Ελληνικά
Vocabulary
Holy Scripture (or Holy Bible or Holy Letters). It is composed of two parts: The Old Testament and the New Testament, a wide selection of books refering into the Revelation of God through human history.
The Bible is not the product of one writer or at a certain period of time. It contains texts which cover an age long period. In them we observe linguistic peculiarities and various ways of expression at different times; philosophical, theological and religious ideas and conceptions as well as existing political and social facts.
However the Bible is not just a human work but also a divinely inspired Scripture. It is not the product of theological research of a scholar or the fabrication of some clergy. In every Biblical text God reveals Himself to His people, who kept the experience His revelation in their traditions. This experience of the revelation of God in the human history is precisely the common element, which holds the collection of various texts into one body and attributes to it the magnificent unity from the first to the last book.
Old Testament. The first part of the aforementioned collection of divinely inspired Books constituted as well the first Holy Scripture of the ancient Christian Church. It is recognized also by Judaism as its Holy Bible (39 Books).
The term “Testament” which actually means the last expression of the will of one person. It is a rendering into Greek of a Hebrew word which means "a pact", "an alliance", "a treaty", "an agreement". This term however, besides the meaning, which can carry in human relations, is used in the Bible specifically to denote an agreement of a special character, which rules the relationship of God with people and aims to create conditions for the salvation of the entire humanity.
Thus, the collection of the Books which contain the general principles and conditions of this "testament" or relate the consequences which derive from them was called by the Church "Old Testament”, to differentiate it from the subsequent “New Testament”.
New Testament. The collection of 27 books which refer to the fulfillment of the promises mentioned in the Old Testament and the creation of the new “Testament”, through Jesus Christ, which will rule from thereon the relations of God with His people, the Christians.
The contracting of the new “Testament” was announced already by the Prophets in the “Old Testament”. The Church saw this announcement being fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ (Matt. 26, 28, and elsewhere).
Deuterocanonical Books. A group of ten books of the “Old Testament”, which originally were not written in Hebrew but in Greek and for that reason were not included in the Hebrew Canon of the 39 Books of the Old Testament. They were included however among the other books of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, which was translated into Greek by 72 Jewish scholars for the benefit of the large Greek only speaking Jewish community in Alexandria, Egypt, in 370 B.C.
Some Churches accept the Deuterocanonical Books as belonging in the Canon of the Old Testament and others do not. For this reason there are two editions of the Old Testament: one with the full canon of 49 Books of the Old Testament and the other with only 39 Books of the Hebrew canon, in other words without the “Deuterocanonicals”.
Books. To the publishers of Bible Societies the term means one or more books of the Holy Bible, i.e. “The Gospel according to St. Matthew” or “The Psalms” or “The Four Gospels”, etc.
Excerpts. To the publishers of Bible Societies the term means a small part of a Biblical Book, i.e. “The Miracles of Christ”, “The Parables of Christ”, etc.
References. Indications referring the reader to a specific sentence or paragraph.