to extinguish the prolonged and severe dryness of the whole world, doing so with a stream of rain and steeping the earth's dryness with the bounty of water from heaven", in the Christian tradition, this is interpreted as being "a figure of ourselves so that we, also fasting a total of forty days, might merit the spiritual rain of baptism...[and] a shower from heaven might pour down upon
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#17327583081893498-470: A pontifical decree of Pope Alexander VI . Until 1741, meat and lacticinia were otherwise forbidden for the whole season of Lent, including Sundays. In that year, Pope Benedict XIV allowed for the consumption of meat and lacticinia during certain fasting days of Lent. Abstinence from alcohol during the season of Lent has traditionally been enjoined "in remembrance of the Sacred Thirst of Our Lord on
3657-567: A result, the list has variants, as well as alternative names. In addition to the historical phases, Ecclesiastical Latin refers to the styles used by the writers of the Roman Catholic Church from late antiquity onward, as well as by Protestant scholars. The earliest known form of Latin is Old Latin, also called Archaic or Early Latin, which was spoken from the Roman Kingdom , traditionally founded in 753 BC, through
3816-407: A separate language, existing more or less in parallel with the literary or educated Latin, but this is now widely dismissed. The term 'Vulgar Latin' remains difficult to define, referring both to informal speech at any time within the history of Latin, and the kind of informal Latin that had begun to move away from the written language significantly in the post-Imperial period, that led ultimately to
3975-519: A series of intellectual attributes: knowledge-omniscience ; wisdom ; veracity and then, the moral attributes of goodness (including love, grace, mercy and patience); holiness and righteousness before dealing finally with his sovereignty . Gregory of Nyssa was one of the first theologians to argue, in opposition to Origen , that God is infinite . His main argument for the infinity of God, which can be found in Against Eunomius ,
4134-578: A similar tall full-length symbol for the Father. The Rohan Book of Hours of about 1430 also included depictions of God the Father in half-length human form, which were now becoming standard, and the Hand of God becoming rarer. At the same period other works, like the large Genesis altarpiece by the Hamburg painter Meister Bertram , continued to use the old depiction of Christ as Logos in Genesis scenes. In
4293-709: A small number of Latin services held in the Anglican church. These include an annual service in Oxford, delivered with a Latin sermon; a relic from the period when Latin was the normal spoken language of the university. In the Western world, many organizations, governments and schools use Latin for their mottos due to its association with formality, tradition, and the roots of Western culture . Canada's motto A mari usque ad mare ("from sea to sea") and most provincial mottos are also in Latin. The Canadian Victoria Cross
4452-429: A sort of informal language academy dedicated to maintaining and perpetuating educated speech. Philological analysis of Archaic Latin works, such as those of Plautus , which contain fragments of everyday speech, gives evidence of an informal register of the language, Vulgar Latin (termed sermo vulgi , "the speech of the masses", by Cicero ). Some linguists, particularly in the nineteenth century, believed this to be
4611-631: A spoken and written language by the scholarship by the Renaissance humanists . Petrarch and others began to change their usage of Latin as they explored the texts of the Classical Latin world. Skills of textual criticism evolved to create much more accurate versions of extant texts through the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and some important texts were rediscovered. Comprehensive versions of authors' works were published by Isaac Casaubon , Joseph Scaliger and others. Nevertheless, despite
4770-432: A strictly left-to-right script. During the late republic and into the first years of the empire, from about 75 BC to AD 200, a new Classical Latin arose, a conscious creation of the orators, poets, historians and other literate men, who wrote the great works of classical literature , which were taught in grammar and rhetoric schools. Today's instructional grammars trace their roots to such schools , which served as
4929-693: A vernacular, such as those of Descartes . Latin education underwent a process of reform to classicise written and spoken Latin. Schooling remained largely Latin medium until approximately 1700. Until the end of the 17th century, the majority of books and almost all diplomatic documents were written in Latin. Afterwards, most diplomatic documents were written in French (a Romance language ) and later native or other languages. Education methods gradually shifted towards written Latin, and eventually concentrating solely on reading skills. The decline of Latin education took several centuries and proceeded much more slowly than
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5088-448: A version based on the Latin term referring to the 40 days (see above), also has a "great fast" version: postul mare . Dutch has three options, one of which means fasting period , and the other two referring to the 40-day period indicated in the Latin term: vastentijd , veertigdagentijd and quadragesima , respectively. In India, it is called चरम चालीसा ( Charam Chalisa - meaning, "climax forty"). In Maltese , despite being
5247-468: A whole human figure. In many images, the figure of the Son supplants the Father, so a smaller portion of the person of the Father is depicted. By the 12th century depictions of God the Father had started to appear in French illuminated manuscripts , which as a less public form could often be more adventurous in their iconography, and in stained glass church windows in England. Initially the head or bust
5406-411: Is Veritas ("truth"). Veritas was the goddess of truth, a daughter of Saturn, and the mother of Virtue. Switzerland has adopted the country's Latin short name Helvetia on coins and stamps, since there is no room to use all of the nation's four official languages . For a similar reason, it adopted the international vehicle and internet code CH , which stands for Confoederatio Helvetica ,
5565-616: Is a period of grief that necessarily ends with a great celebration of Easter . Thus, it is known in Eastern Orthodox circles as the season of "bright sadness" ( Greek : χαρμολύπη , romanized : charmolypê ). The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer for Easter through prayer , mortifying the flesh , repentance of sins, almsgiving , simple living , and self-denial . In Lent, many Christians commit to fasting , as well as giving up certain luxuries in imitation of Christ 's sacrifice during his journey into
5724-640: Is a reversal of the original phrase Non terrae plus ultra ("No land further beyond", "No further!"). According to legend , this phrase was inscribed as a warning on the Pillars of Hercules , the rocks on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar and the western end of the known, Mediterranean world. Charles adopted the motto following the discovery of the New World by Columbus, and it also has metaphorical suggestions of taking risks and striving for excellence. In
5883-608: Is also related. According to the Oxford English Dictionary , 'the shorter form (? Old Germanic type * laŋgito - , * laŋgiton -) seems to be a derivative of * laŋgo - long […] and may possibly have reference to the lengthening of the days as characterizing the season of spring'. The origin of the - en element is less clear: it may simply be a suffix , or lencten may originally have been a compound of * laŋgo - 'long' and an otherwise little-attested word *- tino , meaning "day". In languages spoken where Christianity
