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Distribution of the Bread and the Cup
[Worship & Rites]The distribution of the bread and the cup is the part of the Lord's Supper in which the bread and cup, after the prayer of thanksgiving, are given to the communicants. In Korean Protestant churches, the practice is known as bunbyeong-bunjan, a term combining the distribution of the bread and the distribution of the cup.
Peter's Vision of the Sheet
[Bible]The vision the apostle Peter received while praying in Joppa, in which a great sheet containing unclean animals was let down from heaven (Acts 10). It led to the acceptance of the Gentile Cornelius.
The Widow's Two Mites
[Bible]The widow's two mites refers to the incident in which Jesus, watching at the treasury of the Temple in Jerusalem, saw a poor widow put in two mites, all that she had, and declared that she had put in more than anyone else. It is recorded in the Gospels of Mark and Luke.
Feast of the Holy Innocents
[Feasts & Seasons]The Feast of the Holy Innocents is a commemoration in the church calendar honoring the victims of Herod's killing of the young boys of Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16-18). The Western church observes it on December 28.
Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification
[History]The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification is a document signed on October 31, 1999, by the Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church. It states that there is a "consensus in basic truths" on justification, the issue that had divided the two churches since the sixteenth-century Reformation.
Collection for the Church in Jerusalem
[Bible]The collection for the church in Jerusalem was a relief effort in which the apostle Paul gathered offerings from Gentile churches in Macedonia, Achaia, and elsewhere to deliver to the poor saints of the Jerusalem church.
The Stone the Builders Rejected
[Bible]An expression from Psalm 118:22 declaring that a stone rejected by people has become the head of the corner. The New Testament applies the verse to the rejection and exaltation of Jesus Christ.
Institutes of the Christian Religion
[Doctrine & Theology]The Institutes of the Christian Religion is a systematic work of Protestant theology by the Reformer John Calvin. First published in 1536, it was revised several times before the final edition was completed in 1559. It is regarded as a foundational text of Reformed and Presbyterian theology.
Presentation of the Lord
[Feasts & Seasons]The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord is a feast of the church year that commemorates the presentation of the infant Jesus in the Temple in Jerusalem forty days after his birth. Western churches usually observe it on February 2.
Gospel of the Hebrews
[History]The Gospel of the Hebrews is a New Testament apocryphal gospel said to have been read among Christians of Jewish origin around the second century. No copy survives, and the work is known only from a few passages quoted by the Church Fathers.
The Widow's Jar of Oil
[Bible]The widow's jar of oil is a miracle recorded in 2 Kings 4:1-7, in which the prophet Elisha helped a widow who was about to lose her two sons to slavery because of a debt. The single jar of oil left in her house filled every empty vessel she had borrowed.
The Floating Axe Head
[Bible]The floating axe head is a miracle recorded in 2 Kings 6:1-7, in which Elisha caused a borrowed iron axe head that had fallen into the Jordan River to float to the surface after he threw a stick into the water.
The Imitation of Christ
[Christian Life]The imitation of Christ is an attitude of faith that seeks to live according to the character and life of Jesus Christ. The term also refers to a fifteenth-century devotional book of the same title, traditionally attributed to Thomas à Kempis.
Liturgy of the Hours
[Worship & Rites]The Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office, is the public prayer of the church in which psalms, canticles, Scripture readings, and prayers are offered at fixed times of the day. The term is used chiefly in the Catholic Church, and similar traditions exist in the Anglican and Lutheran churches.
Redemption of the Firstborn
[Bible]The redemption of the firstborn is a provision of the Mosaic Law by which the firstborn son in Israel was set apart as belonging to God and then redeemed by a payment of five shekels of silver. The institution served as a reminder that God spared Israel's firstborn sons at the time of the Exodus.
The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved
[People]The disciple whom Jesus loved is an unnamed disciple of Jesus who appears only in the Gospel of John. He is present at the Last Supper, at the foot of the cross, at the empty tomb, and by the Sea of Tiberias. Church tradition identifies him as John the son of Zebedee.
Mary the Mother of James
[People]One of the women who followed Jesus from Galilee and ministered to him, she witnessed his crucifixion and burial and went to the empty tomb on the morning of the resurrection.
Veneration of the Saints
[Doctrine & Theology]The veneration of the saints is a devotional practice of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches in which saints who serve as models of faith are honored and asked for their intercession. Protestants remember the saints as examples of faith but do not make them objects of prayer.
The Holocaust
[History]The Holocaust was the systematic murder of approximately six million European Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during the World War II era. After the war, it prompted the churches to reexamine antisemitism and replacement theology.
Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire
[History]The persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire refers to the punishment of Christians by Roman authorities, and their efforts to compel Christians to renounce their faith, from the reign of Nero in the first century to Constantine's legal recognition of Christianity in the early fourth century.