Core Glossary
Core Glossary — 1 John
English → Russian | Terms Across the Whole Book (Chapters 1-5)
How to Use This Glossary
This glossary extends, and never contradicts, the baseline Romans translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json. Column “Baseline?” marks whether a term is:
- Reuse (exact) — already established in the Romans baseline; the recorded Russian rendering MUST be used exactly, unchanged.
- New (1 John) — not present in the Romans baseline; proposed here for the first time, following the same risk-tier method, for addition to translation memory before Phase 2 begins.
Risk tiers (Critical / High / Medium / Low) follow the same definitions as the Romans doctrine_risk_registry.json: Critical and High require human theologian review; Medium requires native speaker review; Low requires automated review only.
Terms by Chapter of First Appearance
Chapter 1
| # | English Term | Greek | Transliteration | Russian Rendering | Risk | Baseline? | Rejected Alternatives | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Word of Life | ὁ λόγος τῆς ζωῆς | ho logos tēs zōēs | Слово жизни | High | New (1 John) | “весть жизни” (loses Logos link) | Must retain link to Слово (Logos) of Synodal John 1:1; anti-docetic opening. |
| 2 | fellowship | κοινωνία | koinōnia | общение | Low | Reuse (exact) | дружба, коллектив | Same term/risk as Romans baseline; thematically central to ch. 1 though term-risk stays Low. |
| 3 | eternal life | ζωὴ αἰώνιος | zōē aiōnios | жизнь вечная / вечная жизнь | High | New (1 John) | вечность (too abstract) | Present-possession sense (5:13) must be preserved, not only future hope. |
| 4 | light (of God) | φῶς | phōs | свет | Medium | New (1 John) | сияние (too poetic/vague) | Parallel identity-statement to “God is love” (1:5 vs. 4:8). |
| 5 | darkness | σκοτία / σκότος | skotia / skotos | тьма | Medium | New (1 John) | неведение (too weak) | Binary ethical antithesis; do not soften. |
| 6 | walk (conduct oneself) | περιπατέω | peripateō | ходить / поступать | Medium | New (1 John) | двигаться (literalizes) | Established Synodal idiom “ходить во свете.” |
| 7 | sin | ἁμαρτία | hamartia | грех | High | Reuse (exact) | ошибка, проступок | Identical to Romans baseline entry. |
| 8 | confess (sin/Christ) | ὁμολογέω | homologeō | исповедовать / открыто признавать | Critical | New (1 John) | — (no safe casual synonym) | Sacramental collision: must not default to meaning only the Orthodox Mystery of Confession (Таинство Исповеди); 1 John’s sense is direct acknowledgment to God (1:9) or public doctrinal acknowledgment of Christ (4:2,15), not exclusively the sacramental rite. Requires explicit teaching note on every occurrence. |
| 9 | forgive / forgiveness | ἀφίημι | aphiēmi | прощать / прощение | Medium | New (1 John) | извинить (too weak, social) | Distinguish from sacramental absolution pronounced by a priest. |
| 10 | cleanse | καθαρίζω | katharizō | очищать | Medium | New (1 John) | стерилизовать (wrong register) | Moral-spiritual, not ritual, cleansing. |
| 11 | faithful and righteous (of God) | πιστός καὶ δίκαιος | pistos kai dikaios | верен и праведен | Medium-High | Mixed (праведен reuses baseline праведность) | справедлив (false friend, per baseline) | Describes God’s own character, not human achievement. |
| 12 | blood (of Jesus) | αἷμα | haima | кровь | Medium-High | New (1 John) | — | Distinguish 1 John’s atoning-death sense from Eucharistic “Кровь Христова” sacramental application. |
| 13 | advocate (Christ as) | παράκλητος | paraklētos | Ходатай | High | New (1 John), shares root with baseline “intercession” | заступник (rejected — reserved for saints’/Theotokos intercession per baseline) | Same Greek word rendered Утешитель when of the Holy Spirit (John 14-16) — must teach the distinction explicitly. |
| 14 | propitiation | ἱλασμός | hilasmos | умилостивление | Critical | New (1 John) | очищение (loses forensic sense), выкуп (too commercial) | Established Synodal rendering (2:2, 4:10); rare/formal register, requires gloss on first use; no developed Orthodox parallel for the propitiatory (wrath-directed) sense. |
Chapter 2
| # | English Term | Greek | Transliteration | Russian Rendering | Risk | Baseline? | Rejected Alternatives | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | keep the commandments | τηρέω τὰς ἐντολάς | tēreō tas entolas | соблюдать заповеди | High | New (1 John), parallels baseline “obedience_of_faith” | религиозный долг, соблюдение обрядов (both rejected per baseline obedience_of_faith pattern) | Obedience as fruit of relationship, not separate merit. |
| 16 | abide / remain | μένω | menō | пребывать | High | New (1 John) | оставаться (too weak/passive), жить (too generic) | Book-wide key-word (20+ occurrences); single consistent rendering required across all documents. |
| 17 | commandment (new/old) | ἐντολή | entolē | заповедь | Medium | Reuse (exact), per baseline “law” entry note | правило (too weak) | Baseline reserves заповедь for individual commandments — exact fit. |
| 18 | lust of the flesh / of the eyes | ἐπιθυμία τῆς σαρκός / τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν | epithymia tēs sarkos / tōn ophthalmōn | вожделение (похоть) плоти / очей | Medium | New (1 John) | желание (too neutral, loses disordered sense) | Disordered self-serving desire, not desire as such. |
| 19 | pride of life | ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου | alazoneia tou biou | гордость житейская | Medium-High | New (1 John) | гордость жизни (risks confusing βίος with ζωή) | Greek distinguishes βίος (temporal life/livelihood) from ζωή (life, esp. eternal); Russian жизнь collapses both — flag explicitly. |
| 20 | flesh | σάρξ | sarx | плоть | Medium-High | New (1 John) | тело (too narrowly “body”) | Two nearly opposite valences in 1 John (2:16 negative; 4:2 positive/incarnational) — must disambiguate by context every time. |
| 21 | antichrist | ἀντίχριστος | antichristos | антихрист | Critical | New (1 John) | — (transliteration is the only viable option) | Live Russian Orthodox folk-apocalyptic tradition (Old Believer antichrist identifications); must state 1 John’s own doctrinal definition explicitly and avoid any implied contemporary identification. |
| 22 | the last hour | ἐσχάτη ὥρα | eschatē hōra | последнее время / последний час | Medium | New (1 John) | конец времён (too grandiose/apocalyptic-pop-culture) | Names a theological era, not a countdown. |
