Semantic Analysis

Semantic Analysis — Ephesians 1–6 (English → Russian)

Methodology and Continuity with the Romans Language Package

This analysis extends, and does not contradict, the baseline Romans Language Package for Russian (translation_memory.json, bible_term_registry.json, doctrine_risk_registry.json). Where a term already carries an established Russian rendering from that package (e.g. благодать for grace, вера for faith, церковь for church, избрание for election, спасение for salvation, завет for covenant, мир for peace, духовные дары for spiritual gifts, усыновление for adoption, Святой Дух for Holy Spirit, апостол for apostle, пророк for prophet, слава for glory, сила Божия for power of God), that rendering is reused exactly and is marked “[REUSE — Romans TM]” below. All other terms are new to this curriculum and are analyzed fresh, following the same risk framework: Russian’s dominant risk axis is the East–West divergence between Reformation forensic/declarative categories and Russian Orthodox synergistic/theosis categories, plus post-Soviet secularization of religious vocabulary — not syncretism with a rival non-Christian religion.

Citation format follows the baseline convention: Еф. 2:1 (book abbreviation + chapter:verse, Arabic numerals).

PART 1 — Core Passage Verse-by-Verse: Ephesians 2:1–10 (Еф. 2:1-10)

Еф. 2:1 — “И вас, мертвых по преступлениям и грехам вашим…”

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked…”

νεκρός (nekros) — “dead”

Literal meaning: physically dead, lifeless, without vital force.
Semantic range: physical death; by extension, moral/spiritual deadness — total incapacity, not mere sickness or weakness.
English variants: dead, lifeless.
Contextual theological meaning: total spiritual incapacity apart from Christ — the precondition for “Salvation by Grace through Faith”; humanity’s natural state is not sick-and-improvable but dead-and-unable.
Russian rendering & risk: мёртвый. Risk: Medium. The word is unambiguous, but decades of secular-idiomatic overuse (“умираю от скуки” — “dying of boredom”) can flatten the force of literal spiritual death into a figure of speech; surrounding text must restore the totalizing sense (no residual spiritual capacity), a claim in real tension with Orthodox synergism’s assumption of some cooperating capacity toward God prior to grace.

παράπτωμα (paraptōma) — “trespass, transgression”

Literal meaning: a false step, a falling-aside from the path.
Semantic range: a specific act of wrongdoing, distinct from but overlapping with ἁμαρτία (sin as a general condition/category).
English variants: trespass, transgression, offense, fault.
Contextual theological meaning: concrete acts of wrongdoing that together with sin (see below) constitute the “deadness” from which grace alone rescues (Universal Human Accountability; Salvation by Grace).
Russian rendering & risk: преступление (established Synodal choice for Еф. 2:1). Risk: High. In modern Russian, преступление is the ordinary legal/criminal-code word for “crime.” Readers may default to a narrow legalistic sense (“I have not committed crimes”) rather than Paul’s moral-theological sense of any falling-away from God’s path. Must be glossed in teaching text, not left to stand alone.

ἁμαρτία (hamartia) — “sin” [REUSE — Romans TM: грех, High risk]

Contextual note: paired with преступление here; retain грех exactly per baseline. The pairing “преступления и грехи” is the established Synodal phrase and should not be altered or reduced to one word.

Еф. 2:2 — “…в которых вы некогда жили, по обычаю мира сего, по воле князя, господствующего в воздухе…”

“…following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air…”

περιπατέω (peripateō) — “to walk, to conduct oneself”

Literal meaning: to walk about, to go on foot.
Semantic range: metaphorically, one’s habitual manner of life/conduct — a structural verb recurring across Ephesians (2:2, 2:10, 4:1, 4:17, 5:2, 5:8, 5:15).
English variants: walk, live, conduct oneself, go about.
Contextual theological meaning: this verb is the backbone of the “Walking in Newness of Life” doctrine strand in Ephesians — the same verb describes the old, dead walk (2:2) and, once translated by grace, the new walk “worthy of the calling” (4:1) and “as children of light” (5:8).
Russian rendering & risk: context-sensitive — поступать (conduct oneself) or ходить (walk), matching established Synodal usage per occurrence (cf. Рим. 6:4 “ходить в обновлении жизни”). Risk: Medium-High. Consistency across all six occurrences in Ephesians is required so learners recognize the recurring “walk” motif; inconsistent rendering (sometimes поступать, sometimes ходить, without a translator’s note linking them) would obscure this structural feature.

