Moses
Category Archives: Persons
Abstinents
ABSTINENTS.
A set of heretics that appeared in France and Spain about the end of the third century. They are supposed to have borrowed part of their opinions from the Gnostics and Manichaeans, because they opposed marriage, condemned the use of flesh meat, and placed the Holy Ghost in the class of created beings.
[Buck]
- One who abstains; a faster. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]
- (usually capitalized, religion, historical) One of a sect who appeared in France and Spain in the 3rd century, and believed in abstinence towards meat and sex.
[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/abstinent#English]
These nouns refer to the habitual refusal to indulge a desire, especially a sensual one. Abstinence implies the willfulavoidance of pleasures, especially of food and drink, thought to be harmful or self-indulgent: “I vainly reminded him ofhis protracted abstinence from food” (Emily Brontë).
Self-denial suggests resisting one’s own desires for the achievement of a higher goal: “For too many people, the resultof sedentary living is a perennial, losing battle against the bulge: bursts of self-denial interspersed with guilt when self-denial inevitably leads to self-indulgence” (Jane Brody).
Temperance refers to moderation and self-restraint and sobriety to gravity in bearing, manner, or treatment; bothnouns denote moderation in or abstinence from consuming alcohol: Teetotalers preach temperance for everyone. “[T]hose moments which would come between the subsidence of actual sobriety and the commencement ofintoxication” (Anthony Trollope).
Continence specifically refers to abstaining from sexual activity: The nun took a vow of continence.
[http://www.thefreedictionary.com/abstinent]
Those who supported reform sought a return to the ideals of the early years of the Order and focused especially on its original vegetarianism. The Rule of St. Benedict, the fundamental document of the Cistercian Order, permits meat only to the sick, but by the 16th and 17th centuries the prohibition was rarely observed. The reformers – the “Abstinents” – regarded this meat eating as a symbol of all decadence, utterly rejected it, and (with papal approval) formed themselves into a congregation known as the Congregation of St. Bernard of the Strict Observance. However, they were not unopposed, and those who disagreed with them saw meat eating simply as an accommodation to changing times and regarded the Strict Observance as a collection of deluded enthusiasts.
The schism was so acrimonious that Pope Alexander VII (1655-1667) was called to intervene, and in 1664 he invited representatives of both parties to Rome to put their cases to a commission of cardinals. Two years later Alexander promulgated the bull In suprema> which recognized two Cistercian observances, common and strict, the main difference between them being that the former would eat meat three times a week (except during Lent and Advent) and the latter would not.
Meanwhile, Ranee, who had been in Rome in 1664 defending the Abstinents, had established his own rule at La Trappe: a rule more severe than that either of the early Cistercians or of the Abstinents. His monks were forbidden not only meat but also fish, eggs, cheese, and butter. The austerity of the house – the seclusion, the silence, the fasts, the intensity of the opus Dei, and the hard manual labor – became a matter of such wide renown that Strict Observance” and “Trappist” came to be used (incorrectly) as synonyms.
Abelians, Abelites, Abelonians
Or ABELONIANS, a sect which arose in the diocese of Hippoo in Africa, and is supposed to have begun in the reign of Arcadius, and ended in that of Theodosius. Indeed, it was not calculated for being of any long continuance. They regulated marriage after the example of Abel, who, they pretended, was married, but lived in a state of continence: they therefore allowed each man to marry one woman, but enjoined them to live in the same state. To keep up the sect, when a man and woman entered into this society, they adopted a boy and a girl, who were to inherit their goods, and to marry upon the same terms of not having children, but of adopting two of different sexes.
Abelians, Abelites, Abelonians. a sect which arose about the year 360, near Hippo, in Africa, and borrowed their name from Abel, the son of Adam, because, as they supposed, he died unmarried, and without children. Though they did not abstain from matrimony, yet they had no carnal knowledge of their wives, that they might not be instrumental in propagating original sin. That their numbers might be kept up, they adopted the children of others, on whom they settled their property, on condition that they would adhere to the principles of the sect. It does not appear to have continued long in existence, but it has recently been revived among the Shakers of America.
[Buck]
Abbe
The same with Abbot, which see. Also the name of curious popular characters in France; who are persons who have not yet obtained any precise or fixed settlement in church or state, but most heartily wish for and would accept of either, just as it may happen. In the mean while their privileges are many. In college they are the instructors of youth, and in private families the tutors of young gentlemen.
[Buck]
This was formerly a title belonging to the head of a French monastery, corresponding to that of Abbot in England. [Abbot]. In the age preceding the French Revolution it became the designation of a multitude of sinecurists, who drew large incomes from the monasteries, and who were not always even priests, dispensation from Holy Orders being frequently granted to lay Abbés by the Popes. In more modern times the title of Abbé has been given to secular priests (that is, priests not belonging to any monastic order), who have no cure of souls, those who are parish priests being called Curés.