6042-610: Is broken only after the Paschal (Easter) Divine Liturgy. The Eastern Orthodox Church maintains the traditional Church's teaching on fasting. The rules for lenten fasting are the monastic rules. Fasting in the Orthodox Church is more than simply abstaining from certain foods. During the Great Lent Orthodox Faithful intensify their prayers and spiritual exercises, go to church services more often, study
6201-420: Is celebrated. On the final day of the season, Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras , many traditional Christians, such as Catholics , Lutherans , Anglicans , and Methodists "make a special point of self-examination, of considering what wrongs they need to repent, and what amendments of life or areas of spiritual growth they especially need to ask God's help in dealing with." During Shrovetide, many churches place
6360-791: Is commemorated on Good Friday, and at the beginning of the next week the joyful celebration of Easter, the start of the Easter season , which recalls the Resurrection of Jesus . In some Christian denominations, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday form the Easter Triduum . The English word Lent is a shortened form of the Old English word lencten , meaning " spring season ", as its Dutch language cognate lente ( Old Dutch lentin ) still does today. A dated term in German , Lenz ( Old High German lenzo ),
6519-512: Is described as lasting for a total duration of 40 days, the number of days Jesus, as well as Moses and Elijah , went without food in their respective fasts. In Lent-observing Western Christian denominations, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends approximately six weeks later; depending on the Christian denomination and local custom, Lent concludes either on the evening of Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday), or at sundown on Holy Saturday , when
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6678-650: Is directly derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets . Latin remains the official language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church at the Vatican City . The church continues to adapt concepts from modern languages to Ecclesiastical Latin of the Latin language. Contemporary Latin is more often studied to be read rather than spoken or actively used. Latin has greatly influenced
6837-552: Is found in any widespread language, the languages of Spain, France, Portugal, and Italy have retained a remarkable unity in phonological forms and developments, bolstered by the stabilising influence of their common Christian (Roman Catholic) culture. It was not until the Muslim conquest of Spain in 711, cutting off communications between the major Romance regions, that the languages began to diverge seriously. The spoken Latin that would later become Romanian diverged somewhat more from
6996-532: Is immediately followed by the fast of Great Lent without interruption. There are traditionally 40 days in Lent; these are marked by fasting, both from foods and festivities, and by other acts of penance . Fasting is maintained for all 40 days of Lent (regardless of how they are enumerated; see above ). Historically, fasting and abstinence has been maintained continuously for the weekdays of the whole Lenten season, with Sundays being days of abstinence only. The making of
7155-689: Is modelled after the British Victoria Cross which has the inscription "For Valour". Because Canada is officially bilingual, the Canadian medal has replaced the English inscription with the Latin Pro Valore . Spain's motto Plus ultra , meaning "even further", or figuratively "Further!", is also Latin in origin. It is taken from the personal motto of Charles V , Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain (as Charles I), and
7314-522: Is no earlier incarnation. Second, that it is based on an Egyptian Christian post- theophany fast. Third, a combination of origins syncretized around the Council of Nicea. There are early references to periods of fasting prior to baptism . For instance, the Didache , a 1st or 2nd-century Christian text, commends "the baptizer, the one to be baptized, and any others that are able" to fast to prepare for
7473-503: Is no formal distinction in the Confession, Reformed authors have interpreted in it a specifically Reformed distinction between incommunicable and communicable attributes; the former being those which have no unqualified analogy in created things (e.g., simplicity and eternity), the latter being those which have some analogy in some created things such as humans (e.g., wisdom and goodness). The relationship between these two classes
7632-497: Is not of the substance of the created universe. Traditionally, some theologians such as Louis Berkhof distinguish between the incommunicable and communicable attributes of God. The former are those attributes which have no unqualified analogy in created things (e.g., simplicity and eternity), in other words, attributes that belong to God alone. The latter attributes are those which have some analogy in created things, especially humans (e.g., wisdom and goodness). Thus, following
7791-624: Is often symbolized using a man wearing a papal dress and a papal crown, supporting the dead Christ in his arms. They are depicted as floating in heaven with angels who carry the instruments of the Passion . Representations of God the Father and the Trinity were attacked both by Protestants and within Catholicism, by the Jansenist and Baianist movements as well as more orthodox theologians. As with other attacks on Catholic imagery, this had
7950-512: Is one God, Paul's statement (which is likely based on pre-Pauline confessions) includes a number of other significant elements: he distinguishes Christian belief from the Jewish background of the time by referring to Jesus and the Father almost in the same breath, and by conferring on Jesus the title of divine honor "Lord", as well as calling him Christ. In the Book of Acts (Acts 17:24–27), during
8109-485: Is such that the incommunicable attributes qualify all the communicable attributes, thus, God is infinite, eternal and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth, following the classic definition of God in the Westminster Shorter Catechism . Thus, Article 1 is said to begin by enumerating the incommunicable attributes, but from 'almighty' to 'good' enumerates
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#17327583081898268-958: Is taught at many high schools, especially in Europe and the Americas. It is most common in British public schools and grammar schools, the Italian liceo classico and liceo scientifico , the German Humanistisches Gymnasium and the Dutch gymnasium . Occasionally, some media outlets, targeting enthusiasts, broadcast in Latin. Notable examples include Radio Bremen in Germany, YLE radio in Finland (the Nuntii Latini broadcast from 1989 until it
8427-694: Is that God's goodness is limitless, and as God's goodness is essential , God is also limitless. Many early Christians believed that a number of verses within the Bible, were meant to apply not only to God, but to all attempts aiming to depict God. However, early Christian art, such as that of the Dura Europos church , displays the Hand of God , a theological symbol representing the right hand of God, and Christ himself, along with many saints, are depicted. The Dura Europos synagogue nearby has numerous instances of