αἰών (aiōn) — “age”

Literal meaning: an age, a long period of time, an epoch.
Semantic range: this present evil age as opposed to the age to come; by extension, “the world” in its fallen, time-bound character.
English variants: age, course, world (in this construction).
Contextual theological meaning: names the fallen system/spirit of the present age that governs unregenerate life, contrasted with life “in Christ” (Еф. 2:6-7).
Russian rendering & risk: обычай мира сего (established Synodal phrase, lit. “the custom of this world”). Risk: Medium. мир here means “the world” (not “peace” — same lexeme as the baseline’s мир entry, requiring the same disambiguation already flagged for Romans 5:1/8:6).

ἄρχων…τῆς ἐξουσίας τοῦ ἀέρος (archōn tēs exousias tou aeros) — “the ruler of the authority of the air”

Literal meaning: ruler/chief of the power/domain of the air.
Semantic range: a title for Satan as a personal, organized spiritual authority, not an abstract force.
English variants: prince of the power of the air, ruler of the kingdom of the air.
Contextual theological meaning: introduces the personal, hierarchical spiritual-opposition cosmology developed fully in Еф. 6:12 (Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God).
Russian rendering & risk: established Synodal phrase князь, господствующий в воздухе. Risk: Medium. князь (“prince”) carries strong pre-revolutionary aristocratic-title connotations in Russian historical memory; ensure the phrase reads as a spiritual-authority title, not an evocation of Russian nobility.

Еф. 2:3 — “…между которыми и мы все жили некогда по нашим плотским похотям, исполняя желания плоти и помыслов, и были по природе чадами гнева, как и прочие…”

“…among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh…and were by nature children of wrath…”

σάρξ (sarx) — “flesh”

Literal meaning: the physical body/tissue.
Semantic range: physical body; by extension, the fallen human nature in rebellion against God — not the material body as such, which Ephesians elsewhere treats positively (bodily resurrection, marriage).
English variants: flesh, sinful nature, flesh and blood.
Contextual theological meaning: names the corrupted disposition that produces sinful desire, prior to and apart from grace.
Russian rendering & risk: плоть. Risk: Medium. In Russian Orthodox ascetic and monastic literature, “плоть” (and the call to “умерщвление плоти,” mortification of the flesh) is heavily associated with bodily asceticism, fasting discipline, and monastic struggle. Readers may hear an ascetic-practice call rather than Paul’s point about an inherited corrupted disposition governing the whole person, not only bodily appetite.

ἐπιθυμία (epithymia) — “desire, lust, passion”

Literal meaning: a strong desire, a longing.
Semantic range: neutral “desire” in some contexts; in Ephesians consistently the illicit, disordered desire of the old nature.
English variants: lust, desire, passion, craving.
Contextual theological meaning: the driving impulse of the “old man” pre-grace and pre-renewal (see also Еф. 4:22).
Russian rendering & risk: похоть. Risk: Low-Medium. Standard and unambiguous in this negative sense; low risk of confusion.

ὀργή (orgē) — “wrath”

Literal meaning: settled anger, not a fleeting emotional outburst.
Semantic range: in Еф. 2:3, God’s righteous judicial wrath against sin (“children of wrath”); in Еф. 4:31, human sinful anger to be put away — the same lexeme, two distinct referents within the same letter.
English variants: wrath, anger.
Contextual theological meaning: establishes the legal/relational problem (deserved divine wrath) that grace alone resolves — foundational to “Salvation by Grace through Faith.”
Russian rendering & risk: гнев. Risk: Medium. Because the same Russian word will also render human anger later in the letter (Еф. 4:26, 31), teaching text must clearly distinguish “гнев Божий” (God’s righteous judicial wrath, Еф. 2:3) from “человеческий гнев” (sinful human anger, Еф. 4:26,31) so the two are never silently merged.

