Core Glossary
Core Glossary — 2 Corinthians (English → Russian)
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, spanning the whole book (chs. 1–13) with the core passage (5:11–21) as theological anchor. Terms marked Reused (baseline) carry over the exact Russian rendering and risk tier already fixed in the Romans translation_memory.json / bible_term_registry.json and MUST NOT be altered. Terms marked New (2 Corinthians) are proposed additions for this curriculum’s translation memory, pending Phase 1 Step 17 review routing.
| # | Term (EN) | Greek / Transliteration | Russian Rendering | Risk | Status | Primary Passages | Doctrine | Key Risk Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | God | θεός / theos | Бог | Critical | Reused (baseline) | throughout | God | Standard; see baseline entry. |
| 2 | Lord | κύριος / kyrios | Господь | High | Reused (baseline) | 3:17-18; 4:5; 5:11; 10:17-18; 13:14 | Lordship of Christ | See baseline; register risk of liturgical flattening. |
| 3 | Jesus | Ἰησοῦς / Iēsous | Иисус | Critical | Reused (baseline) | throughout | Christology | Never Исус (Old Believer spelling). |
| 4 | Christ | Χριστός / Christos | Христос | High | Reused (baseline, via “messiah”/“jesus” entries) | throughout | Messianic Promise | Reuse established form; see baseline messiah entry. |
| 5 | Holy Spirit | πνεῦμα ἅγιον / pneuma hagion | Святой Дух | Critical | Reused (baseline) | 1:22; 3:3-18; 5:5; 13:13-14 | Sanctification / New Covenant | Never дух alone; see 3:6 letter/Spirit entry (#21). |
| 6 | Father | πατήρ / patēr | Отец | High | Reused (baseline) | 1:3; 6:18; 13:14 | Adoption / God | Never батюшка. |
| 7 | grace | χάρις / charis | благодать | Critical | Reused (baseline) | 1:2,12; 4:15; 5:18-19 (implied); 6:1; 8:1-9; 9:8,14; 12:9; 13:14 | Grace / Generosity in Giving | See #29 for the giving-context extension; forbidden substitutions per baseline apply throughout. |
| 8 | faith | πίστις / pistis | вера | High | Reused (baseline) | 4:13; 5:7; 13:5 | Faith | 13:5 “in the faith” risks Orthodox-identity misreading; see baseline note. |
| 9 | righteousness | δικαιοσύνη / dikaiosynē | праведность | Critical | Reused (baseline) | 3:9; 5:21; 6:7,14; 9:9-10; 11:15 | Salvation / Reconciliation | 5:21 requires noun-phrase restoration; see #17. |
| 10 | gospel | εὐαγγέλιον / euangelion | Евангелие | High | Reused (baseline) | 2:12; 4:3-4; 9:13; 10:14; 11:4,7 | Gospel | Standard; see baseline note re: “book” flattening. |
| 11 | glory | δόξα / doxa | слава | High | Reused (baseline) | 3:7-18; 4:4,6,17; 8:19,23 | Deity of Christ / New Covenant | Watch registerial flattening; ties to 4:17 “weight of glory,” #26. |
| 12 | sin | ἁμαρτία / hamartia | грех | High | Reused (baseline) | 5:19,21 | Reconciliation | See #16 imputation link and #18 “made him sin.” |
| 13 | covenant | διαθήκη / diathēkē | завет | Medium | Reused (baseline) | 3:6,14 | New Covenant vs. Old | Base term; see #20 for “new covenant” collision risk. |
| 14 | apostle | ἀπόστολος / apostolos | апостол | Medium | Reused (baseline) | 1:1; 11:5,13; 12:11-12 | Genuine vs. False Apostleship | See #33 “false apostles,” #35 “signs of apostle.” |
| 15 | church(es) | ἐκκλησία / ekklēsia | церковь | High | Reused (baseline) | 1:1; 8:1,18-24; 11:8,28; 12:13 | Church as God’s People | See #23 “temple of God” for a sharper Critical-tier collision on a related but distinct term. |
| 16 | saints | ἅγιοι / hagioi | святые | High | Reused (baseline) | 1:1; 8:4; 9:1,12; 13:12 | Sainthood | Corporate, not canonized-elite; see baseline note. |
| 17 | resurrection | ἀνάστασις / ἐγείρω / anastasis / egeirō | воскресение | Medium | Reused (baseline) | 4:14; 5:15 | Resurrection of Christ | Standard; see baseline over-familiarity note. |
| 18 | power of God | δύναμις θεοῦ / dynamis theou | сила Божия | Medium | Reused (baseline) | 4:7; 12:9; 13:4 | Power in Weakness | Must be taught paired with немощь (#42); avoid энергия per baseline. |
| 19 | thanksgiving | εὐχαριστία / eucharistia | благодарение | Low | Reused (baseline) | 1:11; 2:14; 4:15; 9:11-12 | Thanksgiving | Standard; low risk. |
| 20 | exhort / implore | παρακαλέω / parakaleō | увещевать / просить (context-sensitive) | Low-Medium | Reused (baseline) | 1:4-6; 2:8; 5:20; 7:6-7; 10:1 | Mutual Edification / Comfort | Same root as #25 “comfort” (παράκλησις); context determines entreaty vs. comfort vs. encouragement sense. |
| 21 | Israel / Israelites | Ἰσραήλ / Ἰσραηλῖται / Israēl / Israēlitai | Израиль / Израильтяне | Low | Reused (baseline) | 3:7,13; 11:22 | Unity/Covenant background | Standard proper name; see baseline note on modern-state homonymy. |
| 22 | reconciliation / reconciled | καταλλαγή, καταλλάσσω / katallagē, katallassō | примирение, примирить | Critical | New | 5:18-20 (core); implied elsewhere | Reconciliation with God | Headline curriculum doctrine. Must be explicitly distinguished from the ongoing sacramental-repentance (Confession/Исповедь) framework; God’s reconciling act is a completed, prior, divine initiative (aorist), received rather than performed. Route: human theologian review, every occurrence. |
| 23 | new creation | καινὴ κτίσις / kainē ktisis | новая тварь (Scripture quotation only) / новое творение (teaching-text default) | Critical | New | 5:17 (core) | New Creation in Christ | тварь is now a common vulgar insult in colloquial Russian; MUST NOT stand unglossed. Use новое творение as the doctrine name and default term; reserve новая тварь strictly for direct, explicitly-flagged Synodal quotation. Route: human theologian review, every occurrence. |
| 24 | righteousness of God [become] | δικαιοσύνη Θεοῦ (γενώμεθα) / dikaiosynē Theou (genōmetha) | Synodal: сделались праведными перед Богом; teaching gloss: стали праведностью Божией | Critical | New (extends #9) | 5:21 (core) | Reconciliation / Justification | Synodal’s adjectival rendering loses the direct noun-phrase link to imputed righteousness (cf. baseline “imputed_righteousness,” вменённая праведность). Teaching text must restore the noun-phrase, forensic-imputation sense. Route: human theologian review, every occurrence. |
| 25 | not counting trespasses [imputation] | μὴ λογιζόμενος τὰ παραπτώματα / mē logizomenos ta paraptōmata | не вменяя [им] грехов [их] (teaching gloss); Synodal: не поставляя людям в вину грехов их | Critical | New (extends baseline “imputed_righteousness”) | 5:19 (core) | Reconciliation | Same λογίζομαι root as Romans 4:3’s ἐλογίσθη (вменённая праведность). Must be cross-referenced explicitly to the baseline Critical-risk imputation entry, not treated as an unrelated new term. |