8586-509: Is that insofar as God the Father or the Spirit did not become man, visible and tangible images and portrait icons would be inaccurate, and that what was true for the whole Trinity before Christ remains true for the Father and the Spirit, but not for the Word. John of Damascus wrote: If we attempt to make an image of the invisible God, this would be sinful indeed. It is impossible to portray one who
8745-404: Is the eternal , supreme being who created and preserves all things. Christians believe in a monotheistic conception of God , which is both transcendent (wholly independent of, and removed from, the material universe) and immanent (involved in the material universe). Christians believe in a singular God that exists in a Trinity , which consists of three Persons: God the Father , God
8904-690: Is the same as the traditional 40-day calculation.) In the Byzantine Rite , i.e., the Eastern Orthodox Great Lent (Greek: Μεγάλη Τεσσαρακοστή or Μεγάλη Νηστεία, meaning "Great 40 Days" and "Great Fast" respectively) is the most important fasting season in the church year. The 40 days of Great Lent include Sundays, and begin on Clean Monday . The 40 days are immediately followed by what are considered distinct periods of fasting, Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday , which in turn are followed straightway by Holy Week . Great Lent
9063-600: Is without body: invisible, uncircumscribed and without form. Around 790, Charlemagne ordered a set of four books that became known as the Libri Carolini ("Charles' books") to refute what his court understood to be the iconodule decrees of the Byzantine Second Council of Nicaea regarding sacred images. Although not well known during the Middle Ages, these books describe the key elements of
9222-543: The Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL). Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same: volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance and relevant information. The reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy . About 270,000 inscriptions are known. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. In
9381-873: The Alexandrian Rite , i.e. , the Coptic Orthodox , Coptic Catholic , Ethiopian Orthodox , Ethiopian Catholic , Eritrean Orthodox , and Eritrean Catholic Churches, observe eight continuous weeks of fasting constituting three distinct consecutive fasting periods: As in the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the date of Easter is typically reckoned according to the Julian calendar , and usually occurs later than Easter according to Gregorian calendar used by Catholic and Protestant Churches. In Ethiopian Orthodoxy, fasting ( tsome ) lasts for 55 continuous days before Easter ( Fasika ), although
9540-441: The Apostle Paul 's statement in 1 Corinthians 8:5–6, written c. AD 53–54 , about twenty years after the crucifixion of Jesus , and 12–21 years before the earliest of the canonical gospels was written: ...for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. Apart from asserting that there
9699-435: The Areopagus sermon given by Paul, he further characterizes the early Christian understanding: The God that made the world and all things therein, he, being Lord of heaven and earth Paul also reflects on the relationship between God and Christians: ...that they should seek God, if haply they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us for in him we live. The Pauline epistles also include
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#17327583081899858-430: The Daniel Fast during the season of Lent, in which one abstains from "meat, fish, egg, dairy products, chocolates, ice creams, sugar, sweets, wine or any alcoholic beverages" (cf. Daniel 10:3 ). After attending a worship service (often on Wednesday and Friday evenings), it is common for Christians of various denominations to conclude that day's Lenten fast together through a communal Lenten supper , which may be held in
10017-485: The Easter Vigil is celebrated, though in either case, Lenten fasting observances are maintained until the evening of Holy Saturday. Sundays may or may not be excluded, depending on the denomination. In Eastern Christianity – including Eastern Orthodox , Eastern Catholics , Eastern Lutherans , and Oriental Orthodox – Great Lent is observed continuously without interruption for 40 days starting on Clean Monday and ending on Lazarus Saturday before Holy Week . Lent
10176-592: The English language , along with a large number of others, and historically contributed many words to the English lexicon , particularly after the Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons and the Norman Conquest . Latin and Ancient Greek roots are heavily used in English vocabulary in theology , the sciences , medicine , and law . A number of phases of the language have been recognized, each distinguished by subtle differences in vocabulary, usage, spelling, and syntax. There are no hard and fast rules of classification; different scholars emphasize different features. As
10335-482: The Hebrew Bible aloud, Jews replace the Tetragrammaton with the title Adonai , translated as Kyrios in the Septuagint and the Greek New Testament. Jah (or Yah ) is an abbreviation of Jahweh/Yahweh/Jehovah. It is often used by Christians in the interjection " Hallelujah ", meaning "Praise Jah", which is used to give God glory. In the New Testament, Theos and Pater ( πατήρ , "father" in Greek ) are additional words used to reference God. Respect for
10494-399: The Holy See , the primary language of its public journal , the Acta Apostolicae Sedis , and the working language of the Roman Rota . Vatican City is also home to the world's only automatic teller machine that gives instructions in Latin. In the pontifical universities postgraduate courses of Canon law are taught in Latin, and papers are written in the same language. There are
10653-450: The Middle Ages , borrowing from Latin occurred from ecclesiastical usage established by Saint Augustine of Canterbury in the 6th century or indirectly after the Norman Conquest , through the Anglo-Norman language . From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed " inkhorn terms ", as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by
10812-473: The Pauline epistles and the early Christian creeds , which proclaimed one God and the divinity of Jesus . Although some early sects of Christianity, such as the Jewish-Christian Ebionites , protested against the deification of Jesus, the concept of Jesus being one with God was accepted by the majority of Gentile Christians . This formed one aspect of the split of early Christianity and Judaism , as Gentile Christian views of God began to diverge from
10971-522: The Roman Rite Lent starts on Ash Wednesday and ends on the evening of Holy Thursday with the Mass of the Lord's Supper . This comprises a period of 44 days. Historically, the fasting and abstinence were enjoined during the weekdays of Lent and with Sundays being days of abstinence; the obligations of the Lenten fast continue through Good Friday and Holy Saturday, totaling 40 days (with the Eucharistic Fast applying as well). Although Lent formally ends on Holy Thursday, Lenten fasting practices continue until
11130-555: The Romance language group are: Catalan quaresma , French carême , Galician coresma , Italian quaresima , Occitan quaresma , Portuguese quaresma , Romanian păresimi , Sardinian caresima , Spanish cuaresma , and Walloon cwareme . Examples in non-Latin-based languages are: Albanian kreshma , Basque garizuma , Croatian korizma , Irish and Scottish Gaelic carghas , Swahili kwaresima , Filipino kuwaresma , and Welsh c(a)rawys . In other languages,