[Benham]
Abbe, before the French Revolution, was the title of all those Frenchmen who devoted themselves to divinity, or had at least pursued a course of study in a theological seminary, in the hope that the king would confer on them a real abbey; i.e. a certain part of the revenues of a monastery. Ordained clergymen were those only who devoted themselves entirely to the performance of clerical duty; the others were engaged in every kind of literary occupation. There were so many of them, poor and rich, men of quality and men of low birth, that they formed a particular claim in society, and exerted an important influence over its character. They were seen everywhere; at court, in the halls of justice, in the theatres, the coffee-houses, etc. In almost every wealthy family was an abbé, occupying the post of familiar friend and spiritual adviser, and not seldom, that of the gallant of the lady. They corresponded, in a certain degree, to the philosophers who lived in the houses of the wealthy Romans in the time of the emperors.
[Buck]
Aaronites
Aaronites. Aaronites, in the Hebrew text simply Aaron, the name being used collectively.
The priestly descendants of Aaron (1 Chron 12:27; 27:17, A. V.).
[Davis]
Aaronites
âr´on-īts לאהרון (le-‘ahărōn, literally, “belonging to Aaron”): A word used in the King James Version, but not in the revised versions, to translate the proper name Aaron in two instances where it denotes a family and not merely a person (1Ch 12:27;27:17). It is equivalent to the phrases “sons of Aaron,” “house of Aaron,” frequently used in the Old Testament. According to the books of Josh and Chronicles the “sons of Aaron,” were distinguished from the other Levites from the time of Joshua (e.g.Jos 21:4, 10, 13; 1Ch 6:54).
[ISBE]
AARONITES
Descendants of Aaron the high priest, so called 1Ch 12:27;27:17. Thirteen cities were assigned to them, in Judah and Benjamin, Jos 21:13-19; 1Ch 6:57-60.
[Amtrac]
the descendants of Aaron, and therefore priests. Jehoiada, the father of Benaiah, led 3,700 Aaronites as “fighting men” to the support of David at Hebron (1 Chr. 12:27). Eleazar (Num. 3:32), and at a later period Zadok (1 Chr. 27:17), was their chief.
[Easton]
Abaddon, or Apollyon
[DavidCox] Abaddon is Hebrew, and Apollyon is Greek, and both signify the destroyer. He is called the angel of death, or the destroying angel. He is king of the locusts of the bottomless pit, and ruler over the destroying agents that proceed from thence: it is one of the characters of Satan. Rev 9:11. The essential meaning of this word is the causer of destruction. The concept of destruction being the key then, we would generally define “destroy” as to cause a thing to change from a good state to a bad state. In the Bible, and from God’s perspective (as should be from our perspective also), something is ruined or destroyed when it no longer services its God given purpose, or functions as God has wanted it to be. Sin is the most obvious “ruining” of a thing, but many would associate many sins with “a good time” or pleasure. But from God’s point of view, every “good time” sin has drastic spiritual consequences that cause a domino effect of bad and worsening consequences. Besides being hardened to further danger and damage from sin, the sin effects a great toll in the physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual areas of our life. The destruction spoken of here is not a ceasing to exist (because if that were so, it would not be as nearly a disaster as eternal damnation), but rather a constant, continual, growing suffering. His state becomes worse and worse, never finding an end or relief.
The causer of this state of “ill” is Satan, the father (source cause) or angel (bringing) ill and calamity to all.
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ABADDON, OR APOLLYON
The former name is Hebrew, and the latter Greek, and both signify the destroyer, Rev 9:11. He is called the angel of death, or the destroying angel.
[Amtrac]
Apollyon
a destroyer
[Hitchcock]
Apollyon
Angel of the bottomless pit. Rev 9:11
Abaddon [destruction, ruin],
1. Destruction, ruin (Job 31:12); the place of the dead, synonymous with the grave (Ps. 88:11), Sheol (Job. 26:6; Prov. 15:11, R. V.), and death (Job 28:22).
2. A name of the angel of the abyss, who is called in Greek Apollyon (Rev. 9:11).
[Davis]
ABADDON, OR APOLLYON
The former name is Hebrew, and the latter Greek, and both signify the destroyer, Rev 9:11. He is called the angel of death, or the destroying angel.
[Amtrac]
Abaddon. a-bad´on (אכדון ‘ăbhaddōn, “ruin,” “perdition,” “destruction”): Though “destruction” is commonly used in translating ‘abhaddōn, the stem idea is intransitive rather than passive – the idea of perishing, going to ruin, being in a ruined state, rather than that of being ruined, being destroyed.