| 26 | be reconciled [passive imperative] | καταλλάγητε / katallagēte | примиритесь | Critical | New (extends #22) | 5:20 (core) | Reconciliation | Passive voice: receive God’s completed reconciling act; must not be read as an active summons to accomplish reconciliation by one’s own penitential effort. Route: human theologian review. |
| 27 | made [him] sin / great exchange | ἁμαρτίαν ἐποίησεν / hamartian epoiēsen | Synodal: сделал… жертвою за грех; literal teaching gloss: сделал грехом | Critical | New | 5:21 (core) | Reconciliation | Synodal’s sacrificial gloss is sound but not literal; the stark exchange-formula sense (sinless-for-sin, so we receive his righteousness) must be explicitly taught alongside it. Connects to baseline atonement/propitiation escalation rule (Rom. 3:25). |
| 28 | ambassador | πρεσβεύω / presbeuō | посланник | High | New | 5:20 (core) | Sincerity / Apostolic Authority | Risk of being read too weakly as generic “messenger” rather than fully authorized representative speaking with the sender’s own authority. |
| 29 | judgment seat of Christ | βῆμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ / bēma tou Christou | судилище Христово | High | New | 5:10 | Assurance / Reconciliation | судилище carries a punitive, show-trial register in modern Russian; must be explicitly distinguished from any threat to the believer’s already-settled salvation (cf. baseline “assurance_of_salvation,” Critical). |
| 30 | fear of the Lord | φόβος Κυρίου / phobos Kyriou | страх Господень | Medium | New | 5:11 (core) | Sincerity / Judgment | Established Synodal phrase; risk is devotional-cliché flattening rather than restoring the specific link to v.10’s judgment seat. |
| 31 | new covenant | καινὴ διαθήκη / kainē diathēkē | Новый Завет | Critical | New | 3:6 | New Covenant vs. Old | Identical to the name of the New Testament canon; MUST be explicitly disambiguated (covenant-relationship vs. the book) every occurrence in exposition. Route: human theologian review. |
| 32 | letter (of the law) / Spirit | γράμμα / πνεῦμα / gramma / pneuma | буква / Дух | High | New | 3:6 | New Covenant vs. Old | ”буква закона” is a live secular Russian idiom (legal technicality vs. intent); must be distinguished from the covenant-theological claim about the law’s inability to regenerate apart from the Spirit. |
| 33 | veil | κάλυμμα / kalymma | покров | Medium | New | 3:13-16 | New Covenant vs. Old | Risk of unintended cross-association with the Feast of the Pokrov (Покров Пресвятой Богородицы), an unrelated Marian-intercession concept. |
| 34 | transformed / transfigured | μεταμορφόω / metamorphoō | преображаемся | Medium | New | 3:18 | New Covenant / Sanctification | Positive asset (Feast of the Transfiguration); must be tied explicitly to beholding Christ in the gospel, not sacramental participation alone (cf. baseline “sanctification,” Critical). |
| 35 | comfort / affliction | παράκλησις / θλῖψις / paraklēsis / thlipsis | утешение / скорбь | Medium | New | 1:3-7; throughout | Suffering and Comfort in Ministry | утешение is an asset (Holy Spirit = “Утешитель”); скорбь resonates with Orthodox ascetic literature — must be framed as ministry-for-others, not merit-earning ascetic achievement. |
| 36 | seal / guarantee (of the Spirit) | σφραγίς / ἀρραβών / sphragis / arrabōn | печать / залог | Medium | New | 1:22; 5:5 | Suffering and Comfort / Assurance | залог is an ordinary financial-deposit word; accurate to the commercial metaphor but needs relational framing so it is not heard as merely transactional. |
| 37 | sincerity / simplicity | εἰλικρίνεια / ἁπλότης / eilikrineia / haplotēs | искренность / простота | Medium | New | 1:12; 2:17; 11:3 | Sincerity and Apostolic Authority | Must stay tied to the specific defense against manipulation/self-interest charges, not generic virtue-talk. |
| 38 | peddlers of God’s word | καπηλεύω / kapēleuō | торгующие словом Божиим | High | New | 2:17 | Sincerity and Apostolic Authority | Culturally live given suspicion of commercialized/foreign-funded ministry in Russia; teach without appearing to target minority Evangelical/Protestant congregations specifically. |
| 39 | temple of the living God | ναὸς Θεοῦ ζῶντος / naos Theou zōntos | храм Бога живого | Critical | New | 6:16 | Church as God’s People | Sharper than baseline “church” risk: readers will very likely default to a literal building reading, precisely inverting Paul’s point that believers themselves are God’s dwelling. Route: human theologian review. |
| 40 | godly grief / repentance | κατὰ Θεὸν λύπη / μετάνοια / kata Theon lypē / metanoia | печаль ради Бога / покаяние | High | New | 7:9-11 | Suffering and Comfort / Sincerity | покаяние names the formal sacrament of Confession in Orthodox usage; Paul’s inward-reorientation sense must be taught explicitly, not assumed equivalent. |
| 41 | the grace [of giving] | χάρις (economic sense) / charis | благодать (reused, extended sense) | High | New (extension of #7) | 8:1-9; 9:8,14 | Generosity and Grace in Giving | Applying the Critical-risk grace term to financial generosity risks either sounding metaphorical/weak or sacralizing giving as quasi-sacramental; teach the 8:9 logic (giving imitates grace received) explicitly. |
| 42 | equality | ἰσότης / isotēs | равенство | High | New | 8:13-14 | Generosity and Grace in Giving | Strong Soviet-era political resonance (state-imposed equality); must be framed as voluntary, relational church-to-church generosity, not redistribution. |
| 43 | cheerful giver | ἱλαρός / hilaros | доброхотный (Synodal) / радушный, дающий с радостью (teaching gloss) | Medium | New | 9:7 | Generosity and Grace in Giving | Synodal’s “willing” nuance underplays the Greek’s emotional “cheer/joy”; note both senses explicitly. |
| 44 | sow / reap | σπείρω / θερίζω / speirō / therizō | сеять / пожинать | Medium | New | 9:6-11 | Generosity and Grace in Giving | Must be distinguished from a prosperity-gospel “sow money, reap money” framing circulating in some contemporary Russian Evangelical settings. |
| 45 | weapons / strongholds | ὅπλα / ὀχύρωμα / hopla / ochyrōma | оружие / твердыня | Medium | New | 10:4 | Genuine vs. False Apostleship | Military metaphor for purely spiritual/intellectual conflict; handle with the same political-sensitivity care as baseline Romans 13 guidance. |
| 46 | boasting | καύχησις / καυχάομαι / kauchēsis / kauchaomai | хвалиться / похвала | High | New | 10:12-18; 11:1-30; 12:1-11 | Power in Weakness / Genuine vs. False Apostleship | The letter’s central rhetorical paradox (boasting in weakness) is easily lost to the ordinary negative colloquial sense of “bragging”; the flesh-vs-Lord/weakness distinction must be explicitly and repeatedly flagged. |