| 23 | anointing | χρῖσμα | chrisma | помазание | High | New (1 John) | — (no safe synonym; miropomazaniye too narrowly sacramental) | Sacramental collision with the Mystery of Chrismation (Миропомазание); 1 John means the Spirit’s inner teaching given to every believer. |
| 24 | truth | ἀλήθεια | alētheia | истина | Medium | New (1 John) | правда (more “factual correctness” register) | Relational, revealed truth in Christ, not abstract philosophical truth. |
| 25 | lie / liar | ψεῦδος / ψεύστης | pseudos / pseustēs | ложь / лжец | Low | New (1 John) | обман (softer, more “deception” than “falsehood”) | Standard; retain directness. |
| 26 | deny (Christ) | ἀρνέομαι | arneomai | отвергать / отрекаться | Medium-High | New (1 John) | — | отрекаться carries strong Soviet-era forced-renunciation resonance; reserve for deliberate, settled denial, not doubt/struggle. |
Chapter 3
| # | English Term | Greek | Transliteration | Russian Rendering | Risk | Baseline? | Rejected Alternatives | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | children of God | τέκνα θεοῦ | tekna theou | дети Божьи | High | New (1 John), parallels baseline “adoption” | приёмные дети (emphasizes provisionality, opposite of intent) | Post-Soviet orphanage-culture and Orthodox baptismal-regeneration overlaps; pastoral, non-polemical framing required, per baseline adoption entry pattern. |
| 28 | manifested / revealed | φανερόω | phaneroō | явился / открылось | Medium | New (1 John) | — | Used of both first coming and future glory; realized + future eschatology together. |
| 29 | lawlessness | ἀνομία | anomia | беззаконие | Medium | New (1 John) | нарушение закона (too legalistic/narrow) | Sin as essential orientation, not isolated acts. |
| 30 | seed of God | σπέρμα αὐτοῦ | sperma autou | семя Его | Medium-High | New (1 John) | — | Distinct referent from baseline “seed of David” (от семени Давидова) — must not be confused. |
| 31 | devil | διάβολος | diabolos | диавол / дьявол | Low-Medium | New (1 John) | сатана (acceptable synonym, not required here) | Standard; use one spelling consistently per document. |
| 32 | practice/do righteousness | ποιεῖν τὴν δικαιοσύνην | poiein tēn dikaiosynēn | творить (поступать по) праведности | High | Mixed (reuses baseline праведность) | заслуживать праведность (rejected — righteousness as fruit, not cause, of new birth) | Same caution as baseline праведность entry: evidence/fruit, not achieved cause, of new birth. |
| 33 | lay down (one’s) life | τιθέναι τὴν ψυχήν | tithenai tēn psychēn | положить душу (свою) | Medium | New (1 John) | отдать жизнь (acceptable but less idiomatically Synodal) | Established Synodal idiom paralleling John 15:13. |
| 34 | compassion (bowels of) | σπλάγχνα | splanchna | сердце (милосердие) | Low-Medium | New (1 John) | внутренности (too literal/graphic) | Concrete, practical (material-sharing) test-case, not mere sentiment. |
| 35 | in deed and truth | ἐν ἔργῳ καὶ ἀληθείᾳ | en ergō kai alētheia | делом и истиной | Medium | New (1 John) | — | Contrast with mere verbal profession must be preserved. |
Chapter 4:1-6 (Testing the Spirits)
| # | English Term | Greek | Transliteration | Russian Rendering | Risk | Baseline? | Rejected Alternatives | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 36 | test the spirits | δοκιμάζω τὰ πνεύματα | dokimazō ta pneumata | испытывать духов | High | New (1 John) | распознавать экстрасенсов (never use — see baseline forbidden list) | A doctrinal-content test (4:2-3), not psychic/occult discernment; avoid conflation with post-Soviet folk-psychic culture already flagged in Romans baseline. |
| 37 | spirit of truth / of error | πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας / τῆς πλάνης | pneuma tēs alētheias / tēs planēs | дух истины / дух заблуждения | Medium | New (1 John) | — | Distinguish from Holy Spirit (Святой Дух, capitalized, per baseline) — this “spirit” is a characterized orientation, lower-case, contextual. |
| 38 | come in the flesh | ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα | en sarki elēlythota | пришедший во плоти | High | New (1 John), extends baseline “incarnation” (воплощение) | явившийся как аватар (never use — forbidden per baseline incarnation entry) | Functions as the letter’s chief orthodoxy/heresy boundary-marker (anti-docetic), raising its functional risk above the baseline incarnation entry’s Medium rating. |
| 39 | overcome / conquer | νικάω | nikaō | побеждать / победили | High | New (1 John) | — | See fuller ch. 5 entry (#43); risk applies from first occurrence here. |
Chapter 4:7-21 (Core Passage — additional terms not already listed above)
| # | English Term | Greek | Transliteration | Russian Rendering | Risk | Baseline? | Rejected Alternatives | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | love (noun/verb) | ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω | agapē / agapaō | любовь / любить | Critical | New (1 John) | — (no viable Russian synonym; secular breadth is unavoidable) | “God is love” thesis statement; must be defined by God’s cruciform character (v.10), not assumed from secular usage of любовь. |
| 41 | beloved (address) | ἀγαπητοί | agapētoi | возлюбленные | Low | New (1 John) | дорогие (too casual for Scripture register) | Warm, established devotional address. |
| 42 | born of God / beget | γεννάω | gennaō | рождён от Бога | High | New (1 John), parallels no direct baseline entry but touches “adoption”/“sanctification” tension | возрождён (acceptable near-synonym, “regenerated”) | Collision risk with Orthodox baptismal-regeneration theology; needs explicit, non-polemical clarification. |
| 43 | world | κόσμος | kosmos | мир | Critical | New (1 John); homonym collision flagged already in baseline “peace” entry | вселенная (too cosmological), человечество (loses world-system sense) | Dual-valenced within the letter itself (positive object of God’s love at 4:9; negative world-system at 2:15/5:19); context-dependent glossing required. |
| 44 | only begotten / unique (Son) | μονογενής | monogenēs | единородный | Medium | New (1 John), shares Nicene-Creed heritage with baseline “son_of_god” | единственный (loses creedal-technical precision) | Shared, settled Nicene confession with Orthodoxy; precision, not defense, is the task. |
| 45 | ought / obligated | ὀφείλω | opheilō | должны / обязаны | Medium | New (1 John) | — | Frame as grateful response to grace received, not legalistic debt that could earn further favor. |
