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Temple Veil
[Bible]The temple veil was the curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle and the Jerusalem temple. Only the high priest could pass behind it, and only once a year. The Gospels record that the veil was torn when Jesus died.
Breastplate of Judgment
[Bible]The breastplate of judgment was a square ornament worn on the chest, over the ephod, by the high priest of Old Testament Israel. It held twelve precious stones engraved with the names of the twelve tribes, and the Urim and Thummim were placed in it.
Sect of the Nazarenes
[Bible]The "sect of the Nazarenes" is the expression the advocate Tertullus used in Acts 24 for the followers of Jesus when he brought charges against Paul. The Greek word behind "sect" here is closer to "sect" or "faction" than to "heresy" in the modern doctrinal sense.
Parable of the Wedding Feast
[Bible]The Parable of the Wedding Feast is a parable of Jesus found in Matthew 22:1-14. A king invites guests to his son's wedding feast, but they refuse; he then has people gathered from the highways to fill the feast. Luke 14 contains a similar "Parable of the Great Banquet."
Parable of the Two Sons
[Bible]The Parable of the Two Sons is a parable of Jesus found in Matthew 21:28-32. It contrasts a son who refused his father's request but afterward changed his mind and went to work with a son who said he would go but did not.
Tertullus
[People]Tertullus was the courtroom orator who, in Acts 24, accused Paul before the Roman governor Felix on behalf of the high priest Ananias and the elders.
John 17
[Bible]John 17 records the prayer Jesus offered, lifting up his eyes to heaven, after concluding the Farewell Discourse. In it he asks for his own glorification, for the preservation and sanctification of his disciples, and for the unity of those who would later believe.
Messiah
[Bible]Messiah, from the Hebrew for "anointed one," is a title applied in the Old Testament to kings, priests, and others; it later came to designate the deliverer whom God would send. The New Testament confesses Jesus as the Messiah, that is, the Christ.
Jedaiah
[People]Jedaiah was one of the returned exiles from Babylon mentioned in the Book of Zechariah. Together with Heldai and Tobijah, he was connected with the making of a crown for Joshua the high priest from the silver and gold they had brought (Zechariah 6:10, 14).
John 17:21
[Bible Verses]John 17:21 is a verse from the prayer Jesus offered to the Father before his arrest, in which he asks that those who believe "all may be one" so that the world may believe. It serves as a motto of the ecumenical movement, and debate has centered on whether this unity should be understood as spiritual or as visible and institutional.
Dominican Order
[History]The Dominican Order is a Catholic religious order founded by the Spanish priest Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III in 1216. Its official name is the Order of Preachers (O.P.). Together with the Franciscans, it is regarded as one of the foremost mendicant orders of the Middle Ages.
Mark 14
[Bible]Mark 14 covers the events surrounding Jesus' final Passover: the chief priests' plot, the woman who anointed him with ointment at Bethany, the Last Supper, the prayer in Gethsemane, his arrest and examination before the Council, and Peter's threefold denial.
Hebrews 5
[Bible]Hebrews 5 sets out the qualifications of a high priest and states that Christ, called by God, became a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. It then rebukes the readers for their spiritual immaturity.
Day of Atonement
[Bible]The Day of Atonement was an annual holy day of Old Testament Israel, observed on the tenth day of the seventh month, when the high priest entered the Most Holy Place to make atonement for the sins of the people and for the sanctuary. Its procedure is described in Leviticus 16.
Holy of Holies
[Bible]The Holy of Holies, or Most Holy Place, was the innermost chamber of the tabernacle and of the Temple in Jerusalem. The ark of the covenant was kept there, and only the high priest could enter it, once a year on the Day of Atonement.
Mercy Seat
[Bible]The mercy seat was the slab of pure gold that covered the Ark of the Covenant in the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle. On the Day of Atonement the high priest sprinkled blood on it, and it was the place where God met with Moses and spoke to him.
Ezra 7
[Bible]Ezra 7 recounts how Ezra, a priest and scholar of the Law, went up from Babylon to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes. The chapter includes the king's decree and Ezra's praise to God.
Magi
[People]The Magi were men from the East who, at the time of Jesus' birth, saw a star, came to worship the infant Jesus, and presented him with gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They appear only in Matthew 2.
Joash
[People]Joash was a king of Judah who survived Athaliah's massacre of the royal family and came to the throne at the age of seven. He repaired the temple, but according to 2 Chronicles, after the death of the high priest Jehoiada he served idols and had Jehoiada's son Zechariah put to death.
Peter's Denial
[Bible]Peter's denial is the episode on the night of Jesus' arrest in which the disciple Peter, in the courtyard of the high priest's house, denied three times that he knew Jesus. It is recorded in all four Gospels.