11289-400: The Romance languages . During the Classical period, informal language was rarely written, so philologists have been left with only individual words and phrases cited by classical authors, inscriptions such as Curse tablets and those found as graffiti . In the Late Latin period, language changes reflecting spoken (non-classical) norms tend to be found in greater quantities in texts. As it
11448-636: The Western Roman Empire fell in 476 and Germanic kingdoms took its place, the Germanic people adopted Latin as a language more suitable for legal and other, more formal uses. While the written form of Latin was increasingly standardized into a fixed form, the spoken forms began to diverge more greatly. Currently, the five most widely spoken Romance languages by number of native speakers are Spanish , Portuguese , French , Italian , and Romanian . Despite dialectal variation, which
11607-548: The date of Easter is calculated, but also on which days Lent is understood to begin and end, and on whether all the days of Lent are counted consecutively. Additionally, the date of Lent may depend on the calendar used by the particular church, such as the ( revised ) Julian or Gregorian calendars typically used by Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant churches, or the Ethiopian and Coptic calendars traditionally used by some Oriental Orthodox churches. Since 1970, in
11766-516: The 13th century, Thomas Aquinas focused on a shorter list of just eight attributes, namely simplicity , perfection , goodness , incomprehensibility , omnipresence , immutability , eternity and oneness . Other formulations include the 1251 list of the Fourth Lateran Council , which was then adopted at Vatican I in 1870 and the Westminster Shorter Catechism in the 17th century. Two attributes of God that place him above
11925-756: The 14th century the Naples Bible carried a depiction of God the Father in the Burning bush . By the early 15th century, the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry has a considerable number of symbols, including an elderly but tall and elegant full-length figure walking in the Garden of Eden , which show a considerable diversity of apparent ages and dress. The "Gates of Paradise" of the Florence Baptistry by Lorenzo Ghiberti , begun in 1425 use
12084-498: The 15th century there was a brief fashion for depicting all three persons of the Trinity as similar or identical figures with the usual appearance of Christ . In an early Venetian school Coronation of the Virgin by Giovanni d'Alemagna and Antonio Vivarini , (c. 1443) The Father is depicted using the symbol consistently used by other artists later, namely a patriarch, with benign, yet powerful countenance and with long white hair and
12243-555: The 3rd century. The period from the late 2nd century to the beginning of the 4th century (approximately 180–313) is generally called the "epoch of the Great Church " and also the Ante-Nicene Period , and witnessed significant theological development, and the consolidation and formalization of a number of Christian teachings. From the 2nd century onward, western creeds started with an affirmation of belief in "God
12402-708: The Bible (e.g., the Lord's Prayer , stating that the Father is in Heaven ), others based on theological reasoning. The " Kingdom of God " is a prominent phrase in the Synoptic Gospels , and while there is near unanimous agreement among scholars that it represents a key element of the teachings of Jesus , there is little scholarly agreement on its exact interpretation. Although the New Testament does not have
12561-637: The British Crown. The motto is featured on all presently minted coinage and has been featured in most coinage throughout the nation's history. Several states of the United States have Latin mottos , such as: Many military organizations today have Latin mottos, such as: Some law governing bodies in the Philippines have Latin mottos, such as: Some colleges and universities have adopted Latin mottos, for example Harvard University 's motto
12720-650: The Catholic theological position on sacred images. To the Western Church , images were just objects made by craftsmen, to be utilized for stimulating the senses of the faithful, and to be respected for the sake of the subject represented, not in themselves. The Council of Constantinople (869) (considered ecumenical by the Western Church, but not the Eastern Church ) reaffirmed the decisions of
12879-607: The Church discourages marriages, but couples may marry if they forgo the special blessings of the Nuptial Mass and limit social celebrations. The period of Lent observed in the Eastern Catholic Churches corresponds to that in other churches of Eastern Christianity that have similar traditions. In Protestant and Western Orthodox Churches that celebrate it, the season of Lent lasts from Ash Wednesday to
13038-710: The Cross." Latin language Latin ( lingua Latina , pronounced [ˈlɪŋɡʷa ɫaˈtiːna] , or Latinum [ɫaˈtiːnʊ̃] ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages . Latin was originally spoken by the Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio ), the lower Tiber area around Rome , Italy. Through the expansion of the Roman Republic it became
13197-827: The Easter Vigil and additionally, the celebration of Easter is preceded by the Paschal fast. In the Ambrosian Rite , Lent begins on the Sunday that follows what is celebrated as Ash Wednesday in the rest of the Latin Catholic Church , and ends as in the Roman Rite, thus being of 40 days, counting the Sundays but not Holy Thursday. The day for beginning the Lenten fast in the Ambrosian Rite is
13356-590: The Episcopal Church, the main U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion, the 1979 Book of Common Prayer identifies Holy Week--comprising Palm/Passion Sunday through Holy Saturday--as a separate season after Lent; but the Days of Special Devotion, to be observed by special acts of discipline and self-denial, include the weekdays of, but not the Sundays in, both Lent and Holy Week, so the practical effect
13515-784: The Father (Almighty)" and the primary reference of this phrase was to "God in his capacity as Father and creator of the universe". This did not exclude either the fact the "eternal father of the universe was also the Father of Jesus the Christ" or that he had even "vouchsafed to adopt [the believer] as his son by grace". Eastern creeds (those known to have come from a later date) began with an affirmation of faith in "one God" and almost always expanded this by adding "the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible" or words to that effect. Augustine of Hippo , Thomas Aquinas , and other Christian theologians have described God with
13674-454: The Father could be symbolized. Prior to the 10th century, no attempt was made to use a human figure to symbolize God the Father in Western art . Yet, Western art eventually required some way to illustrate the presence of the Father, so through successive representations a set of artistic styles for symbolizing the Father using a man gradually emerged around the 10th century. A rationale for
13833-625: The Father is in Heaven, while other attributes are derived from theological reasoning. In the 8th century, John of Damascus listed eighteen attributes for God in his An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (Book 1, chapter 8). These eighteen attributes were divided into four groups based on time (such as being everlasting), space (such as being boundless), matter or quality and the list continues to be influential to date, partially appearing in some form in various modern formulations. In
