The Ark of the Covenant, also known as the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God, is a legendary artifact believed to be the most sacred relic of the Israelites, which is described as a wooden chest, covered in pure gold, with an elaborately designed lid called the mercy seat. According to the Book of Exodus, the Ark contained the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. According to the New Testament Book of Hebrews, it also contained Aaron's rod and a pot of manna.
Adoptionism, also called dynamic monarchianism, is an early Christian nontrinitarian theological doctrine, subsequently revived in various forms, which holds that Jesus was adopted as the Son of God at his baptism, his resurrection, or his ascension. How common adoptionist views were among early Christians is debated, but it appears to have been most popular in the first, second, and third centuries. Some scholars see adoptionism as the belief of the earliest followers of Jesus, based on the epistles of Paul and other early literature. However, adoptionist views sharply declined in prominence in the fourth and fifth centuries, as Church leaders condemned it as a heresy.
Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is a central figure of Christianity, venerated under various titles such as virgin or queen, many of them mentioned in the Litany of Loreto. The Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Church of the East, Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches believe that Mary, as mother of Jesus, is the Mother of God. Other Protestant views on Mary vary, with some holding her to have considerably lesser status.
According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle, also known as the Tent of the Congregation, was the portable earthly dwelling place of Yahweh used by the Israelites from the Exodus until the conquest of Canaan. Moses was instructed at Mount Sinai to construct and transport the tabernacle with the Israelites on their journey through the wilderness and their subsequent conquest of the Promised Land. After 440 years, Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem superseded it as the dwelling-place of God.
Genuflection or genuflexion is the act of bending a knee to the ground, as distinguished from kneeling which more strictly involves both knees. From early times, it has been a gesture of deep respect for a superior. Today, the gesture is common in the Christian religious practices of the Anglican Church, Lutheran Church, Catholic Church, and Western Rite Orthodox Church. The Latin word genuflectio, from which the English word is derived, originally meant kneeling with both knees rather than the rapid dropping to one knee and immediately rising that became customary in Western Europe in the Middle Ages. It is often referred to as "going down on one knee" or "bowing the knee". In Western culture, one genuflects on the left knee to a human dignitary, whether ecclesiastical or civil, while, in Christian churches and chapels, one genuflects on the right knee when the Sacrament is not exposed but in a tabernacle or veiled.
The Hebrew Bible makes reference to a number of covenants with God (YHWH). These include the Noahic Covenant, which is between God and all living creatures, as well as a number of more specific covenants with Abraham, the whole Israelite people, the Israelite priesthood, and the Davidic lineage of kings. In form and terminology, these covenants echo the kinds of treaty agreements in the surrounding ancient world.
In Christianity, the Visitation is the visit of Mary, who was pregnant with Jesus, to Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the Baptist, in the Gospel of Luke, Luke 1:39–56.
The Madonna of the Pomegranate was painted in circa 1487 with tempera on a wood panel by Sandro Botticelli. It is now in the Uffizi in Florence. Sandro Botticelli was a leading Italian Renaissance artist from Florence, Italy. The Madonna (art) uses the circular format, better known as a tondo, which focuses the attention on the main characters, the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus, who are surrounded symmetrically by angels on each side. Botticelli's use of tempera grassa give the characters a real look, better known as a "naturalistic" style, which is common during the Renaissance. The Virgin Mary is holding baby Jesus gently in her arms while holding a pomegranate in her left hand.
The Madonna of the Book, or the Madonna del Libro, is a small painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli, and is preserved in the Poldi Pezzoli Museum in Milan. The painting is executed in tempera on panel. It dates from between 1480 and 1481.
Madonna in Glory with Seraphim is a painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli, executed c. 1469–1470. It is housed in Galleria degli Uffizi.
The Mystical Nativity is a painting in oil on canvas dated c. 1500–1501 by the Italian Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli, in the National Gallery in London. It is his only signed work and has an unusual iconography for a painting of the Nativity.
In Christian theology, the incarnation is the belief that the pre-existent divine person of Jesus Christ, God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, and the eternally begotten Logos, took upon human nature and "was made flesh" by being conceived in the womb of a woman, the Virgin Mary, also known as the Theotokos. The doctrine of the incarnation then entails that Jesus was at the same time both fully God and fully human—two natures in one person.
The Madonna of the Magnificat, is a painting of circular or tondo form by the Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli. It is also referred to as the Virgin and Child with Five Angels. In the tondo, we see the Virgin Mary writing the Magnificat with her right hand, with a pomegranate in her left, as two angels crown her with the Christ child on her lap. It is now in the galleries of the Uffizi, in Florence.
A Madonna del Parto is an iconic depiction of the Virgin Mary shown as pregnant, which was developed in Italy, mainly in Tuscany in the 14th century. Examples include works by Taddeo Gaddi, Bernardo Daddi and Nardo di Cione, but the fresco by Piero della Francesca in the Museum of Monterchi, in the province of Arezzo, is considered the most famous one. The Madonna was portrayed standing, alone, often with a closed book on her stomach, an allusion to the Incarnate Word. These works were associated with the devotions of pregnant women, praying for a safe delivery. Sometimes, as with a statue by Sansovino in the Basilica of Sant'Agostino in Rome, the depiction is of a Virgin and Child, which was however known as a Madonna del Parto, because it was especially associated with devotions related to pregnancy. Here the Virgin wears the Girdle of Thomas, a belt of knotted cloth cord that was a relic held in Prato Cathedral, which many versions show her wearing.
The Madonna della Loggia is a painting attributed to the Italian Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli, dating to c. 1467. A tempera on panel work, it is located in the loggia of Uffizi, Florence, Italy.
The Madonna and Child with an Angel is a painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli, c. 1465–1467. It is housed in Spedale degli Innocenti of Florence.
Virgin and Child with an Angel also known as Our Lady of the Eucharist is a painting in tempera on wood panel by Sandro Botticelli, executed in c. 1470. It is now held by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts, having been acquired from Prince Chigi in 1899. The painting measures 85.2 × 65 centimetres (33.5 × 25.6 in) and is one of a series of paintings of the Madonna produced by Botticelli between 1465 and 1470. It shows influences from Filippo Lippi's Virgin and Child with Two Angels of c. 1465 in the Uffizi.
Hebrews 9 is the ninth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The author is anonymous, although the internal reference to "our brother Timothy" causes a traditional attribution to Paul, but this attribution has been disputed since the second century and there is no decisive evidence for the authorship. This chapter contains the exposition about the ministry of the first covenant and Christ's effective sacrifice.
John 1:14 is the fourteenth verse in the first chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible.