| 47 | false apostles | ψευδαπόστολοι / pseudapostoloi | лжеапостолы | High | New | 11:13 | Genuine vs. False Apostleship | Doctrinally clear compound (лже- prefix well-established); contemporary-application risk in a religiously plural post-Soviet setting — clarify historical referent without licensing blanket application to any rival minority group today. |
| 48 | Satan as angel of light | ἄγγελος φωτός / angelos phōtos | Ангел света | High | New | 11:14 | Genuine vs. False Apostleship | Directly resonant with the baseline’s noted post-Soviet folk-psychic/New Age landscape (экстрасенсы, “light being” language); teach with contemporary application in view. |
| 49 | thorn in the flesh | σκόλοψ τῇ σαρκί / skolops tē sarki | жало в плоть | Medium-High | New | 12:7 | Power in Weakness | Must hold together: real affliction; real adversarial (Satanic) origin; real divine sovereign purpose — do not collapse to only one of the three. |
| 50 | weakness | ἀσθένεια / astheneia | немощь | Medium | New | 11:30; 12:5-10; 13:4,9 | Power in Weakness | немощь is a dignified, asset-bearing term (monastic humility literature); must not drift into self-imposed ascetic merit — this is an affliction not chosen, sovereignly repurposed by grace. |
| 51 | ”My grace is sufficient” | ἀρκεῖ ἡ χάρις μου / arkei hē charis mou | довольно для тебя благодати Моей | Critical | New (extension of #7) | 12:9 | Power in Weakness | The letter’s most concentrated grace-and-weakness statement; apply baseline forbidden-substitution rules for благодать exactly; do not imply automatic removal of affliction. |
| 52 | signs of a true apostle | σημεῖα τοῦ ἀποστόλου / sēmeia tou apostolou | признаки Апостола | Medium | New | 12:12 | Genuine vs. False Apostleship | Authentication is by suffering-borne pattern of life and Spirit-fruit, not title alone; counters the baseline’s noted “apostle = closed historical office” default. |
| 53 | examine yourselves | δοκιμάζετε ἑαυτούς / dokimazete heautous | испытывайте самих себя | High | New | 13:5 | Sincerity / Genuine Apostleship | ”Whether you are in the faith” (#8, вера) risks an Orthodox-identity misreading; must invoke the same review routing as baseline faith doctrine. |
| 54 | holy kiss | φίλημα ἅγιον / philēma hagion | святое целование | Low-Medium | New | 13:12 | Sincerity / Fellowship | Cultural asset (living Orthodox liturgical “kiss of peace” parallel); note modern practical equivalents for secular/younger readers without diminishing the underlying call to embodied fellowship. |
| 55 | Trinitarian benediction | χάρις…ἀγάπη…κοινωνία / charis…agapē…koinōnia | Благодать…любовь…общение | Medium | New (assembles reused terms) | 13:13/14 | Sincerity / all doctrines | Identical formula opens the Orthodox Divine Liturgy — major cultural asset; restore personal, epistolary force against purely liturgical/recited-formula flattening. |
Cross-Reference Notes for Phase 2 Preparation
- All Critical-risk items in this glossary (#22–27, #31, #39, #41, #51) must be added to a 2 Corinthians extension of
doctrine_risk_registry.jsonwith"review_routing": "Human theologian", following the exact pattern already established for Romans’ Critical-tier entries. - Term #23 (new creation) requires the single most urgent forbidden-substitution rule of the whole curriculum: тварь must never appear unglossed as a stand-alone rendering in teaching text, given its now-dominant colloquial use as a vulgar insult in contemporary Russian.
- Term #31 (new covenant) requires a standing disambiguation rule for Phase 2: every occurrence of “the new covenant” in exposition must be checked against context to determine whether Новый Завет could be misread as “the New Testament [book],” and a clarifying phrase inserted where needed.
- Terms #7/#41/#51 (grace) must all route through the identical baseline escalation rule already defined for благодать in
12_ai_translation_requirements.md; no new or separate rule should be created that could create inconsistency between the Romans and 2 Corinthians treatments of this single Critical term. - Terms #9/#24/#25 (righteousness / righteousness of God / imputation) must be explicitly cross-linked to the baseline
imputed_righteousnessentry (Critical, Romans) rather than treated as new, independent 2 Corinthians terminology — 5:19 and 5:21 are direct doctrinal extensions of Romans 4, using the same λογίζομαι root. - All Reused (baseline) terms in this glossary (#1–21) are locked; Phase 2 segment translation must load both the Romans
translation_memory.jsonand this glossary’s new-term rows (#22–55) as a combined enforcement set before processing any 2 Corinthians segment.
Critical Risk Terms
Grace
Approved rendering: благодать
Transliteration: blagodat’
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: милость, дар, везение, удача
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. All baseline forbidden substitutions apply exactly. 2 Corinthians extension: this same Critical-risk term is applied to financial generosity (8:1-9; 9:8,14 — see grace_in_giving) and to sustaining power amid unresolved affliction (12:9 — see grace_sufficient); both extensions require explicit teaching so благодать is not silently absorbed into either a sacramental-theosis framework or a merely sentimental/transactional one.
Justification
Approved rendering: оправдание
Transliteration: opravdaniye
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: прощение грехов, искупление
Inherited from Romans package. 2 Corinthians does not use this exact word as frequently as Romans, but the doctrine it names is directly extended by 5:19-21’s imputation language (not_counting_trespasses, righteousness_of_god_become); must remain cross-referenced to this baseline Critical entry rather than treated as separate ground.
Salvation
Approved rendering: спасение
Transliteration: spaseniye
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: избавление (acceptable narrowly for ‘deliverance’), освобождение
Inherited from Romans package. 2 Corinthians extension: ‘godly grief… produces a repentance that leads to salvation’ (7:10) and the whole reconciliation argument of 5:14-21 are this doctrine’s outworking; must remain anchored to Christ’s death, exchange (5:21), and resurrection, not defaulting into an open-ended theosis process.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: освящение
Transliteration: osvyashcheniye
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: обожение (reserve for explicit theosis discussion only), очищение
Inherited from Romans package. 2 Corinthians extension: cross-referenced directly by transformed_transfigured (3:18, преображаемся) — that verb’s strong theosis-adjacent cultural resonance (Feast of the Transfiguration) must not be allowed to silently substitute for or blend with this doctrine; if theosis is referenced comparatively it must be named explicitly.