13992-460: The Father may hold a globe or book (to symbolize God's knowledge and as a reference to how knowledge is deemed divine). He is behind and above Christ on the Cross in the Throne of Mercy iconography. A dove, the symbol of the Holy Spirit may hover above. Various people from different classes of society, e.g. kings, popes or martyrs may be present in the picture. In a Trinitarian pietà , God the Father
14151-575: The Father to creation in 1 Clement 19.2, stating: "let us look steadfastly to the Father and creator of the universe". By the middle of the 2nd century, in Against Heresies , Irenaeus had emphasized (in Book 4, chapter 5) that the Creator is the "one and only God" and the "maker of heaven and earth". These preceded the formal presentation of the concept of Trinity by Tertullian early in
14310-524: The Father, it suggested that icons of Christ were preferred over Old Testament shadows and figures. The beginning of the 8th century witnessed the suppression and destruction of religious icons as the Byzantine iconoclasm (literally, "image struggle" or "war on icons") began. Emperor Leo III (717–741) suppressed the use of icons by imperial edict of the Byzantine Empire, presumably due to
14469-539: The Father. Even supporters of the use of icons in the 8th century, such as John of Damascus , drew a distinction between images of God the Father and those of Christ. In his treatise On the Divine Images , John of Damascus wrote: "In former times, God who is without form or body, could never be depicted. But now when God is seen in the flesh conversing with men, I make an image of the God whom I see". The implication
14628-599: The Grinch Stole Christmas! , The Cat in the Hat , and a book of fairy tales, " fabulae mirabiles ", are intended to garner popular interest in the language. Additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissner's Latin Phrasebook . Some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series,
14787-516: The Hand of God symbol throughout its extensive decorative scheme, and is the only ancient synagogue with an extant decorative scheme. Dating to the mid-3rd century, the symbol was likely adopted into Early Christian art from Jewish art . The Hand of God was common in Late Antique art in both the East and West, and remained the main way of symbolizing the actions or approval of God the Father in
14946-483: The Latin term ipsum esse , a phrase that translates roughly to "being itself". God's aseity makes the Christian God not "a being" but rather "being itself", and can be explained by phrases such as "that which is with no reliance on anything external for its being" or "the necessary condition for anything to exist at all". As time passed, theologians and philosophers developed more precise understandings of
15105-472: The Lenten fast in a positive tone, not as renunciation but as contributing to causes such as environmental stewardship and improvement of health. Even some atheists find value in the Christian tradition and observe Lent. Historically, using the early Christian form known as the Black Fast , the observant does not consume food for a whole day until the evening, and at sunset, Christians traditionally break
15264-484: The Lenten fast of that day with a vegetarian supper (no food or drink is consumed in a day apart from that in the Lenten supper ). In India and Pakistan , many Christians continue this practice of fasting until sunset on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday , with many fasting in this manner throughout the whole season of Lent. Christians of various traditions, including Catholics and Methodists, have voluntarily undertaken
15423-403: The Lenten fast was a 40-day fast that "the entire world" observed. Saint Augustine of Hippo (AD 354–AD 430) wrote that: "Our fast at any other time is voluntary; but during Lent, we sin if we do not fast." Three main prevailing theories exist on the finalization of Lent as a 40-day fast prior to the arrival of Easter Sunday: First, that it was created at the Council of Nicea in 325 and there
15582-598: The Lenten penitential season ends after the Easter Vigil Mass or Sunrise service . Orthodox Christians also break their fast after the Paschal Vigil , a service which starts around 11:00 pm on Holy Saturday, and which includes the Paschal celebration of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom . At the end of the service, the priest blesses cheese, eggs, flesh meats, and other items that
15741-762: The Monday after Ash Wednesday. The special Ash Wednesday fast is transferred to the first Friday of the Ambrosian Lent. Until this rite was revised by Saint Charles Borromeo , the liturgy of the First Sunday of Lent was festive, celebrated in white vestments with chanting of the Gloria in Excelsis and Alleluia , in line with the recommendation in Matthew 6:16, "When you fast, do not look gloomy." During Lent,
15900-674: The Scriptures and the works of the Church Fathers in depth, limit their entertainment and spendings and focus on charity and good works. Some other churches that follow the Byzantine Rite , including certain Eastern Catholic and Eastern Lutheran denominations have similar practices as those of Eastern Orthodoxy. Among the Oriental Orthodox , there are various local traditions regarding Lent. Those using
16059-471: The Second Council of Nicaea and helped stamp out any remaining coals of iconoclasm. Specifically, its third canon required the image of Christ to have veneration equal with that of a Gospel book: We decree that the sacred image of our Lord Jesus Christ, the liberator and Savior of all people, must be venerated with the same honor as is given the book of the holy Gospels. For as through the language of
16218-508: The Son , and God the Holy Spirit . Christian teachings on the transcendence, immanence, and involvement of God in the world and his love for humanity exclude the belief that God is of the same substance as the created universe (rejection of pantheism ) but accept that God the Son assumed hypostatically united human nature, thus becoming man in a unique event known as "the Incarnation ". Early Christian views of God were expressed in
16377-467: The United States the unofficial national motto until 1956 was E pluribus unum meaning "Out of many, one". The motto continues to be featured on the Great Seal . It also appears on the flags and seals of both houses of congress and the flags of the states of Michigan, North Dakota, New York, and Wisconsin. The motto's 13 letters symbolically represent the original Thirteen Colonies which revolted from
16536-563: The University of Kentucky, the University of Oxford and also Princeton University. There are many websites and forums maintained in Latin by enthusiasts. The Latin Misplaced Pages has more than 130,000 articles. Italian , French , Portuguese , Spanish , Romanian , Catalan , Romansh , Sardinian and other Romance languages are direct descendants of Latin. There are also many Latin borrowings in English and Albanian , as well as
16695-656: The West until the end of the Romanesque period . In art depicting specific Biblical scenes, such as the Baptism of Jesus , where a specific representation of God the Father was indicated, the Hand of God was used increasingly from the Carolingian period until the end of the Romanesque . The use of religious images in general continued to increase up to the end of the 7th century, to the point that in 695, upon assuming
16854-638: The adoration of the Trinity, God may be depicted in two ways, either with emphasis on The Father, or the three elements of the Trinity. The most usual depiction of the Trinity in Renaissance art depicts God the Father using an old man, usually with a long beard and patriarchal in appearance, sometimes with a triangular halo (as a reference to the Trinity), or with a papal crown , specially in Northern Renaissance painting. In these depictions,