Еф. 2:4 — “Бог же, богатый милостью, по Своей великой любви, которою возлюбил нас…”

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us…”

ἔλεος (eleos) — “mercy”

Literal meaning: compassion shown toward one in a wretched or helpless condition.
Semantic range: pity, compassion, mercy — distinct from χάρις (grace, unmerited favor toward the guilty) though closely related; ἔλεος emphasizes God’s compassion toward misery, χάρις his favor apart from merit.
English variants: mercy, compassion, pity.
Contextual theological meaning: God’s motive in reaching the spiritually dead (2:1) is not obligation but compassion, paired with χάρις in v.5-8 as two complementary, not interchangeable, aspects of salvation.
Russian rendering & risk: милость. Risk: Medium. The baseline Romans package explicitly rejected милость as a substitute for благодать (grace) because it is “too weak” for χάρις. Here milost’ correctly translates a different Greek word (ἔλεος, not χάρις) and must be retained as its own term — but this creates a real risk of a translator or reader collapsing “милость” and “благодать” together as synonyms in Ephesians 2, when Paul is in fact naming two distinct, complementary divine attributes. Teaching text should keep them distinct: милость = God’s compassion toward the miserable; благодать = God’s unmerited gift to the guilty.

ἀγάπη (agapē) — “love”

Literal meaning: love, in the highest, self-giving, non-erotic sense.
Semantic range: God’s self-originating, unconditioned love; distinguished in Greek from φιλία (friendship-affection) and ἔρως (desire-love), though Russian has only one common word.
English variants: love, charity (archaic).
Contextual theological meaning: the ultimate motive-cause of election, redemption, and adoption throughout Ephesians (1:4-5; 2:4; 3:19; 5:2, 25).
Russian rendering & risk: любовь. Risk: Low. Standard, well-established; no rival technical term is needed as in Greek, since Russian religious usage does not distinguish agapē/erōs/philia lexically; theological precision must come from context, not vocabulary choice.

Еф. 2:5 — “…нас, мертвых по преступлениям, оживотворил со Христом, — благодатью вы спасены…”

“…even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved…”

συζωοποιέω (syzōopoieō) — “made alive together with”

Literal meaning: a compound of σύν (“with/together”) + ζωοποιέω (“make alive”); to co-vivify, to raise to life together with another.
Semantic range: unique to Paul (Еф. 2:5; Кол. 2:13); denotes union with Christ’s own resurrection life, not a separate, parallel act of revival.
English variants: made alive together with, quickened together with (archaic).
Contextual theological meaning: salvation is inseparably bound to union with Christ’s own resurrection — not resuscitation of the old life but participation in a new one (ties directly to “Walking in Newness of Life” and to Еф. 2:6’s “raised… seated… with him”).
Russian rendering & risk: оживотворил (established Synodal verb form) / more fully “оживил вместе со Христом.” Risk: Medium. The compound “together with” nuance can be lost if rendered with a simple verb for “revived”; teaching text should make explicit that this is life received in union with Christ’s resurrection, not an isolated miracle performed on the believer alone.

χάρις (charis) — “grace” [REUSE — Romans TM: благодать, Critical risk]

Contextual note: Еф. 2:5’s “χάριτί ἐστε σεσωσμένοι” (“by grace you have been saved”) is the same construction repeated with the addition of “through faith” in v.8, forming the doctrinal core of the entire core passage. All Critical-risk cautions from the baseline apply at full force here: do not let благодать default into the Orthodox uncreated-energies/theosis framework; state the “apart from works” contrast explicitly (v.8-9 below).

σῴζω (sōzō) / σεσωσμένοι — “saved” [REUSE — Romans TM: спасение family, Critical risk]

Contextual note: the perfect passive participle “ἐστε σεσωσμένοι” (“you have been [and remain] saved”) is grammatically emphatic — a completed act with continuing results, not an ongoing, uncertain process. Russian rendering: вы спасены (established Synodal perfect-passive-equivalent). Risk: Critical, per baseline — this verse is a primary text where спасение must be anchored to a decisive, completed divine act (echoing the Romans 10:9-10 anchor point) rather than left to default into an open-ended synergistic process.