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: вменённая праведность
Transliteration: vmenyonnaya pravednost’
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: заслуженная праведность, дарованная святость (too vague)
Inherited from Romans package. 2 Corinthians extension: 5:19’s ‘not counting trespasses’ (μὴ λογιζόμενος) uses the identical accounting verb as Romans 4:3, and 5:21’s ‘become the righteousness of God’ extends the identical δικαιοσύνη Θεοῦ phrase; both 2 Corinthians occurrences must be explicitly cross-referenced to this entry, not treated as independent new terminology. заслуженная remains forbidden.
Reconciliation
Approved rendering: примирение / примирить
Transliteration: primireniye / primirit’
Doctrine: Reconciliation with God
Rejected alternatives: исповедь как единственный смысл (never treat as identical to the sacrament of Confession), восстановление отношений (too vague, loses the specific divine-initiative sense)
Original: καταλλαγή / καταλλάσσω
Category: Reconciliation
The curriculum’s headline doctrine (5:14-15, 18-20). Not a lexical false-friend, but the doctrinal framework is crowded: Russian Orthodox devotional theology frames reconciliation with God chiefly through the ongoing, repeated sacrament of Confession (Исповедь) rather than as a once-for-all completed divine act (aorist ‘God… reconciled us’) received by faith. Must be taught explicitly. Human theologian review required on every occurrence.
Not Counting Trespasses
Approved rendering: не вменяя [им] грехов [их] (teaching gloss) / не поставляя людям в вину грехов их (Synodal)
Transliteration: ne vmenyaya [im] grekhov [ikh] / ne postavlyaya lyudyam v vinu grekhov ikh
Doctrine: Imputed Righteousness in Reconciliation
Rejected alternatives: прощая грехи (as sole gloss — loses the forensic-accounting sense)
5:19. Uses the identical λογίζομαι accounting root as Romans 4:3’s imputed righteousness. Must be cross-referenced explicitly to the imputed_righteousness baseline entry rather than treated as unrelated new vocabulary; the forensic-accounting category has no developed parallel in Orthodox soteriology.
Be Reconciled Imperative
Approved rendering: примиритесь с Богом
Transliteration: primiritesʹ s Bogom
Doctrine: Reconciliation with God
Rejected alternatives: достигните примирения с Богом (forbidden — wrongly implies active human achievement)
Original: καταλλάγητε τῷ Θεῷ
Category: Reconciliation
5:20. Passive-voice appeal to receive God’s completed act, not a summons to perform reconciling work through penitential effort. The single most important grammatical-theological nuance in the core passage for the Russian context; flag for human theologian review every occurrence.
Made Him Sin
Approved rendering: сделал… жертвою за грех (Synodal) / сделал грехом (literal teaching gloss)
Transliteration: sdelal… zhertvoyu za grekh / sdelal grekhom
Doctrine: Imputed Righteousness in Reconciliation
Rejected alternatives: сделал наказанным за грех (loses the exchange-formula force)
Original: τὸν μὴ γνόντα ἁμαρτίαν … ἁμαρτίαν ἐποίησεν
Category: Reconciliation
5:21. Synodal’s sacrificial gloss is theologically sound but not literal; the stark exchange-formula sense must be taught alongside it. Connects to the baseline atonement/propitiation escalation rule (Romans 3:25).
Righteousness Of God Become
Approved rendering: сделались праведными перед Богом (Synodal) / стали праведностью Божией (teaching gloss)
Transliteration: sdelalisʹ pravednymi pered Bogom / stali pravednostʹyu Bozhiyey
Doctrine: Imputed Righteousness in Reconciliation
Rejected alternatives: стали хорошими людьми (forbidden — reduces to generic moral improvement)
Original: δικαιοσύνη Θεοῦ (γενώμεθα)
Category: Salvation
5:21. Synodal’s adjectival rendering loses the direct noun-phrase link to God’s own righteousness credited to believers. Teaching text must restore the noun-phrase sense; cross-reference imputed_righteousness. Human theologian review required.
New Creation
Approved rendering: новая тварь (Scripture quotation only) / новое творение (teaching-text default)
Transliteration: novaya tvarʹ / novoye tvoreniye
Doctrine: New Creation in Christ
Rejected alternatives: тварь standing alone unglossed (forbidden — now a common vulgar insult in colloquial Russian)
Original: καινὴ κτίσις
Category: New Creation
5:17. The single highest lexical risk in the whole curriculum: тварь has decayed into a vulgar insult. новое творение is the required default teaching-text and headline-doctrine term (‘New Creation in Christ’ = Новое творение во Христе); новая тварь reserved strictly for flagged direct Synodal quotation. Human theologian review required on every occurrence.
New Covenant
Approved rendering: Новый Завет
Transliteration: Novyy Zavet
Doctrine: The New Covenant versus the Old
Original: καινὴ διαθήκη
Category: Covenant
3:6. For virtually every Russian reader, first and foremost the name of the New Testament canon (the book); no alternative established rendering exists. Every exposition occurrence must explicitly disambiguate the covenant-relationship sense from the book-title sense. Human theologian review required.
Grace Sufficient
Approved rendering: довольно для тебя благодати Моей
Transliteration: dovolʹno dlya tebya blagodati Moyey
Doctrine: Power in Weakness
Original: ἀρκεῖ ἡ χάρις μου
Category: Power in Weakness
12:9. The letter’s single most concentrated grace-and-weakness statement. Apply baseline благодать forbidden-substitution rules exactly; must not imply automatic removal of affliction, which the passage explicitly denies Paul.
Temple Of The Living God
Approved rendering: храм Бога живого
Transliteration: khram Boga zhivogo
Doctrine: Church as God’s Temple
Rejected alternatives: святилище (too narrowly ritual/OT-cultic, still risks a building reading)
Original: ναὸς Θεοῦ ζῶντος
Category: Church
6:16. храм overwhelmingly denotes a literal, physical Orthodox building in ordinary Russian usage — the exact inverse of Paul’s point that believers themselves ARE the temple. Human theologian review required every occurrence.
High Risk Terms
Lord
Approved rendering: Господь
Transliteration: Gospod’
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: хозяин, владыка (reserve for liturgical/poetic register only)
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. 2 Corinthians extension: used of Christ as the one apostolic ministry serves and represents (2:12; 4:5; 5:11; 10:17-18); 4:5’s proclamation and 10:17-18’s ‘let him who boasts, boast in the Lord’ both require restoring personal force against liturgical-recitation flattening.
Messiah
Approved rendering: Мессия
Transliteration: Messiya
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Rejected alternatives: спаситель мира (as a stand-alone substitute)
Inherited from Romans package. Used alongside Христос (see new ‘christ’ entry below) as the transliterated title of fulfillment. 2 Corinthians rarely uses Мессия directly, but the underlying messianic-fulfillment sense of Христос must be periodically re-surfaced, especially at 1:5 and 5:14, 20.