17013-534: The author and then forgotten, but some useful ones survived, such as 'imbibe' and 'extrapolate'. Many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French . Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and Dutch vocabularies. Those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. God in Christianity In Christianity , God
17172-425: The benefit of those who do not understand Latin. There are also songs written with Latin lyrics . The libretto for the opera-oratorio Oedipus rex by Igor Stravinsky is in Latin. Parts of Carl Orff 's Carmina Burana are written in Latin. Enya has recorded several tracks with Latin lyrics. The continued instruction of Latin is seen by some as a highly valuable component of a liberal arts education. Latin
17331-409: The careful work of Petrarch, Politian and others, first the demand for manuscripts, and then the rush to bring works into print, led to the circulation of inaccurate copies for several centuries following. Neo-Latin literature was extensive and prolific, but less well known or understood today. Works covered poetry, prose stories and early novels, occasional pieces and collections of letters, to name
17490-403: The church's parish hall . Lenten suppers ordinarily take place in the home setting during the 40 days of Lent during which a family (or individual) concludes that day's fast after a mealtime prayer . Fasting has historically included abstinence from alcohol, meat, lacticinia (dairy products), and other edible produce derived from animals (such as eggs), which has been enjoined continuously for
17649-558: The classic definition of God in the Presbyterian Westminster Shorter Catechism , God is infinite, eternal and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth. That is, God possesses the communicable attributes to in an incommunicable manner. For example, he is wise, but infinite in his wisdom. Some such as Donald Macleod hold that all the suggested classifications are artificial and without basis. Although there
17808-415: The classicised Latin that followed through to the present are often grouped together as Neo-Latin , or New Latin, which have in recent decades become a focus of renewed study , given their importance for the development of European culture, religion and science. The vast majority of written Latin belongs to this period, but its full extent is unknown. The Renaissance reinforced the position of Latin as
17967-483: The communicable attributes. There is a general agreement among theologians that it would be a mistake to conceive of the essence of God existing by itself and independently of the attributes or of the attributes being an additional characteristic of the Divine Being. They are essential qualities which exist permanently in his very Being and are co-existent with it. Any alteration in them would imply an alteration in
18126-593: The consumption of alcohol. Quartodeciman Christians end the fast of Lent on the Paschal full moon of the Hebrew calendar , in order to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread beginning on the 14th of Nisan , whence the name derives. For this practice, they were excommunicated in the Easter controversy of the 2nd century A.D. Three traditional practices to be taken up with renewed vigour during Lent; these are known as
18285-412: The country's full Latin name. Some film and television in ancient settings, such as Sebastiane , The Passion of the Christ and Barbarians (2020 TV series) , have been made with dialogue in Latin. Occasionally, Latin dialogue is used because of its association with religion or philosophy, in such film/television series as The Exorcist and Lost (" Jughead "). Subtitles are usually shown for
18444-440: The day before Lent is known as Shrove Tuesday, which is derived from the word shrive , meaning "to administer the sacrament of confession to; to absolve." In these countries, pancakes are associated with Shrove Tuesday because they are a way to use up rich foods such as eggs, milk, and sugar – rich foods which are not eaten during the season. The Carnival celebrations which in many cultures traditionally precede Lent are seen as
18603-503: The decline in written Latin output. Despite having no native speakers, Latin is still used for a variety of purposes in the contemporary world. The largest organisation that retains Latin in official and quasi-official contexts is the Catholic Church . The Catholic Church required that Mass be carried out in Latin until the Second Vatican Council of 1962–1965 , which permitted the use of the vernacular . Latin remains
18762-492: The descendants of Abraham over millennia; both Christians and Jews believe that this covenant is recorded in the Hebrew Bible , which most Christian denominations consider to be (and refer to as) the Old Testament . In the traditional interpretations of Christianity, God is always referred to with masculine grammatical articles only. Early Christian views of God (before the gospels were written) are reflected in
18921-479: The desert for 40 days; this is known as one's Lenten sacrifice . Prior to the 6th century, Lent was normatively observed through the practice of the Black Fast , which enjoins fasting from food and liquids, with the allowance of one vegetarian meal after sunset. This form of fasting continues in certain denominations, such as the Coptic Orthodox Church . Many Lent-observing Christians also add
19080-443: The divine and the human natures of Jesus at the same time. In this atmosphere, no public depictions of God the Father were even attempted and such depictions only began to appear two centuries later. The Second Council of Nicaea in 787 effectively ended the first period of Byzantine iconoclasm and restored the honouring of icons and holy images in general. However, this did not immediately translate into large scale depictions of God
19239-548: The dominant language in the Italian Peninsula and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire . By the late Roman Republic , Old Latin had evolved into standardized Classical Latin . Vulgar Latin refers to the less prestigious colloquial registers , attested in inscriptions and some literary works such as those of the comic playwrights Plautus and Terence and the author Petronius . While often called
19398-479: The dry earth of the whole world, and the abundant waters of the saving bath might saturate the lengthy drought of the Gentiles." In the New Testament , Jesus went into the desert to fast and pray for 40 days and 40 nights; it was during this time that Satan tried to tempt him (cf. Matthew 4:1–3 ). The 40-day and night fasts of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus prepared them for their work. Early Christianity records
19557-406: The early 19th century, by which time modern languages had supplanted it in common academic and political usage. Late Latin is the literary language from the 3rd century AD onward. No longer spoken as a native language, Medieval Latin was used across Western and Catholic Europe during the Middle Ages as a working and literary language from the 9th century to the Renaissance , which then developed
19716-405: The educated and official world, Latin continued without its natural spoken base. Moreover, this Latin spread into lands that had never spoken Latin, such as the Germanic and Slavic nations. It became useful for international communication between the member states of the Holy Roman Empire and its allies. Without the institutions of the Roman Empire that had supported its uniformity, Medieval Latin