| 46 | perfected / complete (love) | τελειόω / τέλειος | teleioō / teleios | совершенна(я) / совершенство | Medium-High | New (1 John) | — | Risk of collision with Orthodox ascetic/monastic “perfection” (совершенство) as solitary lifelong attainment; here it means love’s relational completion. |
| 47 | Savior | σωτήρ | sōtēr | Спаситель | Medium-High | New (1 John), shares root with baseline “salvation” (спасение, Critical) | избавитель (too generic, loses title-specificity) | Anchor to the Son’s historical sending and atoning death (v.10), not an open-ended theosis-process default. |
| 48 | confidence / boldness | παρρησία | parrhēsia | дерзновение | High | New (1 John) | смелость (too generic, loses forensic/liturgical resonance) | Established liturgical term; must be explicitly anchored to standing before the Judge at the Last Judgment (κρίσις), not merely devotional feeling. |
| 49 | judgment (Day of) | κρίσις | krisis | суд / день суда | Medium | New (1 John) | приговор (too narrowly “verdict,” loses the “Day” scope) | Standard eschatological term. |
| 50 | fear | φόβος | phobos | страх | Medium | New (1 John) | — | Distinguish servile dread (condemned here) from reverent “fear of the Lord” (a positive category elsewhere in Scripture), both covered by the single Russian word. |
| 51 | punishment / torment | κόλασις | kolasis | мучение / наказание | Medium | New (1 John) | — | Avoid over-literalizing graphic hellfire imagery beyond the text’s own restraint. |
| 52 | first (God loved us first) | πρῶτος | prōtos | первый / прежде | Low-Medium | New (1 John) | — | Causal, not merely chronological, priority — grace precedes and enables response. |
| 53 | brother | ἀδελφός | adelphos | брат | Medium | New (1 John) | единоверец (too narrowly denominational) | Fellow believer generally, not narrowed to one’s own denomination/ethnic in-group. |
| 54 | hate | μισέω | miseō | ненавидеть | Low | New (1 John) | не любить (softens the binary contrast) | Retain Johannine binary starkness. |
| 55 | liar | ψεύστης | pseustēs | лжец | Low | New (1 John), see also #25 | — | Direct verdict; do not soften in exposition. |
Chapter 5
| # | English Term | Greek | Transliteration | Russian Rendering | Risk | Baseline? | Rejected Alternatives | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 56 | overcome the world / victory | νικάω / νίκη | nikaō / nikē | побеждать / победа | High | New (1 John) | — (no safe synonym; побеждать is the only natural verb) | Cultural flag: победа carries intense Russian national-memory resonance (День Победы, 1945); must be clearly framed as spiritual, not military/national, victory. |
| 57 | faith | πίστις | pistis | вера | High | Reuse (exact) | доверие, убеждение | Identical to Romans baseline entry; personal trust in Christ, not generic Orthodox religious identity. |
| 58 | water and blood | ὕδωρ καὶ αἷμα | hydōr kai haima | вода и кровь | Medium-High | New (1 John) | — | Textual-critical flag: Synodal 5:7 retains the Comma Johanneum (explicit Trinitarian clause) absent from earliest manuscripts and most modern critical texts; must be flagged for explicit editorial/theological decision, not silently followed or silently omitted. |
| 59 | testimony / witness | μαρτυρία | martyria | свидетельство | Medium | New (1 John) | — | Legal/courtroom register is an asset, matching 1 John’s forensic themes. |
| 60 | sin unto death | ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον | hamartia pros thanaton | грех к смерти / не к смерти | High | New (1 John) | смертный грех (false friend — rejected; distinct Catholic/Orthodox moral-theology category) | Genuinely obscure, restrained biblical category; avoid confident identification with any traditional “mortal sins” list. |
| 61 | the evil one | ὁ πονηρός | ho ponēros | лукавый | Medium | New (1 John) | злой (too generic/adjectival) | Established Synodal term for Satan (Lord’s Prayer usage); good cultural fit. |
| 62 | idols | εἴδωλα | eidōla | идолы | Medium | New (1 John) | кумиры (contemporary figurative sense — modern celebrity “idols” — should not silently replace the literal ancient referent) | Retain literal ancient referent as primary meaning; figurative application permitted only if clearly marked as application, not translation. |
| 63 | true (God) | ὁ ἀληθινός | ho alēthinos | истинный | Medium | New (1 John) | подлинный (more secular/generic register) | Shares root with ἀλήθεια (истина); contrasts with idols just mentioned. |
Terms Reused Exactly from the Romans Baseline (Full List, for Phase 2 Pre-Flight Reference)
The following terms recur in 1 John and MUST use the exact Romans baseline rendering with no deviation. Doctrine/risk levels are unchanged from the Romans registries unless a book-specific elevation is separately noted above.
| English Term | Russian (Baseline-Exact) | Risk (per Romans baseline) | 1 John Occurrences (representative) |
|---|---|---|---|
| God | Бог | Critical | throughout |
| Jesus | Иисус | Critical | throughout |
| Christ (implicit in “Jesus Christ,” “the Christ”) | Христос | High (per messiah/messianic_promise doctrine) | 1:3; 2:1,22; 4:2,15; 5:1,20 |
| Son of God | Сын Божий | Critical | 3:8; 4:15; 5:5,10,12-13,20 |
| Father | Отец | Medium | 1:2-3; 2:1,13-16,22-24; 3:1; 4:14 |
| Holy Spirit | Святой Дух | Critical | (implicit in “His Spirit,” 4:13; note: distinct from lower-case “spirits” tested in 4:1-6) |
| faith | вера | High | 5:4 |
| sin | грех | High | 1:7-10; 2:2,12; 3:4-9; 4:10; 5:16-18 |
| righteousness / righteous | праведность / праведный | High | 1:9; 2:1,29; 3:7,10 |
| fellowship | общение | Low | 1:3,6-7 |
| gentiles/nations | (not applicable — term does not recur in 1 John) | — | — |
| church | (not used as a distinct term in 1 John; “brethren”/“we” language predominates) | — | — |
| resurrection | (not directly discussed in 1 John; implied in “eternal life” doctrine only) | — | — |
Note on the last three rows: several Romans baseline terms simply do not recur as load-bearing vocabulary in 1 John. Per the full-book-coverage mandate, this is noted explicitly rather than silently omitted — 1 John’s ecclesiology is expressed through “brethren”/“one another” language rather than the term ἐκκλησία, and its eschatology centers on “eternal life” and “his appearing” (φανερόω) rather than a distinct ἀνάστασις (resurrection) discussion.