Еф. 2:6 — “…и воскресил с Ним, и посадил на небесах во Христе Иисусе…”

“…and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…”

συνεγείρω (synegeirō) — “raised together with”

Literal meaning: σύν + ἐγείρω, “to raise up together.”
Semantic range: shares the “co-” pattern with συζωοποιέω (v.5); denotes the believer’s participation in Christ’s own resurrection as an accomplished spiritual reality, distinct from the future bodily resurrection (cf. Рим. 6:4-5).
English variants: raised up with, raised together with.
Contextual theological meaning: present, positional participation in Christ’s resurrection — grounds the confident, settled tone of Ephesians’ spiritual-warfare and identity language.
Russian rendering & risk: воскресил с Ним (Synodal established). Risk: Medium. Reuses воскресение vocabulary [see Romans TM: resurrection, Medium risk] but applies it to the believer’s present spiritual position rather than Christ’s own historical bodily resurrection; teaching text must distinguish these two related but distinct senses so readers do not think believers have already been bodily raised.

συγκαθίζω (synkathizō) — “seated together with”

Literal meaning: σύν + καθίζω, “to seat together.”
Semantic range: unique compound (only here in the NT in this sense); royal/enthronement imagery — being seated denotes conferred authority and rest, not merely location.
English variants: seated with, made to sit with.
Contextual theological meaning: believers share, by union with Christ, in his position of completed victory and authority — directly relevant to the confident posture required for “Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God” (Еф. 6:10-18).
Russian rendering & risk: посадил [нас] (established Synodal). Risk: Medium. Ensure teaching text conveys enthronement/rest, not mere physical seating.

ἐπουράνιος (epouranios) — “heavenly, in the heavenly places”

Literal meaning: pertaining to the region above the earth; heavenly.
Semantic range: a recurring Ephesians motif (1:3, 1:20, 2:6, 3:10, 6:12) denoting the unseen spiritual realm where both Christ’s authority and hostile spiritual powers operate.
English variants: heavenly places, heavenly realms, in the heavens.
Contextual theological meaning: names the spiritual battlefield/throne-room simultaneously — the same “location” holds both Christ’s enthroned believers (2:6) and hostile powers (6:12), framing the whole letter’s spiritual-warfare theology.
Russian rendering & risk: на небесах / в небесных обителях (established Synodal). Risk: Medium. Must not be flattened into a purely eschatological “heaven when we die” reference; in Ephesians it denotes a present spiritual dimension of reality.

Еф. 2:7 — “…дабы явить в грядущих веках преизобильное богатство благодати Своей в благости к нам во Христе Иисусе.”

“…so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

πλοῦτος (ploutos) — “riches, wealth”

Literal meaning: material wealth, abundance of possessions.
Semantic range: metaphorically, God’s inexhaustible abundance — applied to grace (2:7), glory (1:18, 3:16), mercy, and the mystery of Christ (3:8).
English variants: riches, wealth, abundance.
Contextual theological meaning: grace is not a bare minimum sufficient for pardon but an overflowing, inexhaustible abundance — a key emphasis distinguishing Ephesians’ tone from a minimal, transactional reading of grace.
Russian rendering & risk: богатство. Risk: Low-Medium. Standard and clear; minor risk of the metaphor being heard as merely rhetorical intensifier rather than a substantive theological claim about the scale of grace.

χρηστότης (chrēstotēs) — “kindness”

Literal meaning: goodness, usefulness, kindness of disposition.
Semantic range: benevolent kindness in action, closely related to χάρις but denoting God’s disposition/character rather than the gift itself.
English variants: kindness, goodness.
Contextual theological meaning: the relational warmth behind the gift of grace — not a cold legal transaction but a kind, personal disposition.
Russian rendering & risk: благость. Risk: Low. Standard, well-established term with no significant competing sense.

Еф. 2:8 — “Ибо благодатью вы спасены через веру, и сие не от вас, Божий дар…”

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…”

χάρις (charis) / πίστις (pistis) — “grace / faith” [REUSE — Romans TM: благодать (Critical) / вера (High)]

Contextual note: this verse is designated in the baseline Romans package’s cross-document consistency rules as requiring identical rendering wherever it recurs across documents (alongside Рим. 1:16-17, 8:28, 10:9-10). The Ephesians curriculum must render this exact construction — “благодатью вы спасены через веру” — identically to any other document treating this verse, and must state explicitly, per the baseline’s mandatory forbidden-substitution rule, that the “apart from works” contrast is preserved (see v.9).