Faith
Approved rendering: вера
Transliteration: vera
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: доверие, убеждение
Original: πίστις
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. 2 Corinthians extension: ground of confident speech amid affliction (4:13), of walking by unseen hope (5:7), and the object of self-examination (13:5, ‘whether you are in the faith’) — this last risks being heard as ‘whether you identify as/participate in Orthodoxy’ rather than personal trust in Christ; route through the baseline faith-doctrine review pattern.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: праведность
Transliteration: pravednost’
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: справедливость, честность
Original: δικαιοσύνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. 2 Corinthians extension: ministry’s content (3:9), contrasted with lawlessness/darkness (6:14). See righteousness_of_god_become below for the acute Critical-risk extension at 5:21.
Sin
Approved rendering: грех
Transliteration: grekh
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: ошибка, проступок
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package. 2 Corinthians extension: the trespasses not counted against sinners (5:19) and the substance Christ was ‘made’ for sinners (5:21). See not_counting_trespasses and made_him_sin for the two Critical-risk extensions in the core passage; do not treat those as unrelated new vocabulary.
Church
Approved rendering: церковь
Transliteration: tserkov’
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: храм (reserve for the distinct temple_of_the_living_god concept), собрание (acceptable for local congregation emphasis)
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. 2 Corinthians extension: the local congregation(s) addressed and the churches participating in the collection (1:1; 8:1,18-24; 11:8,28; 12:13). See temple_of_the_living_god below for a sharper Critical-tier collision on a related but distinct concept in this same book.
Saints
Approved rendering: святые
Transliteration: svyatyye
Doctrine: Sainthood
Rejected alternatives: праведники
Original: ἅγιοι
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. 2 Corinthians extension: addressed corporately and named as recipients of the collection (1:1; 8:4; 9:1,12; 13:12); must remain unmistakably corporate and inclusive of every believer, not a formally canonized, venerated minority.
Christ
Approved rendering: Христос
Transliteration: Khristos
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Original: Χριστός
Category: Christology
New for this curriculum, formalizing a title already present but not separately registered in the Romans baseline (which treats it under ‘messiah’). ‘Anointed One’; functions in 2 Corinthians as Jesus’ near-proper name while retaining messianic-title force, especially in Christ-centered ministry and suffering language (1:5; 5:14-20; 12:9-10). Ordinary Russian usage has worn the title-sense smooth; teaching text should periodically re-surface that Христос is a title of fulfillment, not simply a surname, especially at 5:14 (‘love of Christ’) and 5:20 (‘ambassadors for Christ’).
Ministry Of Reconciliation
Approved rendering: служение примирения
Transliteration: sluzheniye primireniya
Doctrine: Reconciliation with God
Rejected alternatives: священническое служение (avoid implying ongoing sacramental mediation)
Original: διακονία τῆς καταλλαγῆς
Category: Reconciliation
5:18. The apostolic task of proclaiming, not re-accomplishing, God’s already-completed reconciliation. Must be taught as a proclamation ministry, not a sacramental-mediation ministry that itself effects reconciliation on each occasion.
Reconciling The World
Approved rendering: примирил с Собою мир
Transliteration: primiril s Soboyu mir
Doctrine: Reconciliation with God
Rejected alternatives: примирил с Собою некоторых (never restrict the universal scope)
Original: κόσμον καταλλάσσων
Category: Reconciliation
5:19. Extends the baseline’s universal-scope-of-gospel preservation rule: do not soften ‘the world,’ and do not let universal reconciliation be domesticated into an exclusive Russian Orthodox national-religious possession.
Old Passed New Come
Approved rendering: древнее прошло, теперь всё новое
Transliteration: drevneye proshlo, teperʹ vsyo novoye
Doctrine: New Creation in Christ
Rejected alternatives: постепенно обновляется (forbidden — implies a gradual process rather than a completed transition)
Original: τὰ ἀρχαῖα παρῆλθεν, ἰδοὺ γέγονεν καινά
Category: New Creation
5:17b. Decisive, completed-aspect declaration; must be preserved against a synergistic, gradual theosis-style reading. Route to the same review track as sanctification/salvation.
Died For All All Died
Approved rendering: умер за всех… все умерли
Transliteration: umer za vsekh… vse umerli
Doctrine: New Creation in Christ
Rejected alternatives: умер за всех, значит все спасены (forbidden — collapses into automatic universalism)
Original: εἷς ὑπὲρ πάντων ἀπέθανεν, οἱ πάντες ἀπέθανον
Category: New Creation
5:14. Representative/substitutionary death; must be taught alongside ‘died FOR’ (за) to preserve substitutionary sense without collapsing into universalism or a merely exemplary reading.
Ambassador
Approved rendering: посланники
Transliteration: poslanniki
Doctrine: Sincerity and Apostolic Authority
Rejected alternatives: послы (too modern-diplomatic register)
Original: πρεσβεύομεν
Category: Apostleship
5:20. Avoids the fully modern diplomatic connotation of послы but risks being read too weakly as generic ‘messengers’; teaching text must restore the sense of authorized, official representation carrying the sender’s own authority.
Judgment Seat Of Christ
Approved rendering: судилище Христово
Transliteration: sudilishche Khristovo
Doctrine: Assurance amid Future Judgment
Rejected alternatives: трибунал Христов (too foreign/legalistic register)
Original: τὸ βῆμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ
Category: Assurance
5:10. судилище carries a starkly negative, punitive register in modern Russian (show-trial-like tribunals); must be explicitly distinguished from any threat to a believer’s already-settled salvation, consistent with the baseline assurance_of_salvation Critical-risk entry.
Letter And Spirit
Approved rendering: буква / Дух
Transliteration: bukva / Dukh
Doctrine: The New Covenant versus the Old
Rejected alternatives: буква закона as an unglossed stand-alone idiom (forbidden without explicit covenant-theological framing)
Original: γράμμα / πνεῦμα
Category: Covenant
3:6. ‘буква закона’ is a live secular idiom (legal technicality vs. intent); must be distinguished from Paul’s specific covenant-theological claim about the law’s inability to regenerate the heart apart from the Spirit.
Transformed Transfigured
Approved rendering: преображаемся
Transliteration: preobrazhayemsya
Doctrine: Transformation into Christ’s Likeness
Rejected alternatives: обожение as an unglossed synonym (forbidden per baseline sanctification rule)
Original: μεταμορφούμεθα
Category: Sanctification
3:18. Strong cultural/theological asset (Feast of the Transfiguration) but risks being absorbed wholly into an Orthodox theosis framework without stating that transformation flows from beholding Christ’s glory in the gospel (3:18; 4:6), not primarily sacramental participation.
Sufferings Of Christ
Approved rendering: страдания Христовы
Transliteration: stradaniya Khristovy
Doctrine: Suffering and Comfort in Ministry
Rejected alternatives: дополняющие искупление страдания (forbidden — implies contribution to the atonement)
Original: τὰ παθήματα τοῦ Χριστοῦ
Category: Suffering and Comfort
1:5. Must be carefully distinguished from any sense that apostolic suffering completes or contributes to Christ’s atoning work; flag alongside the baseline atonement escalation rule.