Risk Summary for 1 John Glossary
| Risk Tier | Count (New 1 John terms) | Count (Baseline-Reuse terms recurring) | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Critical | 6 (love, world/κόσμος, confess, propitiation, antichrist, + “God is love”/“born of God” family) | 3 (God, Jesus, Son of God) | Human theologian |
| High | 14 | 3 (faith, sin, righteousness) | Human theologian |
| Medium-High | 8 | 0 | Human theologian (treat as High for routing) |
| Medium | 20 | 1 (Father) | Native speaker review |
| Low / Low-Medium | 8 | 1 (fellowship) | Automated / native speaker (borderline) |
This glossary, together with 07_semantic_analysis.md, is submitted for incorporation into an updated translation_memory.json (version increment) and bible_term_registry.json extension prior to Phase 2 segment translation of 1 John. All new Critical and High risk terms above must be routed to human theologian review per the Romans baseline’s escalation rules before Phase 2 begins.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: Бог
Transliteration: Bog
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: Всевышний (acceptable poetic synonym only)
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. In 1 John the stakes rise: two direct predicate-nominative essence-statements attach to this word (‘Бог есть свет,’ 1:5; ‘Бог есть любовь,’ 4:8). Exposition must frame both as revealed truths about God’s nature, not generic post-Soviet secular-spiritual platitudes nor Palamite apophatic caution softening the direct essence-claim.
Jesus
Approved rendering: Иисус
Transliteration: Iisus
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: Исус (Old Believer spelling, forbidden)
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. In 1 John this name is repeatedly bound to the anti-docetic confession (4:2-3; 5:6); consistency across every occurrence is essential to the letter’s own argument, not merely stylistic.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: Сын Божий
Transliteration: Syn Bozhiy
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: божественный посланник
Original: υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. In 1 John, confessing this title is the very test of saving faith (4:15; 5:5,10,12-13), not a recited creedal formula; risk is precision of exposition, not defense against a rival concept, given shared Nicene ground with Russian Orthodoxy.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Святой Дух
Transliteration: Svyatoy Dukh
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Rejected alternatives: дух (never use alone), энергия
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον / τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged, always capitalized. CRITICAL 1-John-specific addition: the identical Greek πνεῦμα is also used lower-case for ‘spirits’ to be tested (4:1) and ‘spirit of error/truth’ (4:6) — these are NOT the Holy Spirit. A single capitalization slip could imply doubting the Holy Spirit himself; mechanical capitalization checking is required at validation (see spirit_to_be_tested).
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: вменённая праведность
Transliteration: vmenyonnaya pravednost’
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: заслуженная праведность (forbidden), дарованная святость (too vague)
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Not a lexical term in 1 John itself, but its rejected-alternative pattern (заслуженная, ‘earned’) is directly extended to forbid заслуживать праведность for 1 John’s ‘practice_righteousness’ entry — righteousness there is fruit, never earned cause, of new birth.
Confess
Approved rendering: исповедовать / открыто признавать
Transliteration: ispovedovat’ / otkryto priznavat’
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: no safe casual synonym exists
Original: ὁμολογέω
Category: Sin
New (1 John), 1:9 (sin, to God); 4:2,15; 2:22-23 (doctrinal confession of Christ). CRITICAL sacramental-collision risk: исповедь directly names the Orthodox Mystery of Confession (Таинство Исповеди). Must be glossed on every occurrence, distinguishing (a) direct unmediated confession of sin to God (1:9), (b) public doctrinal confession of Christ’s identity (4:2,15), and (c) the sacramental rite itself, which the letter does not require. Framed pastorally, never polemically. Highest-ranked ambiguity in the letter.
Propitiation
Approved rendering: умилостивление
Transliteration: umilostivleniye
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: очищение (loses forensic sense), выкуп (too commercial)
Original: ἱλασμός
Category: Salvation
New (1 John), 2:2; 4:10. Established Synodal rendering, must render identically at both occurrences. Rare/archaic register requiring a gloss on first use per document; no developed Orthodox parallel for the penal/wrath-directed sense (Orthodox atonement theology historically emphasizes ontological victory over death/corruption). Teach explicitly, exactly as the Romans baseline treats имputed righteousness.
Antichrist
Approved rendering: антихрист
Transliteration: antikhrist
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: no safe substitute — transliteration is the only viable option
Original: ἀντίχριστος
Category: Christology
New (1 John), 2:18,22; 4:3. CRITICAL cultural-collision risk: Russian Orthodox popular/historical tradition carries a live, emotionally charged antichrist mythology (17th-century Old Believer identification of Patriarch Nikon or Peter the Great; recurring folk identification of modern political figures/technologies). Must state 1 John’s own narrow, doctrinal definition explicitly (denial that Jesus is the Christ come in the flesh) and never name or imply any contemporary figure.
Love
Approved rendering: любовь / любить
Transliteration: lyubov’ / lyubit’
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: no viable Russian synonym exists — secular breadth is unavoidable
Original: ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω
Category: Love
New (1 John), throughout, especially 4:7-21. The widest-bandwidth word in the whole language (romantic, familial, patriotic ‘любовь к родине,’ casual enthusiasm ‘люблю кофе’). ‘Бог есть любовь’ risks being heard as a vague post-Soviet secular-spiritual slogan. Every doctrinal occurrence must be re-anchored explicitly to the cruciform definition of vv. 9-10 (the Son sent as propitiation), never left to the word’s secular breadth alone. Second-highest-ranked ambiguity in the letter.
World
Approved rendering: мир
Transliteration: mir
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Rejected alternatives: вселенная (too cosmological), человечество (loses world-system sense)
Original: κόσμος
Category: World
New (1 John), elevated from the Romans baseline’s Medium ‘peace’ entry. Dual-valenced WITHIN THE SAME LETTER: positive object of God’s saving love (4:9,14) vs. negative organized system opposed to God (2:15-17; 4:4-5; 5:19). Homonymous with ‘peace’ (мир). No synonym cleanly substitutes for either sense; every occurrence requires context evaluation and, where needed, explicit bracketed gloss (e.g. ‘мир [человечество]’ vs. ‘мир [система, противостоящая Богу]’). Third-highest-ranked ambiguity in the letter.
High Risk Terms
Christ
Approved rendering: Христос
Transliteration: Khristos
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: Мессия (used alongside, not as substitute)
Original: Χριστός
Category: Christology
Inherited from the Romans package’s messiah/Christ treatment. Ordinary Russian usage treats Христос as effectively Jesus’ surname; 1 John makes confession of ‘Jesus is the Christ’ the explicit doctrinal boundary marker (2:22; 5:1), so the messianic-title force must be resurfaced, not assumed.
Faith
Approved rendering: вера
Transliteration: vera
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Rejected alternatives: доверие, убеждение
Original: πίστις / πιστεύω
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. In 1 John, faith itself is named as ‘the victory that has overcome the world’ (5:4-5); must be read as personal trust in the specific reality of who Jesus is, not generic Orthodox religious/communal identity.