δῶρον (dōron) — “gift”

Literal meaning: a gift, a present, an offering.
Semantic range: a freely given gift, often used of votive/cultic offerings in secular Greek; in the NT, God’s gracious gift, sometimes distinguished from δωρεά (a nearly synonymous form used in Еф. 4:7 for grace measured out to each believer) though functionally overlapping.
English variants: gift, present.
Contextual theological meaning: reinforces that salvation is entirely received, not contributed — the grammatical subject of “this is… God’s gift” most naturally refers to the whole preceding clause (salvation by grace through faith), not to “faith” as an isolated human achievement to be proud of.
Russian rendering & risk: дар. Risk: High. This is the doctrinal hinge-word of the whole passage and the single most theologically load-bearing term in the core passage alongside благодать and вера. Because Orthodox soteriology typically frames salvation as a synergistic, cooperative, lifelong process rather than a single completed gift fully given and fully received, teaching text must state unambiguously that дар here denotes something given complete and received, not a starting capital that the believer must then complete through further meritorious cooperation.

Еф. 2:9 — “…не от дел, чтобы никто не хвалился.”

“…not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

ἔργον (ergon), plural ἔργα — “work(s)”

Literal meaning: a deed, an act, a work performed.
Semantic range: any human deed or achievement, whether moral, ritual, or religious; in Paul, specifically deeds performed as a basis for claiming standing before God.
English variants: works, deeds, works of the law, good works (contextually distinct — cf. v.10 below).
Contextual theological meaning: the direct, explicit negation ruling out any human contribution to the ground of salvation — the single sharpest statement in this passage of the grace/works antithesis central to “Salvation by Grace through Faith.”
Russian rendering & risk: дела. Risk: Critical. This is the term most directly in tension with Russian Orthodox synergistic soteriology, which holds that salvation involves the believer’s ongoing cooperative effort (theosis, ascetic discipline, sacramental participation, “working out salvation with fear and trembling”). This verse’s blunt negation — “not of works” — must not be softened, hedged, or silently reinterpreted as “not of works alone” (a common harmonizing move) when the Greek and the surrounding argument (v.8’s “not your own doing”) intend an absolute exclusion of works as the ground of salvation, without denying that good works follow as fruit (v.10). This distinction between “ground” and “fruit” must be made explicit in teaching text, precisely because it is the crux of the East-West divergence the baseline registry names as Russian’s primary risk axis.

καυχάομαι (kauchaomai) — “to boast”

Literal meaning: to boast, to glory in, to take pride in.
Semantic range: usually negative (self-exalting boasting) in Paul, though sometimes used positively of boasting “in the Lord” or “in the cross.”
English variants: boast, take pride, glory in.
Contextual theological meaning: the intended human response to a fully gracious, unearned salvation is the impossibility of self-congratulation — grace excludes merit-based pride precisely because it excludes merit-based contribution (v.8-9 together).
Russian rendering & risk: хвалиться. Risk: Medium. Standard and clear.

Еф. 2:10 — “Ибо мы — Его творение, созданы во Христе Иисусе на добрые дела, которые Бог предназначил нам исполнять.”

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

ποίημα (poiēma) — “workmanship, that which is made”

Literal meaning: a thing made, a work of craftsmanship (root of English “poem”).
Semantic range: the product of skilled making; used elsewhere in the NT (Рим. 1:20) of the created world as God’s handiwork.
English variants: workmanship, handiwork, creation.
Contextual theological meaning: having just excluded human “doing” (ποίησις) as the ground of salvation (v.9), Paul now uses the cognate concept to describe believers themselves as God’s finished “doing” — the wordplay (not “our doing” but “his doing”) is theologically deliberate.
Russian rendering & risk: established Synodal творение. Risk: Medium. творение most readily evokes the general doctrine of creation (мир — Божие творение) rather than this specific, individual sense of “God’s handiwork remade in Christ”; teaching text should clarify the distinct, re-creative sense intended (a “new creation” individually, paralleling 2 Кор. 5:17, not the original creation of the cosmos).