The word occurs six times in the Old Testament, always as a place name in the sense in which Sheol is a place name. It denotes, in certain aspects, the world of the dead as constructed in the Hebrew imagination. It is a common mistake to understand such expressions in a too mechanical way. Like ourselves, the men of the earlier ages had to use picture language when they spoke of the conditions that existed after death, however their picturing of the matter may have differed from ours. In three instances Abaddon is parallel with Sheol (Job 26:6; Prov 15:11;Prov 27:20). In one instance it is parallel with death, in one with the grave and in the remaining instance the parallel phrase is “root out all mine increase” (Job 28:22; Psa 88:11; Job 31:12). In this last passage the place idea comes nearer to vanishing in an abstract conception than in the other passages.
Abaddon belongs to the realm of the mysterious. Only God understands it (Job 26:6; Prov 15:11). It is the world of the dead in its utterly dismal, destructive, dreadful aspect, not in those more cheerful aspects in which activities are conceived of as in progress there. In Abaddon there are no declarations of God’s lovingkindness (Psa 88:11).
In a slight degree the Old Testament presentations personalize Abaddon. It is a synonym for insatiableness (Prov 27:20). It has possibilities of information mediate between those of “all living” and those of God (Job 28:22).
In the New Testament the word occurs once (Rev 9:11), the personalization becoming sharp. Abaddon is here not the world of the dead, but the angel who reigns over it. The Greek equivalent of his name is given as Apollyon. Under this name Bunyan presents him in the Pilgrim’s Progress, and Christendom has doubtless been more interested in this presentation of the matter than in any other.
In some treatments Abaddon is connected with the evil spirit Asmodeus of Tobit (e.g. 3:8), and with the destroyer mentioned in The Wisdom of Solomon (18:25; compare 22), and through these with a large body of rabbinical folklore; but these efforts are simply groundless. See APOLLYON.
[ISBE] The Hebrew in Job 31:12 and Pro 27:20, “destruction,” or the place of destruction, sheol (Hebrew); Hades (Greek). The rabbis use Abaddon, from Psa 88:12 (“Shall Thy lovingkindness be declared in destruction?”) (abaddon) as the second of the seven names for the region of the dead. In Rev 9:11 personified as the destroyer, Greek, apolluon, “the angel of the bottomless pit,” Satan is meant; for he is described in Rev 9:1 as “a star fallen from heaven unto earth, to whom was given the key of the bottomless pit”; and Rev 12:8-9,12: “Woe to the inhabiters of the earth, for the devil is come down.” Also Isa 14:12; Luk 10:18. As king of the locusts, that had power to torment not kill (Rev 9:3-11), Satan is permitted to afflict but not to touch life; so in the case of Job (Job 1-2). “He walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1Pe 5:8). “A murderer from the beginning” (Joh 8:44), who abode not in the truth.
Elliott identifies the locusts with the Muslims; their turbans being the “crowns” (but how are these “like gold”?); they come from the Euphrates River; their cavalry were countless; their “breast-plates of fire” being their rich-colored attire; the fire and smoke out of the horses’ mouths being the Turkish artillery; their standard “horse tails”; the period, an hour, day, month, and year, 396 years 118 days between Thogrul Beg going forth Jan. 18, 1057 A.D., and the fall of Constantinople, May 29, 1453 A.D.; or else 391 years and 1 month, as others say, from 1281 A.D., the date of the Turks’ first conquest of Christians, and 1672 A.D., their last conquest. The serpent-like stinging tails correspond to Mohammedanism supplanting Christianity in large parts of Asia, Africa, and even Europe.
But the hosts meant seem infernal rather than human, though constrained to work out God’s will (Rev 12:1-2). The Greek article once only before all the periods requires rather the translation “for (i.e. “against”) THE hour and day and month and year,” namely, appointed by God. Not only the year, but also the month, day, and hour, are all definitively foreordained. The article “the” would have been omitted, if a total of periods had been meant. The giving of both the Hebrew and the Greek name implies that he is the destroyer of both Hebrew and Gentiles alike. Just as, in beautiful contrast, the Spirit of adoption enables both Jew and Gentile believers to call God, in both their respective tongues, Abba (Hebrew in marked alliteration with Abaddon Father (Greek, pater). Jesus who unites both in Himself (Gal 3:28; Eph 2:14) sets us the example: Mar 14:36; Gal 4:6. Jesus unites Hebrew and Gentiles in a common salvation; Satan combines both in a common “destruction.”