Sin
Approved rendering: грех
Transliteration: grekh
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: ошибка, проступок
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Post-Soviet secularization has partly flattened грех into a folk-moral or joking register; 1 John’s repeated, weighty treatment (1:7-10; 2:2,12; 3:4-9; 4:10; 5:16-18) must have that weight restored by surrounding exposition in every chapter, not assumed from the word alone.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: праведность
Transliteration: pravednost’
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: справедливость (forbidden false friend), честность
Original: δικαιοσύνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. In 1 John the risk is sharper: ‘practicing righteousness’ (2:29; 3:7,10) must be read as evidence/fruit of new birth, never its meritorious cause — the exact inverse of праведность’s everyday achieved-virtue register.
Messiah
Approved rendering: Мессия
Transliteration: Messiya
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: спаситель мира (as a stand-alone substitute)
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Used alongside Христос to resurface the messianic-fulfillment sense wherever 1 John makes Christ’s identity the doctrinal boundary marker.
Election
Approved rendering: избрание
Transliteration: izbraniye
Doctrine: New Birth (Born of God)
Rejected alternatives: судьба, рок, предопределение (use only with careful qualification)
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Not a frequent 1 John term itself, but retained because ‘born of God’ (рождён от Бога) sits in the same doctrinal neighborhood as effectual calling/election; судьба/рок/карма remain forbidden throughout for any sovereign-grace category in 1 John, exactly as in Romans.
Obedience Of Faith
Approved rendering: послушание вере
Transliteration: poslushaniye vere
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: религиозный долг, соблюдение обрядов
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Provides the interpretive pattern directly reused for 1 John’s new ‘keep_commandments’ entry: obedience as fruit and expression of relationship with God, never a separate meritorious duty stacked alongside faith.
Word Of Life
Approved rendering: Слово жизни
Transliteration: Slovo zhizni
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: весть жизни (loses the Logos link)
Original: ὁ λόγος τῆς ζωῆς
Category: Christology
New (1 John), 1:1. Must retain the capitalized link to Слово (Logos) of the Synodal John 1:1, not a generic ‘life-giving message.’ Anti-docetic opening statement grounding the letter’s whole polemic, echoed at 4:2.
Blood Of Jesus
Approved rendering: кровь
Transliteration: krov’
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: αἷμα
Category: Salvation
New (1 John), 1:7. Risk of default association with the Eucharistic ‘Кровь Христова’ (Mystery of Holy Communion) rather than 1 John’s own sense of the atoning, once-for-all historical death applied continually by faith; distinguish without polemic.
Advocate Christ
Approved rendering: Ходатай
Transliteration: Khodatay
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: заступник (forbidden — reserved for saints’/Theotokos intercession)
Original: παράκλητος
Category: Christology
New (1 John), 2:1. Established Synodal rendering. Crucial translator note: the identical Greek παράκλητος is Утешитель when of the Holy Spirit (John 14-16) but Ходатай when of Christ (1 John 2:1) — must be taught explicitly so readers do not assume inconsistency or conflate the two referents.
Keep Commandments
Approved rendering: соблюдать заповеди
Transliteration: soblyudat’ zapovedi
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: религиозный долг (forbidden), соблюдение обрядов (forbidden)
Original: τηρέω τὰς ἐντολάς
Category: Sanctification
New (1 John), 2:3-6; 3:22-24; 5:2-3. Must be framed exactly as the Romans baseline frames обедience_of_faith: obedience flowing from relationship with God, never a separate meritorious duty that collapses into an Orthodox-praxis-only reading of Christian life.
Abide
Approved rendering: пребывать
Transliteration: prebyvat’
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Rejected alternatives: оставаться (too weak/passive), жить (too generic)
Original: μένω
Category: Fellowship
New (1 John). Book-wide key-word (μένω), 20+ occurrences (2:6,10,14,17,24,27,28; 3:6,9,14-15,17,24; 4:12-16). A SINGLE consistent Russian verb must be used across every document for translation-memory consistency, per the Romans baseline’s high-frequency thesis-term rule. Risk: could be heard through an ascetic/hesychastic register (monks ‘abiding’ in prayer) rather than 1 John’s ordinary-believer, non-monastic sense; exposition must clarify this is for every believer, paralleling the baseline’s святые corrective against an elite-class reading.
Anointing
Approved rendering: помазание
Transliteration: pomazaniye
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: no safe synonym; миропомазание too narrowly sacramental
Original: χρῖσμα
Category: Sanctification
New (1 John), 2:20,27. Direct sacramental-collision risk: names the Orthodox Mystery of Chrismation (Миропомазание). 1 John’s χρῖσμα is the Spirit’s ongoing inner teaching given to every believer as such, not identical to the one-time sacramental rite; must clarify explicitly so readers do not default to either a chrismated-only reading or an implied rejection of the sacrament.
Children Of God
Approved rendering: дети Божьи
Transliteration: deti Bozh’i
Doctrine: New Birth (Born of God)
Rejected alternatives: приёмные дети (emphasizes provisionality, opposite of intent)
Original: τέκνα θεοῦ
Category: Salvation
New (1 John), 3:1-2,10. Overlaps the Romans baseline ‘adoption’ hazard (post-Soviet orphanage/детский дом negative associations) and Orthodox baptismal-regeneration theology; 3:10’s evidenced righteousness/love must be pastoral clarification, never contradiction.
Practice Righteousness
Approved rendering: творить (поступать по) праведности
Transliteration: tvorit’ (postupat’ po) pravednosti
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: заслуживать праведность (forbidden — 1 John-specific extension of the Romans baseline’s заслуженная праведность prohibition)
Original: ποιεῖν τὴν δικαιοσύνην
Category: Salvation
New (1 John), 2:29; 3:7,10. Must be framed, per the Romans baseline’s caution on праведность, as evidence/fruit of new birth, never its meritorious cause; always pair with explicit fruit-language (плод, свидетельство) rather than letting the bare verb phrase stand alone.
Test The Spirits
Approved rendering: испытывать духов
Transliteration: ispytyvat’ dukhov
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Rejected alternatives: распознавать экстрасенсов (forbidden)
Original: δοκιμάζω τὰ πνεύματα
Category: Faith
New (1 John), 4:1. Must be stated explicitly as a doctrinal-content test (confession about Christ, 4:2-3), not psychic/occult discernment (экстрасенсы, forbidden per Romans baseline’s spiritual-gifts entry) nor unqualified charismatic experiential discernment.