κτίζω (ktizō) — “to create”

Literal meaning: to found, to create, to bring into being.
Semantic range: used of God’s original creative act (Genesis) and, in Paul, of God’s new-creative act in Christ (Еф. 2:10, 2:15, 4:24).
English variants: create, make.
Contextual theological meaning: salvation is a creative, not merely corrective, act — believers are not repaired old material but a newly created reality “in Christ Jesus,” directly connecting the individual re-creation of 2:10 to the corporate re-creation of “one new man” in 2:15.
Russian rendering & risk: создать/сотворить. Risk: Medium. See 2:15 below for the corporate extension of this same term; consistency of rendering across both individual (2:10) and corporate (2:15) uses reinforces the doctrinal link between them.

ἀγαθὰ ἔργα (agatha erga) — “good works”

Literal meaning: good deeds, virtuous actions.
Semantic range: distinguished sharply from v.9’s bare ἔργα (works as a ground of salvation); here works are the fruit and purpose of salvation, not its cause.
English variants: good works, good deeds.
Contextual theological meaning: resolves the apparent tension of v.8-9: works are excluded as the ground (v.9) but affirmed as the goal and result (v.10) of grace — the classic Reformation formula “faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is never alone” finds its clearest single-verse anchor here.
Russian rendering & risk: добрые дела. Risk: High. Precisely because this phrase reuses the same Russian root (дела) rejected as a ground of salvation one verse earlier, translators and teachers must make the ground/fruit distinction explicit every time, or readers may either (a) conclude Paul contradicts himself, or (b) resolve the tension by quietly reintroducing works as partially meritorious after all — exactly the synergistic drift this whole passage is constructed to prevent.

προετοιμάζω (proetoimazō) — “to prepare beforehand”

Literal meaning: πρό (“before”) + ἑτοιμάζω (“prepare”); to make ready in advance.
Semantic range: denotes God’s prior, sovereign planning of the good works believers will do — echoing the “before the foundation of the world” language of election in 1:4, 11.
English variants: prepared beforehand, planned in advance, foreordained.
Contextual theological meaning: even the believer’s good works are folded into God’s prior sovereign plan, tying “Election and Predestination in Christ” (ch.1) directly to “Salvation by Grace through Faith” (ch.2) as a single, unified divine initiative from beginning to end.
Russian rendering & risk: предназначил заранее / предуготовил. Risk: High. Shares the same doctrinal sensitivity as προορίζω (see Еф. 1:5, 1:11 below) — predestination-adjacent language applied even to the believer’s good works, which can be received either as a comforting assurance (God secures the outcome) or as unsettling determinism (no genuine human agency); the surrounding text must frame this pastorally, following the baseline’s Assurance of Salvation guidance from Romans 8.