19875-434: The effect both of reducing church support for the less central depictions, and strengthening it for the core ones. In the Catholic Church , the pressure to restrain religious imagery resulted in the highly influential decrees of the final session of the Council of Trent in 1563. The Council of Trent decrees confirmed the traditional Catholic doctrine that images only represented the person depicted, and that veneration to them
20034-429: The entire system of "divine truth" revealed to the faithful "that believe in his name" or "walk in the name of the Lord our God" In Revelation 3:12, those who bear the name of God are "destined for Heaven". John 17:6 presents the teachings of Jesus as the manifestation of the name of God to his disciples. John 12:27 presents the sacrifice of Jesus the Lamb of God , and the ensuing salvation delivered through it as
20193-612: The essential being of God. Hick suggests that when listing the attributes of God, the starting point should be his self-existence ("aseity") which implies his eternal and unconditioned nature. Hick goes on to consider the following additional attributes: Creator being the source of all that composes his creation ( "creatio ex nihilo" ) and the sustainer of what he has brought into being; personal ; loving, good ; and holy . Berkhof also starts with self-existence but moves on to immutability ; infinity , which implies perfection eternity and omnipresence ; unity . He then analyses
20352-451: The evening of Holy Saturday . This calculation makes Lent last 46 days if the 6 Sundays are included, but only 40 days if they are excluded. This definition is still that of the Moravian Church , Lutheran Church , Anglican Church , Methodist Church , Western Rite Orthodox Church , United Protestant Churches , and those of the Reformed Churches (i.e., Continental Reformed , Presbyterian , and Congregationalist ) that observe Lent. (In
20511-412: The event. The custom of veiling is typically practiced the last two weeks, beginning on the fifth Sunday of Lent (known as Judica Sunday or Passion Sunday ) until Good Friday , when the cross is unveiled solemnly in the liturgy. In most Lent-observing denominations, the last week of Lent coincides with Holy Week , starting with Palm Sunday . Following the New Testament narrative, Jesus' crucifixion
20670-405: The faithful have been abstaining from for the duration of Great Lent. Lenten traditions and liturgical practices are less common, less binding, and sometimes non-existent among some liberal and progressive Christians . A greater emphasis on anticipation of Easter Sunday is often encouraged more than the penitence of Lent or Holy Week. Some Christians as well as secular groups also interpret
20829-587: The fast is divided into three separate periods: Tsome Hirkal, the eight-day Fast of Heraclius , commemorating the fast requested by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius before he reputedly set out to fight the Sassanian Empire and recover the True Cross which had been seized and taken from Jerusalem; Tsome Arba, 40 days of Lent; and Tsome Himamat, seven days commemorating Holy Week . Fasting involves abstention from animal products (meat, dairy, and eggs), and refraining from eating or drinking before 3:00 pm. Ethiopian devotees may also abstain from sexual activity and
20988-410: The glorification of the name of God, with the voice from Heaven confirming Jesus' petition ("Father, glorify thy name") by saying: "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again", referring to the Baptism and crucifixion of Jesus . The theological underpinnings of the attributes and nature of God have been discussed since the earliest days of Christianity. In the 2nd century, Irenaeus addressed
21147-504: The invention of printing and are now published in carefully annotated printed editions, such as the Loeb Classical Library , published by Harvard University Press , or the Oxford Classical Texts , published by Oxford University Press . Latin translations of modern literature such as: The Hobbit , Treasure Island , Robinson Crusoe , Paddington Bear , Winnie the Pooh , The Adventures of Tintin , Asterix , Harry Potter , Le Petit Prince , Max and Moritz , How
21306-410: The issue and expounded on some attributes; for example, Book IV, chapter 19 of Against Heresies states: "His greatness lacks nothing, but contains all things". Irenaeus based his attributes on three sources: Scripture, prevailing mysticism and popular piety. Today, some of the attributes associated with God continue to be based on statements in the Bible, such as the Lord's Prayer , which states that
21465-412: The language of the Roman Rite . The Tridentine Mass (also known as the Extraordinary Form or Traditional Latin Mass) is celebrated in Latin. Although the Mass of Paul VI (also known as the Ordinary Form or the Novus Ordo) is usually celebrated in the local vernacular language, it can be and often is said in Latin, in part or in whole, especially at multilingual gatherings. It is the official language of
21624-431: The later part of the Roman Republic , up to 75 BC, i.e. before the age of Classical Latin . It is attested both in inscriptions and in some of the earliest extant Latin literary works, such as the comedies of Plautus and Terence . The Latin alphabet was devised from the Etruscan alphabet . The writing later changed from what was initially either a right-to-left or a boustrophedon script to what ultimately became
21783-460: The mountains for 40 days and 40 nights to pray and fast "without eating bread or drinking water" before receiving the Ten Commandments (cf. Exodus 34:28 ). Likewise, the prophet Elijah went into the mountains for 40 days and nights to fast and pray "until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God" when "the word of the Lord came to him" (cf. 1 Kings 19:8–9 ). The early Christian bishop Maximus of Turin wrote that as Elijah by "fasting continuously for
21942-418: The name of God is one of the Ten Commandments , which is viewed not only as an avoidance of the improper use of the name of God, but also a commandment to exalt it, through both pious deeds and praise. This is reflected in the first petition in the Lord's Prayer addressed to God the Father : "Hallowed be thy Name". In the theology of the Early Church Fathers , the name of God was seen as representative of
22101-518: The name used refers to the activity associated with the season. Thus it is called "fasting period" in Czech ( postní doba ), German ( Fastenzeit ), and Norwegian ( fasten / fastetid ), and it is called "The Great Fast" in Arabic ( الصوم الكبير – al-ṣawm al-kabīr ), Syriac ( ܨܘܡܐ ܪܒܐ ṣawmā rabbā ), Polish ( wielki post ), Russian ( великий пост – vieliki post ), Ukrainian ( великий піст – velyky pist ), and Hungarian ( nagyböjt ). Romanian , apart from
22260-399: The nature of God and began to produce systematic lists of his attributes. These varied in detail, but traditionally the attributes fell into two groups: those based on negation (that God is impassible) and those positively based on eminence (that God is infinitely good). Ian Ramsey suggested that there are three groups, and that some attributes, such as simplicity and perfection , have
22419-413: The other varieties, as it was largely separated from the unifying influences in the western part of the Empire. Spoken Latin began to diverge into distinct languages by the 9th century at the latest, when the earliest extant Romance writings begin to appear. They were, throughout the period, confined to everyday speech, as Medieval Latin was used for writing. For many Italians using Latin, though, there
22578-425: The sacrament. For centuries it has been common practice for baptisms to take place on Easter, and so such references were formerly taken to be references to a pre-Easter fast. Tertullian , in his 3rd-century work On Baptism , indicates that Easter was a "most solemn day for baptism." However, he is one of only a handful of writers in the ante-Nicene period who indicates this preference, and even he says that Easter