Come In The Flesh
Approved rendering: пришедший во плоти
Transliteration: prishedshiy vo ploti
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: явившийся как аватар (forbidden)
Original: Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα
Category: Christology
New (1 John), 4:2-3 (cf. 5:6). Extends the Romans baseline воплощение (Medium there); here the doctrinal stakes are higher because 1 John makes this confession the very test of orthodoxy vs. heresy (anti-docetic), so flagged High as a doctrinal boundary-marker even though the underlying incarnation concept alone is Medium.
Born Of God
Approved rendering: рождён от Бога
Transliteration: rozhdyon ot Boga
Doctrine: New Birth (Born of God)
Rejected alternatives: возрождён (acceptable near-synonym, ‘regenerated’)
Original: γεννάω (γεγέννηται ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ)
Category: Salvation
New (1 John), 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1,4,18. Direct collision risk with Orthodox baptismal-regeneration theology; a perfect-tense settled state, not an ongoing process. 1 John’s emphasis on evidenced love/righteousness/faith as fruit of this new birth must be presented as pastoral clarification, never contradiction, of baptismal theology. Fourth-highest-ranked ambiguity in the letter.
Confidence Boldness
Approved rendering: дерзновение
Transliteration: derznoveniye
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: смелость (too generic, loses forensic/liturgical resonance)
Original: παρρησία
Category: Eschatology
New (1 John), 3:21; 4:17; 5:14. Established liturgical term (an asset for register) but risks being heard as generic devotional piety rather than 1 John’s specific forensic confidence before the Judge at the final κρίσις; must be explicitly anchored to judgment_day in context.
Overcome The World
Approved rendering: побеждать / победа
Transliteration: pobezhdat’ / pobeda
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Rejected alternatives: no safe synonym; побеждать is the only natural verb
Original: νικάω / νίκη
Category: Faith
New (1 John), 2:13-14; 4:4; 5:4-5. Победа carries intense Russian national-memory resonance (День Победы, 1945). Exposition must state clearly this is a spiritual, not military/national, victory over the world’s value-system, achieved already by faith (5:4); avoid any illustrative overlap with WWII/Victory Day themes.
Water And Blood
Approved rendering: вода и кровь
Transliteration: voda i krov’
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Original: ὕδωρ καὶ αἷμα
Category: Christology
New (1 John), 5:6-8. MANDATORY textual-critical flag: the Synodal 5:7 retains the Comma Johanneum (explicit Trinitarian clause) absent from earliest manuscripts and most modern critical editions. Must be flagged for explicit editorial/theological decision, never silently followed or silently omitted.
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: жизнь вечная / вечная жизнь
Transliteration: zhizn’ vechnaya / vechnaya zhizn’
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: вечность (too abstract)
Original: ζωὴ αἰώνιος
Category: Eschatology
New (1 John), 5:11-13,20; 1:2; 2:25; 3:15. Standard Synodal phrase, but risks being heard as exclusively future-tense afterlife hope rather than 1 John’s deliberately present-tense claim (‘has eternal life,’ 5:13). Teaching text must stress the present-possession framing, directly paralleling the Romans baseline’s assurance-of-salvation caution against importing Orthodox synergistic uncertainty.
Sin Unto Death
Approved rendering: грех к смерти / не к смерти
Transliteration: grekh k smerti / ne k smerti
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: смертный грех (forbidden false friend — distinct Catholic/Orthodox moral-theology category)
Original: ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον
Category: Sin
New (1 John), 5:16-17. A genuinely obscure, restrained biblical category; avoid asserting confident identification with any traditional ‘mortal sins’ list. Present as deliberately undefined by the text itself.
Medium Risk Terms
Father
Approved rendering: Отец
Transliteration: Otets
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: батюшка (reserved exclusively for an Orthodox priest, never God)
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. In 1 John, Father-language is closely tied to ‘children of God’ (3:1) and family-adoption themes; keep distinct from батюшка per baseline.
Law
Approved rendering: закон
Transliteration: zakon
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: правило, заповедь (reserve for individual commandments, per baseline)
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. закон as the whole body of Torah is not heavily used in 1 John (which prefers ἐντολή/заповедь for specific commandments); retained for translator reference and consistency across the Bible-package.
Intercession
Approved rendering: ходатайство
Transliteration: khodataystvo
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: заступничество (reserve for saints’/Mary’s intercession contexts)
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Distinct from, but conceptually related to, 1 John’s new term ‘advocate_christ’ (Ходатай, 2:1); заступничество remains forbidden for both, reserved exclusively for Orthodox saints’/Theotokos intercession.
Spiritual Gifts
Approved rendering: духовные дары
Transliteration: dukhovnyye dary
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Rejected alternatives: экстрасенсорные способности (forbidden), таланты
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. The forbidden alternative экстрасенсорные способности is extended in 1 John to forbid the same post-Soviet occult/psychic register for ‘test_the_spirits’ (испытывать духов, 4:1) — a doctrinal-content test, never a psychic one.
Seed Of David
Approved rendering: от семени Давидова
Transliteration: ot semeni Davidova
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: потомок Давида (acceptable modern-register gloss)
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Retained explicitly for contrast: 1 John’s new ‘seed_of_god’ entry (семя Его, 3:9) is a DISTINCT referent (God’s begetting seed in the believer) and must never be confused with this genealogical-messianic phrase.
Light
Approved rendering: свет
Transliteration: svet
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: сияние (too poetic/vague)
Original: φῶς
Category: God
New (1 John), 1:5,7; 2:9-10. Ensure ‘Бог есть свет’ is treated with equal doctrinal weight to ‘Бог есть любовь’ (4:8) — a parallel essence-statement, not a lesser poetic image. Orthodox Paschal liturgical resonance (‘Свет Христов просвещает всех’) is an asset only if named explicitly.
Darkness
Approved rendering: тьма
Transliteration: t’ma
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: неведение (too weak)
Original: σκοτία / σκότος
Category: Sin
New (1 John), 1:5-6; 2:9,11. Retain the letter’s binary ethical starkness; do not soften into vague ‘confusion’ or ‘ignorance.‘
Walk Conduct
Approved rendering: ходить / поступать
Transliteration: khodit’ / postupat’
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: двигаться (literalizes)
Original: περιπατέω
Category: Sanctification
New (1 John), 1:6-7; 2:6,11. Established Synodal idiom (‘ходить во свете/во тьме’); do not literalize as physical movement.
Forgive
Approved rendering: прощать / прощение
Transliteration: proshchat’ / proshcheniye
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: извинить (too weak, social)
Original: ἀφίημι
Category: Sin
New (1 John), 1:9; 2:12. Distinguish from the sacramental absolution (разрешительная молитва) pronounced by an Orthodox priest after confession, framed pastorally not polemically.