[ISBE]
Abaddon. Destruction, the Hebrew name (equivalent to the Greek Apollyon, i.e., destroyer) of “the angel of the bottomless pit” (Rev 9:11). It is rendered “destruction” in Job 28:22; Job 31:12; Job 26:6; Prov 15:11; Prov 27:20. In the last three of these passages the Revised Version retains the word “Abaddon.” We may regard this word as a personification of the idea of destruction, or as sheol, the realm of the dead.
[Easton]
Abaddon. The Hebrew in Job 31:12 and Prov 27:20, “destruction,” or the place of destruction, sheol (Hebrew); Hades (Greek). The rabbis use Abaddon, from Psa 88:12 (“Shall Thy lovingkindness be declared in destruction?”) (abaddon) as the second of the seven names for the region of the dead. In Rev 9:11 personified as the destroyer, Greek, apolluon, “the angel of the bottomless pit,” Satan is meant; for he is described in Rev 9:1as “a star fallen from heaven unto earth, to whom was given the key of the bottomless pit”; and Rev 12:8-9,12: “Woe to the inhabiters of the earth, for the devil is come down.” Also Isa 14:12; Luk 10:18. As king of the locusts, that had power to torment not kill (Rev 9:3-11), Satan is permitted to afflict but not to touch life; so in the case of Job (Job 1-2). “He walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1Pe 5:8). “A murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44), who abode not in the truth.
Elliott identifies the locusts with the Muslims; their turbans being the “crowns” (but how are these “like gold”?); they come from the Euphrates River; their cavalry were countless; their “breast-plates of fire” being their rich-colored attire; the fire and smoke out of the horses’ mouths being the Turkish artillery; their standard “horse tails”; the period, an hour, day, month, and year, 396 years 118 days between Thogrul Beg going forth Jan. 18, 1057 A.D., and the fall of Constantinople, May 29, 1453 A.D.; or else 391 years and 1 month, as others say, from 1281 A.D., the date of the Turks’ first conquest of Christians, and 1672 A.D., their last conquest. The serpent-like stinging tails correspond to Mohammedanism supplanting Christianity in large parts of Asia, Africa, and even Europe.
But the hosts meant seem infernal rather than human, though constrained to work out God’s will (Rev 12:1-2). The Greek article once only before all the periods requires rather the translation “for (i.e. “against”) THE hour and day and month and year,” namely, appointed by God. Not only the year, but also the month, day, and hour, are all definitively foreordained. The article “the” would have been omitted, if a total of periods had been meant. The giving of both the Hebrew and the Greek name implies that he is the destroyer of both Hebrew and Gentiles alike. Just as, in beautiful contrast, the Spirit of adoption enables both Jew and Gentile believers to call God, in both their respective tongues, Abba (Hebrew in marked alliteration with Abaddon Father (Greek, pater). Jesus who unites both in Himself (Gal 3:28; Eph 2:14) sets us the example: Mark 14:36; Gal 4:6. Jesus unites Hebrew and Gentiles in a common salvation; Satan combines both in a common “destruction.” ((See ABBA.)
[Fausset]
Abaddon
In Rev 9:11 this name is shown to be the same as Apollyon, ‘the destroyer,’ who is described as ‘the angel of the bottomless pit.’ It is perhaps not so much one of the names of Satan, as his character personified. It occurs six times in the Old Testament, in three of which it is associated with hell (sheol): Job 26:6; Prov 15:11; Prov 27:20; once with death: ‘Destruction and Death say,’ etc., Job 28:22; and once with the grave. Psa 88:11. In all these passages, and in Job 31:12, it is translated ‘destruction’.
[Morrish]
Abaddon. A Hebrew word signifying: ruin, destruction (Job 31:12); place of destruction; the Abyss, realm of the dead (Job 26:6; Proverbs 15:11); it occurs personified (Apocalypse 9:11) as Abaddon and is rendered in Greek by Apollyon, denoting the angel-prince of hell, the minister of death and author of havoc on earth. The Vulgate renders the Greek Apollyon by the Latin Exterminans (that is, “Destroyer”). The identity of Abaddon with Asmodeus, the demon of impurity, has been asserted, but not proved. In Job 26:6, and Proverbs 15:11, the word occurs in conjunction with Sheol.
A.J. MAAS The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume ICopyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
[Catholic Encyclopedia]
Apollyon
or, as it is literally in the margin of the Authorized Version of (Revelation 9:11) “a destroyer,” is the rendering of the Hebrew word ABADDON, “the angel of the bottomless pit.” From the occurrence of the word in (Psalms 88:11) the rabbins have made Abaddon the nethermost of the two regions into which they divide the lower world; but that in (Revelation 9:11) Abaddon is the angel and not the abyss is perfectly evident in the Greek.
[Smith]