22737-419: The terms in a very general sense rather than referring to any special designation of God. However, general references to the name of God may branch to other special forms which express his multifaceted attributes. The Old Testament reveals YHWH (often vocalized with vowels as "Yahweh" or "Jehovah") as the personal name of God, along with certain titles including El Elyon and El Shaddai . When reading
22896-515: The three pillars of Lent: Self-reflection, simplicity, and sincerity (honesty) are emphasised during the Lenten season. During pre-Lent , it is customary for Christians to ponder what Lenten sacrifices they will make for Lent. The pre-Lenten period concludes with the opportunity for a last round of merrymaking, known as Carnival , Shrovetide , or Fastelavn , before the start of the sombre Lenten season. The traditions of carrying Shrovetide rods and consuming Shrovetide buns after attending church
23055-403: The throne, Byzantine emperor Justinian II put an image of Christ on the obverse side of his gold coins, resulting in a rift which ended the use of Byzantine coin types in the Islamic world. However, the increase in religious imagery did not include depictions of God the Father. For instance, while the eighty second canon of the Council of Trullo in 692 did not specifically condemn images of
23214-448: The tradition of fasting before Easter. The Apostolic Constitutions permit the consumption of "bread, vegetables, salt and water, in Lent" with "flesh and wine being forbidden." The Canons of Hippolytus authorize only bread and salt to be consumed during Holy Week . The practice of fasting and abstaining from alcohol, meat and lacticinia during Lent thus became established in the Church. In AD 339, Athanasius of Alexandria wrote that
23373-400: The tradition of hitting a barrel, which represents fighting Satan; after doing this, children enjoy the sweets inside the barrel. Lutheran Christians in these nations carry Shrovetide rods (fastelavnsris), which "branches decorated with sweets, little presents, etc., that are used to decorate the home or give to children." In English-speaking countries such as the United Kingdom and Canada ,
23532-473: The traditional Jewish teachings of the time. The theology of the attributes and nature of God has been discussed since the earliest days of Christianity, with Irenaeus writing in the 2nd century: "His greatness lacks nothing, but contains all things". In the 8th century, John of Damascus listed eighteen attributes which remain widely accepted. As time passed, Christian theologians developed systematic lists of these attributes, some based on statements in
23691-405: The use of a human figure is the belief that God created the soul of Man in the image of his own (thus allowing humanity to transcend the other animals). It appears that when early artists designed to represent God the Father, fear and awe restrained them from a usage of the whole human figure. Typically only a small part would be used as the image, usually the hand, or sometimes the face, but rarely
23850-520: The whole duration of the season including Sundays. Throughout Christendom , some adherents continue to mark the season with a traditional abstention from the consumption of meat ( vegetarianism ), most notably among Catholics, Lutherans, and Anglicans. The form of abstention may vary depending on what is customary; some abstain from meat for 40 days, some do so only on Fridays, or some only on Good Friday itself. In Catholicism, lacticinia may be consumed by penitents in Spain and its colonised territories, per
24009-471: The words contained in this book all can reach salvation, so, due to the action which these images exercise by their colors, all wise and simple alike, can derive profit from them. Images of God the Father were not directly addressed in Constantinople in 869. A list of permitted icons was enumerated at this Council, but symbols of God the Father were not among them. However, the general acceptance of icons and holy images began to create an atmosphere in which God
24168-413: The world, yet acknowledge his involvement in the world, are transcendence and immanence . Transcendence means that God is eternal and infinite, not controlled by the created world and beyond human events. Immanence means that God is involved in the world, and Christian teachings have long acknowledged his attention to human affairs. However, unlike pantheistic religions, in Christianity, God's being
24327-424: Was by no means the only favored day for baptisms in his locale. Since the 20th century, scholars have acknowledged that Easter was not the standard day for baptisms in the early church, and references to pre-baptismal periods of fasting were not necessarily connected with Easter. There were shorter periods of fasting observed in the pre-Nicene church ( Athanasius noted that the 4th-century Alexandrian church observed
24486-428: Was earlier established, such as Greek and Latin , the term signifies the period dating from the 40th weekday before Easter. In modern Greek the term is Σαρακοστή ( Sarakostí ), derived from the earlier Τεσσαρακοστή ( Tessarakostí ), meaning "fortieth". The corresponding word in Latin , quadragesima ("fortieth"), is the origin of the terms used in Latin-derived languages and in some others. Examples in
24645-413: Was free to develop on its own, there is no reason to suppose that the speech was uniform either diachronically or geographically. On the contrary, Romanised European populations developed their own dialects of the language, which eventually led to the differentiation of Romance languages . Late Latin is a kind of written Latin used in the 3rd to 6th centuries. This began to diverge from Classical forms at
24804-496: Was much more liberal in its linguistic cohesion: for example, in classical Latin sum and eram are used as auxiliary verbs in the perfect and pluperfect passive, which are compound tenses. Medieval Latin might use fui and fueram instead. Furthermore, the meanings of many words were changed and new words were introduced, often under influence from the vernacular. Identifiable individual styles of classically incorrect Latin prevail. Renaissance Latin, 1300 to 1500, and
24963-441: Was no complete separation between Italian and Latin, even into the beginning of the Renaissance . Petrarch for example saw Latin as a literary version of the spoken language. Medieval Latin is the written Latin in use during that portion of the post-classical period when no corresponding Latin vernacular existed, that is from around 700 to 1500 AD. The spoken language had developed into the various Romance languages; however, in
25122-431: Was shut down in June 2019), and Vatican Radio & Television, all of which broadcast news segments and other material in Latin. A variety of organisations, as well as informal Latin 'circuli' ('circles'), have been founded in more recent times to support the use of spoken Latin. Moreover, a number of university classics departments have begun incorporating communicative pedagogies in their Latin courses. These include
25281-455: Was usually shown in some form of frame of clouds in the top of the picture space, where the Hand of God had formerly appeared; the Baptism of Christ on the famous baptismal font in Liège of Rainer of Huy is an example from 1118 (a Hand of God is used in another scene). Gradually the amount of the human symbol shown can increase to a half-length figure, then a full-length, usually enthroned, as in Giotto 's fresco of c. 1305 in Padua . In
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