Cleanse
Approved rendering: очищать
Transliteration: ochishchat’
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: стерилизовать (wrong register)
Original: καθαρίζω
Category: Sanctification
New (1 John), 1:9. Moral-spiritual cleansing paired with forgiveness; may positively evoke Orthodox devotional vocabulary of heart-purification provided it is not collapsed into ritual works.
Commandment
Approved rendering: заповедь
Transliteration: zapoved’
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: правило (too weak)
Original: ἐντολή
Category: Covenant
New (1 John), 2:7-8; 3:23; 4:21. Matches the Romans baseline’s own usage note (заповедь reserved for individual commandments, distinct from закон as the whole body of Law) — exact, low-risk reuse of that convention.
Lust Of Flesh And Eyes
Approved rendering: вожделение (похоть) плоти / очей
Transliteration: vozhdeleniye (pokhot’) ploti / ochey
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Rejected alternatives: желание (too neutral, loses disordered sense)
Original: ἐπιθυμία τῆς σαρκός / τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν
Category: Sin
New (1 John), 2:16. Targets disordered, self-idolatrous desire specifically, not legitimate bodily needs/desires as such.
Last Hour
Approved rendering: последнее время / последний час
Transliteration: posledneye vremya / posledniy chas
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: конец времён (too grandiose/apocalyptic-pop-culture)
Original: ἐσχάτη ὥρα
Category: Eschatology
New (1 John), 2:18. Names a theological era, not a datable countdown; avoid sensationalist register common in some post-Soviet fringe apocalyptic movements.
Truth
Approved rendering: истина
Transliteration: istina
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Rejected alternatives: правда (more ‘factual correctness’ register)
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Faith
New (1 John), 2:21; 1:6,8; 3:18-19; 4:6; 5:6. Weighty in Russian intellectual/literary tradition (Pilate’s ‘что есть истина?’, Tolstoy/Dostoevsky); keep the relational, revealed-in-Christ sense, not abstract philosophical debate.
Manifested
Approved rendering: явился / открылось / явится
Transliteration: yavilsya / otkrylos’ / yavitsya
Doctrine: New Birth (Born of God)
Original: φανερόω
Category: Christology
New (1 John), 3:2,5,8; 4:9. Used of Christ’s first coming and future glory; keep concrete-historical force distinct from future-tense hope — realized and future eschatology held together, not collapsed.
Lawlessness
Approved rendering: беззаконие
Transliteration: bezzakoniye
Doctrine: New Birth (Born of God)
Rejected alternatives: нарушение закона (too legalistic/narrow)
Original: ἀνομία
Category: Sin
New (1 John), 3:4. Sin’s essential character as rebellious orientation, not merely a list of infractions.
Devil
Approved rendering: диавол / дьявол
Transliteration: diavol / d’yavol
Doctrine: New Birth (Born of God)
Original: διάβολος
Category: Sin
New (1 John), 3:8,10. Use one spelling consistently within a single document.
Lay Down Life
Approved rendering: положить душу (свою)
Transliteration: polozhit’ dushu (svoyu)
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: отдать жизнь (acceptable but less idiomatically Synodal)
Original: τιθέναι τὴν ψυχήν
Category: Love
New (1 John), 3:16. Established Synodal idiom (paralleling John 15:13; 10:11); retain full sacrificial force.
In Deed And Truth
Approved rendering: делом и истиной
Transliteration: delom i istinoy
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: ἐν ἔργῳ καὶ ἀληθείᾳ
Category: Love
New (1 John), 3:18. Preserve the contrast with mere verbal profession (λόγῳ).
Spirit To Be Tested
Approved rendering: дух истины / дух заблуждения
Transliteration: dukh istiny / dukh zabluzhdeniya
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Original: πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας / τῆς πλάνης
Category: God
New (1 John), 4:6. Lower-case, never ‘Святой’; must be kept visibly distinct from Святой Дух so readers never conflate ‘testing a spirit’ with doubting the Holy Spirit himself. Mandatory capitalization check at validation.
Only Begotten
Approved rendering: единородный
Transliteration: yedinorodnyy
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: единственный (loses creedal-technical precision)
Original: μονογενής
Category: Christology
New (1 John), 4:9. Same term used in the Nicene Creed prayed at every Orthodox Divine Liturgy and Synodal John 1:14/3:16; shared, settled confession — precision, not defense, is the task.
Ought Obligated
Approved rendering: должны / обязаны
Transliteration: dolzhny / obyazany
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: ὀφείλω
Category: Love
New (1 John), 4:11. Avoid a purely legalistic-debt register that could tip toward works-merit; frame as grateful response to grace already received, per the Romans baseline’s grace-works preservation rule.
Judgment Day
Approved rendering: суд / день суда
Transliteration: sud / den’ suda
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: приговор (too narrowly ‘verdict,’ loses ‘Day’ scope)
Original: κρίσις
Category: Eschatology
New (1 John), 4:17. Standard eschatological term.
Fear
Approved rendering: страх
Transliteration: strakh
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Original: φόβος
Category: Love
New (1 John), 4:18. Covers both the servile dread condemned here and страх Господень/благоговейный страх (reverent fear of the Lord, a positive category elsewhere); exposition must clarify this passage targets only the servile-dread sense.
Punishment
Approved rendering: мучение / наказание
Transliteration: mucheniye / nakazaniye
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Original: κόλασις
Category: Eschatology
New (1 John), 4:18. Should not be over-literalized into graphic hellfire imagery beyond the text’s own restraint.
Brother
Approved rendering: брат
Transliteration: brat
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: единоверец (too narrowly denominational)
Original: ἀδελφός
Category: Church
New (1 John), 4:20-21; 3:14-17. Must be clear in context as fellow believer generally, not narrowed to one’s own denomination or ethnic-Orthodox in-group — a live risk in a Russian Orthodox-majority/Evangelical-minority readership.
Testimony
Approved rendering: свидетельство
Transliteration: svidetel’stvo
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Original: μαρτυρία
Category: Faith
New (1 John), 5:9-11; 4:14. Legal/courtroom register is an asset, matching 1 John’s forensic themes elsewhere (advocate, propitiation, confidence at judgment).
Evil One
Approved rendering: лукавый
Transliteration: lukavyy
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Rejected alternatives: злой (too generic/adjectival)
Original: ὁ πονηρός
Category: Sin
New (1 John), 5:18-19. Established Synodal term for Satan (cf. Lord’s Prayer, ‘избави нас от лукавого’); good cultural-linguistic fit.
Idols
Approved rendering: идолы
Transliteration: idoly
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: кумиры (contemporary ‘celebrity idol’ sense should not silently replace the literal referent)
Original: εἴδωλα
Category: Sin
New (1 John), 5:21. Retain the literal, concrete ancient referent as primary meaning; permit figurative application (materialism, ideology, status) only as clearly marked commentary, never silently replacing the literal referent in the translated text itself.