Peddlers Of Gods Word
Approved rendering: торгующие словом Божиим
Transliteration: torguyushchiye slovom Bozhiim
Doctrine: Sincerity and Apostolic Authority
Rejected alternatives: лжеучителя (conflates with the distinct false_apostles term)
Original: καπηλεύοντες τὸν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ
Category: Sincerity
2:17. Culturally live given suspicion of commercialized/foreign-funded ministry in Russia; teach as a critique of commercialized religious practice broadly, without appearing to target minority Evangelical/Protestant congregations.
Thorn In The Flesh
Approved rendering: жало в плоть
Transliteration: zhalo v plotʹ
Doctrine: Power in Weakness
Rejected alternatives: болезнь (too narrow — loses the ‘messenger of Satan’ dimension)
Original: σκόλοψ τῇ σαρκί
Category: Power in Weakness
12:7. Must hold together real affliction, real adversarial (Satanic) origin, and real divine sovereign purpose — do not collapse to only one of the three.
Grace In Giving
Approved rendering: благодать
Transliteration: blagodat’
Doctrine: Generosity and Grace in Giving
Rejected alternatives: дар (too generic, loses the specific 8:9 imitation-of-Christ logic)
Original: χάρις (used of the collection)
Category: Generosity
8:1,4,6,7,9,19; 9:8,14. The identical word for saving grace applied to the concrete act of financial generosity; teach the 8:9 logic explicitly (giving imitates grace already received) so giving is not read as itself channeling sacramental grace.
Boasting
Approved rendering: хвалиться / похвала
Transliteration: khvalitʹsya / pokhvala
Doctrine: Genuine versus False Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: гордиться (too uniformly negative, cannot carry Paul’s paradoxical positive sense)
Original: καύχησις / καυχάομαι
Category: Apostleship
10:12-18; 11:30; 12:9. Easily lost to the ordinary negative colloquial sense of ‘bragging’; teaching text must repeatedly flag Paul’s deliberate ironic inversion (boasting in weakness/the Lord commended, boasting in the flesh condemned).
False Apostles
Approved rendering: лжеапостолы
Transliteration: lzheapostoly
Doctrine: Genuine versus False Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: самозванцы (loses the specific religious-authority claim)
Original: ψευδαπόστολοι
Category: Apostleship
11:13. лже- prefix is well-established (лжепророк, лжеучитель). Contemporary-application risk in a religiously plural post-Soviet landscape; must stay anchored to Paul’s specific first-century referent.
Satan Angel Of Light
Approved rendering: Сатана принимает вид Ангела света
Transliteration: Satana prinimayet vid Angela sveta
Doctrine: Spiritual Warfare and Discernment
Rejected alternatives: дух света (too vague, loses the personal adversarial identification)
Original: ὁ Σατανᾶς μετασχηματίζεται εἰς ἄγγελον φωτός
Category: Spiritual Warfare
11:14. Directly resonant with the post-Soviet folk-psychic/New Age landscape (экстрасенсы, ‘light being’ language); teach with explicit contemporary application, not only as ancient history.
Repentance
Approved rendering: покаяние
Transliteration: pokayaniye
Doctrine: Godly Grief and Repentance
Rejected alternatives: перемена настроения (too weak, loses moral reorientation)
Original: μετάνοια
Category: Sincerity
7:11. Names the specific sacramental rite of Confession (Тайна Покаяния/Исповедь) in Russian Orthodox usage; Paul’s inward-reorientation sense must be taught explicitly, not assumed equivalent to either the sacramental rite or a merely emotional experience.
Equality
Approved rendering: равенство
Transliteration: ravenstvo
Doctrine: Generosity and Grace in Giving
Rejected alternatives: уравнивание (even stronger Soviet redistribution connotation, avoid)
Original: ἰσότης
Category: Generosity
8:13-14. Strong Soviet-era political resonance (state-imposed economic equality); must be framed as voluntary, relational church-to-church generosity, never coerced redistribution.
Examine Yourselves
Approved rendering: испытывайте самих себя
Transliteration: ispytyvayte samikh sebya
Doctrine: Self-Examination and Genuine Faith
Rejected alternatives: проверьте свою религиозность (wrongly substitutes religious identity for personal trust in Christ)
Original: ἑαυτοὺς δοκιμάζετε
Category: Sincerity
13:5. ‘Whether you are in the faith’ directly invokes the baseline faith entry’s core risk; must be explicitly clarified as personal trust in and union with Christ.
Medium Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: Бог
Transliteration: Bog
Doctrine: God
Rejected alternatives: Всевышний (acceptable poetic synonym only)
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Бог is the standard, universally recognized term across Orthodox, Protestant, and secular Russian usage; no competing polytheistic default sense to guard against. 2 Corinthians extension: God is the grammatical subject of the completed reconciling act (5:18-19) and the one who ‘made him sin’ (5:21); keep the referent vivid and personal, not a generic devotional exclamation, given the density of first-person divine action in the core passage.
Jesus
Approved rendering: Иисус
Transliteration: Iisus
Doctrine: Christology
Rejected alternatives: Исус (Old Believer spelling, avoid)
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Never the Old Believer spelling Исус. 2 Corinthians extension: proclaimed throughout as the content of apostolic ministry (4:5,10-11; 11:4).
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Святой Дух
Transliteration: Svyatoy Dukh
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: дух (never use alone), энергия
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Never дух alone. 2 Corinthians extension: agent of the new covenant (3:3-18), the seal/guarantee on believers (1:22; 5:5), and named in the closing Trinitarian benediction (13:13-14); critical at 3:6 (‘the Spirit gives life’) where secular idiom could reduce ‘Spirit’ to a non-personal principle if the capitalized, personal form is dropped.
Father
Approved rendering: Отец
Transliteration: Otets
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: батюшка (reserve exclusively for addressing an Orthodox priest)
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. 2 Corinthians extension: ‘the Father of mercies’ (1:3) and named in the closing benediction (13:14); never батюшка.
Gospel
Approved rendering: Евангелие
Transliteration: Yevangeliye
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: благая весть (informal gloss only), хорошая новость
Original: εὐαγγέλιον
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. 2 Corinthians extension: the message Paul preaches and defends (2:12; 4:3-4; 9:13; 10:14; 11:4,7); especially relevant at 4:3-4 where ‘the gospel is veiled’ must not be read as ‘the book is obscure’ but as active, resisted proclamation.
Glory
Approved rendering: слава
Transliteration: slava
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: почёт, величие
Original: δόξα
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. 2 Corinthians extension: the fading glory of the old covenant contrasted with the surpassing, unfading glory of the new (3:7-18), and the ‘eternal weight of glory’ (βάρος δόξης, 4:17) outweighing present affliction; the vivid ‘weight’ imagery risks flattening in translation and warrants a brief explanatory note.