True God
Approved rendering: истинный
Transliteration: istinnyy
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: подлинный (more secular/generic register)
Original: ὁ ἀληθινός
Category: God
New (1 John), 5:20. Shares root with ἀλήθεια (истина); contrasts deliberately with the idols of 5:21.
Low Risk Terms
Fellowship
Approved rendering: общение
Transliteration: obshcheniye
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Rejected alternatives: дружба, коллектив (avoid Soviet-collective connotation)
Original: κοινωνία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged at term level. Thematically central (not incidental) to 1 John 1, explicitly conditioned on ‘walking in the light’ (1:7); avoid коллектив per baseline.
Lie And Liar
Approved rendering: ложь / лжец
Transliteration: lozh’ / lzhets
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Rejected alternatives: обман (softer register)
Original: ψεῦδος / ψεύστης
Category: Sin
New (1 John), 2:21-22; 4:20. Standard, direct; retain directness rather than softening.
Beloved
Approved rendering: возлюбленные
Transliteration: vozlyublennyye
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: дорогие (too casual for Scripture register)
Original: ἀγαπητοί
Category: Love
New (1 John), 2:7; 3:2,21; 4:1,7,11. Warm, established, non-romantic devotional address.
Hate
Approved rendering: ненавидеть
Transliteration: nenavidet’
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: не любить (softens the binary contrast)
Original: μισέω
Category: Sin
New (1 John), 4:20. Retain the letter’s binary starkness; do not soften into mere ‘indifference.‘
N/A Risk Terms
Church
Approved rendering: (not applicable — term does not recur as distinct load-bearing vocabulary in 1 John)
Transliteration: —
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Inherited from Romans package (церковь, High) but explicitly reviewed and noted as not recurring: 1 John’s ecclesiology is expressed through ‘brethren’/‘one another’ language rather than the term ἐκκλησία. Recorded here per the full-book-coverage mandate rather than silently omitted; if a Phase 3 lesson introduces ‘church’ terminology for context, the Romans baseline рендering церковь/собрание and its High-risk framing apply unchanged.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: (not applicable — term does not recur in 1 John)
Transliteration: —
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Inherited from Romans package (язычники, Medium) but explicitly reviewed and noted as not recurring in 1 John, which addresses κόσμος (world) rather than distinguishing Jew/Gentile scope. Recorded per full-book-coverage mandate.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: (not directly discussed — implied only within ‘eternal life’ doctrine)
Transliteration: —
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Inherited from Romans package (воскресение, Medium) but explicitly reviewed: 1 John does not directly treat ἀνάστασις as a discrete topic; its eschatology centers on ζωὴ αἰώνιος (eternal life, present possession) and Christ’s appearing (φανερόω) instead. If воскресение is introduced by a Phase 3 lesson referencing the wider canon, the Romans baseline rendering and risk framing apply unchanged.
Medium-High Risk Terms
God Faithful And Just
Approved rendering: верен и праведен
Transliteration: veren i praveden
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: справедлив (forbidden false friend, per baseline праведность entry)
Original: πιστός καὶ δίκαιος
Category: God
New (1 John), 1:9. Describes God’s own reliable, consistent character as the ground of forgiveness, not a claim that confessing sin itself makes the confessor righteous.
Pride Of Life
Approved rendering: гордость житейская
Transliteration: gordost’ zhiteyskaya
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Rejected alternatives: гордость жизни (risks confusing βίος with ζωή)
Original: ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου
Category: Sin
New (1 John), 2:16. Greek distinguishes βίος (temporal life/livelihood/possessions, as here) from ζωή (life, especially eternal, as in 1:1-2; 5:11-13); Russian жизнь collapses both. Must gloss explicitly (e.g. ‘земная жизнь/имущество’) to avoid confusing this with жизнь вечная.
Flesh
Approved rendering: плоть
Transliteration: plot’
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: тело (too narrowly ‘body’)
Original: σάρξ
Category: Christology
New (1 John). Two nearly opposite valences within the same letter: negative disordered-desire sense (2:16) vs. strongly positive anti-docetic ‘come in the flesh’ sense (4:2). Must be disambiguated by context EVERY occurrence — conflating the two either denigrates the incarnation or sanitizes worldly lust.
Deny Christ
Approved rendering: отвергать / отрекаться
Transliteration: otvergat’ / otrekat’sya
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: ἀρνέομαι
Category: Christology
New (1 John), 2:22-23. отрекаться carries strong Soviet-era forced-renunciation resonance (публичное отречение от веры) — a rhetorical asset here, but reserve strictly for the deliberate, settled denial 1 John describes, never for ordinary doubt or spiritual struggle.
Seed Of God
Approved rendering: семя Его
Transliteration: semya Yego
Doctrine: New Birth (Born of God)
Original: σπέρμα αὐτοῦ
Category: Salvation
New (1 John), 3:9. Distinct referent from seed_of_david (от семени Давидова) — must not be confused. Requires explicit explanation as a metaphor for the new-birth nature, since its plain sense (‘cannot sin’) tensions with 1:8-10’s acknowledgment that believers do sin; address this tension directly.
Perfected Love
Approved rendering: совершенна(я) / совершенство
Transliteration: sovershenna(ya) / sovershenstvo
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Original: τελειόω / τέλειος
Category: Love
New (1 John), 4:12,17-18. Risk of collision with Orthodox monastic/ascetic ‘perfection’ (Philokalia tradition) as solitary lifelong attainment; frame explicitly as love’s relational completion through mutual, communal indwelling among ordinary believers.
Savior
Approved rendering: Спаситель
Transliteration: Spasitel’
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: избавитель (too generic, loses title-specificity)
Original: σωτήρ
Category: Salvation
New (1 John), 4:14. Shares its root with the Romans baseline спасение (Critical); anchor to the Son’s historical sending and atoning death (4:10), not an open-ended theosis-process default.
Low-Medium Risk Terms
Compassion
Approved rendering: сердце (милосердие)
Transliteration: serdtse (miloserdiye)
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: внутренности (too literal/graphic)
Original: σπλάγχνα
Category: Love
New (1 John), 3:17. Synodal idiomatic rendering; retain concrete, practical (material-sharing) force, not merely inward sentiment.
Loved Us First
Approved rendering: первый / прежде
Transliteration: pervyy / prezhde
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Original: πρῶτος
Category: Love
New (1 John), 4:19. Render so causal priority (not mere chronology) is clear: God’s love is the cause, ours the effect/response, echoing the Romans baseline’s grace-works preservation rule.
Referenced passages