Covenant
Approved rendering: завет
Transliteration: zavet
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Rejected alternatives: договор, соглашение
Original: διαθήκη
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. 2 Corinthians extension: base term underlying the ‘new covenant’ contrast of chapter 3 (3:6,14). See new_covenant below for the acute Critical-risk compound built from this term.
Apostle
Approved rendering: апостол
Transliteration: apostol
Doctrine: Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: посланник (reserve for the distinct ‘ambassador’ term below), проповедник
Original: ἀπόστολος
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. 2 Corinthians extension: Paul’s own contested, defended office (1:1; 11:5,13; 12:11-12) — this letter uniquely treats apostleship as a live, contested claim requiring defense (chs. 10-12), pushing against the baseline’s noted default reading of ‘apostle’ as a closed historical office.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: воскресение
Transliteration: voskreseniye
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Rejected alternatives: оживление, реинкарнация
Original: ἀνάστασις / ἐγείρω
Category: Eschatology
Inherited from Romans package. 2 Corinthians extension: the ground of the reoriented life described in 5:15 and the guarantee of future resurrection in 4:14; same over-familiarity risk of flattening into calendar/liturgical association (Пасха) rather than personally appropriated hope.
Power Of God
Approved rendering: сила Божия
Transliteration: sila Bozhiya
Doctrine: Power of God for Salvation
Rejected alternatives: энергия
Original: δύναμις θεοῦ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. 2 Corinthians extension: displayed precisely through fragile human ministers (‘treasure in jars of clay,’ 4:7) and made perfect in weakness (12:9; 13:4); must be taught paired with немощь (weakness), exactly as Paul pairs the two in 12:9-10. Avoid энергия per the baseline’s Palamite-technical-term caution.
Law
Approved rendering: закон
Transliteration: zakon
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: правило, заповедь (reserve for individual commandments)
Inherited from Romans package. 2 Corinthians extension: underlies the letter/Spirit contrast of 3:6-18 (see letter_and_spirit below); the Mosaic закон’s written code, however holy, could not itself transform the heart apart from the Spirit.
According To The Flesh
Approved rendering: по плоти
Transliteration: po ploti
Doctrine: New Creation in Christ
Rejected alternatives: по природе (loses the technical Pauline evaluative-category sense)
Original: κατὰ σάρκα
Category: New Creation
5:16. Well-established Synodal idiom but modern readers may not register its technical Pauline weight; must not be misheard as questioning Christ’s genuine humanity (baseline humanity_of_christ doctrine).
Fear Of The Lord
Approved rendering: страх Господень
Transliteration: strakh Gospodenʹ
Doctrine: Sincerity and Apostolic Authority
Rejected alternatives: ужас перед Богом (too terror-focused, loses reverential sense)
Original: φόβος Κυρίου
Category: Sincerity
5:11. Established Synodal/OT-wisdom-literature phrase; risk is devotional-cliché flattening rather than restoring the specific motivating link to 5:10’s judgment seat.
Veil
Approved rendering: покров / покрывало
Transliteration: pokrov / pokryvalo
Doctrine: The New Covenant versus the Old
Rejected alternatives: Покров left unglossed (risks cross-association with the Feast of the Pokrov / Marian intercession)
Original: κάλυμμα
Category: Covenant
3:13-16. покров carries a distinct additional resonance: Покров, the Feast of the Protecting Veil of the Theotokos. Teaching text must clarify this is an unrelated concept.
Comfort
Approved rendering: утешение
Transliteration: uteshenie
Doctrine: Suffering and Comfort in Ministry
Rejected alternatives: поддержка (too weak, loses divine-comfort resonance)
Original: παράκλησις
Category: Suffering and Comfort
1:3-7. Genuine asset: the Holy Spirit is titled ‘Утешитель’ in established Russian Orthodox liturgical usage. Residual risk is registerial softening into generic ‘comforting words’ rather than God’s active comfort at work through suffering.
Affliction
Approved rendering: скорбь / страдание
Transliteration: skorbʹ / stradaniye
Doctrine: Suffering and Comfort in Ministry
Rejected alternatives: неприятность (too weak/trivial)
Original: θλῖψις
Category: Suffering and Comfort
1:8-10; 4:17; ch. 11. скорбь resonates with Russian ascetic/monastic literature; must be framed as suffering endured for others’ comfort in ministry, not a generic self-directed ascetic achievement earning merit.
Seal Guarantee
Approved rendering: печать / залог
Transliteration: pechatʹ / zalog
Doctrine: Suffering and Comfort in Ministry
Rejected alternatives: расписка (too impersonally transactional)
Original: σφραγίς / ἀρραβών
Category: Assurance
1:22; 5:5. залог is the ordinary word for a financial security deposit; accurate to the Greek commercial metaphor but needs relational framing so it is not heard as merely transactional.
Sincerity
Approved rendering: искренность / простота
Transliteration: iskrennostʹ / prostota
Doctrine: Sincerity and Apostolic Authority
Rejected alternatives: хорошие манеры (too generic, loses the anti-manipulation polemic)
Original: εἰλικρίνεια / ἁπλότης
Category: Sincerity
1:12; 2:17; 11:3. Must stay tied to the specific defense against manipulation/self-interest charges, not generic virtue-talk.
Forgive
Approved rendering: простить
Transliteration: prostitʹ
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Restoration in Church Discipline
Rejected alternatives: оправдать (false friend — conflates with justification)
Original: χαρίζομαι
Category: Sincerity
2:7,10. Low lexical collision risk; connect pastorally to the baseline grace doctrine (forgiveness as grace-shaped, not merit-based restoration).
Satans Schemes
Approved rendering: умыслы сатаны / замыслы сатаны
Transliteration: umysly satany / zamysly satany
Doctrine: Spiritual Warfare and Discernment
Rejected alternatives: случайность (never used — denies real spiritual agency)
Original: νοήματα (τοῦ Σατανᾶ)
Category: Spiritual Warfare
2:11. Low lexical risk; pastoral risk is under-emphasis, since secular readers may treat this as archaic mythological language rather than a live pastoral warning.
Fragrance Of Christ
Approved rendering: благоухание Христово
Transliteration: blagoukhaniye Khristovo
Doctrine: Suffering and Comfort in Ministry
Rejected alternatives: запах (too plain/neutral register)
Original: ὀσμή / εὐωδία Χριστοῦ
Category: Ministry
2:14-16. Established, positive-register word, also used of the ‘fragrance of sanctity’ attributed to relics in Orthodox hagiography; should not imply a literal miraculous physical scent.
Inner Outer Man
Approved rendering: внутренний человек / внешний человек
Transliteration: vnutrenniy chelovek / vneshniy chelovek
Doctrine: Hope of Resurrection and Eternal Glory
Rejected alternatives: душа и тело (wrongly imports a Gnostic/dualistic body-soul framework)
Original: ὁ ἔσω ἄνθρωπος / ὁ ἔξω ἄνθρωπος
Category: Ministry
4:16. Must be guarded against a body-denigrating dualistic reading, given the letter’s later strong affirmation of bodily resurrection (5:1-10).
Earthly Tent Heavenly Dwelling
Approved rendering: земное жилище (хижина) / жилище на небесах, не рукотворенное
Transliteration: zemnoye zhilishche (khizhina) / zhilishche na nebesakh, ne rukotvorennoye
Doctrine: Hope of Resurrection and Eternal Glory
Rejected alternatives: unglossed ‘не рукотворенное’ left to cross-associate with Спас Нерукотворный (forbidden confusion)
Original: ἡ ἐπίγειος οἰκία τοῦ σκήνους / οἰκοδομὴ ἐκ Θεοῦ
Category: Eschatology
5:1. ‘Not made with hands’ must not be confused with the distinct Orthodox icon category Спас Нерукотворный.
Third Heaven Paradise
Approved rendering: третье небо / рай
Transliteration: tretye nebo / ray
Doctrine: Power in Weakness
Original: ἕως τρίτου οὐρανοῦ / εἰς τὸν παράδεισον
Category: Power in Weakness
12:2-4. рай is used both for the Edenic Paradise and the eschatological heavenly Paradise; worth a brief note distinguishing these related but distinct referents.
Weakness
Approved rendering: немощь
Transliteration: nemoshchʹ
Doctrine: Power in Weakness
Rejected alternatives: слабость (too neutral, loses devotional dignity)
Original: ἀσθένεια
Category: Power in Weakness
11:30; 12:5-10; 13:4,9. Dignified, asset-bearing term (monastic humility literature); must not drift into self-imposed ascetic merit — this is an unchosen affliction God sovereignly uses. Must be taught paired with сила Божия.
Signs Of A True Apostle
Approved rendering: признаки Апостола
Transliteration: priznaki Apostola
Doctrine: Genuine versus False Apostleship
Original: τὰ σημεῖα τοῦ ἀποστόλου
Category: Apostleship
12:12. Authenticity demonstrated by pattern of life and ministry (suffering, sincerity, Spirit-fruit), not merely asserted by title.
Weapons Strongholds
Approved rendering: оружие / твердыня
Transliteration: oruzhiye / tverdynya
Doctrine: Spiritual Warfare and Discernment
Original: τὰ ὅπλα / τὰ ὀχυρώματα
Category: Spiritual Warfare
10:4. Military metaphor for purely spiritual/intellectual conflict; handle with the same political sensitivity as baseline Romans 13 guidance.
Godly Grief
Approved rendering: печаль ради Бога
Transliteration: pechalʹ radi Boga
Doctrine: Godly Grief and Repentance
Rejected alternatives: депрессия (wrongly medicalizes a spiritual-relational category)
Original: ἡ κατὰ Θεὸν λύπη
Category: Sincerity
7:9-10. Diagnostic criterion is fruit (repentance unto salvation), not emotional intensity; contrasted with worldly grief (печаль мирская).
Cheerful Giver
Approved rendering: доброхотный (Synodal) / радушный, с радостью дающий (teaching gloss)
Transliteration: dobrokhotnyy / radushnyy
Doctrine: Generosity and Grace in Giving
Rejected alternatives: принуждённый даритель (opposite sense, forbidden)
Original: ἱλαρός
Category: Generosity
9:7. Synodal’s доброхотный underplays the emotional ‘cheer/joy’ nuance of ἱλαρός; supplement rather than replace.
Sow Reap
Approved rendering: сеющий… пожнёт
Transliteration: seyushchiy… pozhnyot
Doctrine: Generosity and Grace in Giving
Rejected alternatives: сей деньги — пожнёшь деньги (forbidden — prosperity-gospel framing)
Original: σπείρων / θερίζει
Category: Generosity
9:6-11. Must be distinguished from a transactional ‘sow money, reap money’ prosperity-gospel framing; tie the harvest to ‘every good work’ (9:8) and God’s glory (9:11-13).
Trinitarian Benediction
Approved rendering: Благодать Господа нашего Иисуса Христа, и любовь Бога, и общение Святого Духа
Transliteration: Blagodatʹ Gospoda nashego Iisusa Khrista, i lyubovʹ Boga, i obshcheniye Svyatogo Dukha
Doctrine: Trinitarian Fellowship and Benediction
Original: ἡ χάρις τοῦ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ἡ κοινωνία τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος
Category: Fellowship
13:13-14. Identical formula (in Church Slavonic) opens every Russian Orthodox Divine Liturgy — a striking asset, but risks being heard as a recited liturgical formula rather than a personal, epistolary blessing to a real congregation.
Low Risk Terms
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: благодарение
Transliteration: blagodareniye
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Original: εὐχαριστία
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. 2 Corinthians extension: recurs throughout (1:11; 2:14; 4:15; 9:11-12); shared with Orthodox liturgical usage (Евхаристия). No significant risk.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: общение
Transliteration: obshcheniye
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: дружба, коллектив (avoid Soviet-collective connotation)
Inherited from Romans package. 2 Corinthians extension: underlies the holy_kiss (13:12) and the closing trinitarian_benediction’s ‘communion/fellowship of the Holy Spirit’ (13:13-14); коллектив remains forbidden.
Exhort
Approved rendering: увещевать / просить
Transliteration: uveshchevat’ / prosit’
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Original: παρακαλέω
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. 2 Corinthians extension: this verb root (παρακαλέω) is unusually concentrated across the whole letter (1:4-6; 2:8; 5:20; 7:6-7; 10:1) and shares its root with comfort (утешение); the concentration itself is a defining tone of the letter — warm, personal appeal rather than institutional decree.
Israel
Approved rendering: Израиль
Transliteration: Izrail’
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: Ἰσραήλ / Ἰσραηλῖται
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. 2 Corinthians extension: invoked as background for the old-covenant contrast and Paul’s own credentials (3:7,13; 11:22). Standard proper name; note modern nation-state homonymy per baseline entry.
Love Of Christ
Approved rendering: любовь Христова
Transliteration: lyubovʹ Khristova
Doctrine: New Creation in Christ
Original: ἀγάπη τοῦ Χριστοῦ
Category: New Creation
5:14. Well-established phrase, no false-friend risk; keep anchored to the cross, not generalized warm sentiment.
Groan
Approved rendering: воздыхаем
Transliteration: vozdykhayem
Doctrine: Hope of Resurrection and Eternal Glory
Original: στενάζομεν
Category: Eschatology
5:2,4. Standard vocabulary; connects to Romans 8:22-23 for curriculum consistency.
Holy Kiss
Approved rendering: святое целование
Transliteration: svyatoye tselovaniye
Doctrine: Trinitarian Fellowship and Benediction
Original: φίλημα ἅγιον
Category: Fellowship
13:12. Living Orthodox liturgical ‘kiss of peace’ parallel; note modern equivalent expressions for secular/younger readers without diminishing the call to embodied fellowship.