PART 2 — Whole-Book Chapter-by-Chapter Study

Chapter 1 (Еф. 1:1-23) — Election, Blessing, and the Church as Christ’s Body

Term (Greek/translit.)	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Contextual theological meaning (Ephesians)	Russian rendering & risk
χάρις (charis)	favor, gift	unmerited favor	grace	Opens and closes the letter (1:2); ground of every blessing that follows.	благодать [REUSE, Critical] — apply baseline cautions in full.
εὐλογία (eulogia)	good word, blessing	act of blessing/being blessed	blessing	”Blessed… who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing” (1:3) — a deliberate wordplay (εὐλογητός/εὐλογία) lost in most translations.	благословение. Risk: Low. Standard, well-established.
ἐκλέγομαι (eklegomai)	to pick out, choose	sovereign personal choice	chose, elected	”He chose us in him before the foundation of the world” (1:4) — grounds Election and Predestination doctrine.	избрал (verb form of избрание) [REUSE concept — Romans TM избрание, High]. Risk: High. Never судьба/рок/карма.
προορίζω (proorizō)	to mark out/decide beforehand	predetermine, foreordain	predestined, foreordained	”Having predestined us for adoption” (1:5); “predestined according to his purpose” (1:11) — the single most theologically load-bearing new term in ch.1.	предопределил. Risk: Critical (NEW). Baseline flags предопределение as legitimate but “loaded with Reformed/Calvinist debate largely foreign to Orthodox soteriology,” to be used “only with careful qualification.” Ephesians 1 makes this term unavoidable and explicit (unlike Romans, where election language is present but this specific verb is not). This is the single highest-priority new Critical-risk term introduced by this curriculum; every occurrence requires explicit doctrinal framing distinguishing it from судьба/рок (impersonal fate) and requires human theologian review.
υἱοθεσία (huiothesia)	placing as a son	full legal adoption	adoption	”Predestined us for adoption as sons” (1:5).	усыновление [REUSE — Romans TM, High].
ἀπολύτρωσις (apolytrōsis)	ransoming, buying back	release secured by a price paid	redemption	”We have redemption through his blood” (1:7).	искупление. Risk: High (NEW). Standard and shared with Orthodox usage, but Orthodox patristic tradition sometimes frames redemption within a “ransom from death/the devil” model distinct from a strictly penal-substitutionary model; the curriculum’s precise sense (redemption through his blood, tied to forgiveness) should be stated explicitly rather than assumed.
ἄφεσις [ἁμαρτιῶν] (aphesis)	release, letting-go	forgiveness, remission	forgiveness	”The forgiveness of our trespasses” (1:7).	прощение [грехов]. Risk: Medium (NEW). Baseline rejected this phrase only as a substitute for justification/оправдание; used here for its own proper referent (forgiveness itself) it is standard and correct — but must not be allowed to absorb оправдание’s forensic-declaration sense if both terms appear near each other in later Ephesians-adjacent teaching.
μυστήριον (mystērion)	that which is hidden, secret	a truth once hidden, now revealed by God	mystery	”The mystery of his will” (1:9); central to “The Mystery of Christ Revealed” doctrine strand, developed fully in ch.3.	тайна. Risk: Critical (NEW). In Russian, “тайна” is the direct root of Таинство — the standard Orthodox term for the seven Sacraments/Mysteries (Крещение, Евхаристия, etc.). Readers with any Orthodox cultural formation are highly likely to hear “тайна Христова” as pointing toward sacramental mystery rather than Paul’s specific sense: a previously hidden truth (Gentile inclusion, the unity of all things in Christ) now publicly disclosed in the gospel. This collision must be named and explained explicitly wherever мистерион/тайна occurs (1:9; 3:3-9; 5:32; 6:19) — do not allow the term to quietly resolve into sacramental theology. Human theologian review required for every occurrence.
οἰκονομία (oikonomia)	household management	administration, stewardship, plan	dispensation, stewardship, plan	”The stewardship of the mystery” (3:9, anticipated conceptually from 1:10’s “fullness of the times”).	домостроительство. Risk: Medium (NEW). This is a genuine point of overlap with Orthodox theology, which uses Божественное домостроительство (“Divine Economy”) as a major category for God’s total saving plan — a cultural and theological asset here, not primarily a hazard, provided the specific Pauline sense (a stewardship entrusted to Paul to disclose the mystery) is not diluted into the broader, more diffuse Orthodox usage.
κληρονομία (klēronomia)	inheritance, portion received by lot	an allotted possession, inheritance	inheritance, heritage	”We have obtained an inheritance” (1:11, 14); ties directly to усыновление (adoption) already High-risk in the baseline.	наследие / наследство. Risk: Medium (NEW). Reinforce, as with усыновление, that this is full and secure, not provisional or partial — same Soviet orphanage-culture sensitivity noted in the baseline applies by extension.
σφραγίζω (sphragizō)	to seal, to stamp	to mark with a seal as a guarantee of ownership/authenticity	sealed	”Sealed with the promised Holy Spirit” (1:13; also 4:30).	запечатлеть/запечатление. Risk: Critical (NEW). The Russian Orthodox rite of Chrismation is liturgically named and prayed as conferring “печать дара Духа Святаго” (“the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit”) — an almost word-for-word match to this verse’s imagery. Readers may strongly (and not wrongly, in a general sense) associate this language with the specific sacrament of Chrismation as the means by which the Spirit’s sealing occurs, whereas Ephesians presents the sealing as coextensive with believing the gospel (1:13, “when you believed, you were sealed”). This must be handled with explicit care: the concept is shared common ground, but the mechanism (sacramental rite vs. the moment of gospel-faith) is a live point of difference requiring human theologian review.
ἀρραβών (arrabōn)	earnest money, down payment	a partial payment guaranteeing the full amount to come	guarantee, pledge, down payment	”The guarantee of our inheritance” (1:14).	залог. Risk: Medium (NEW). Standard modern Russian financial/legal term for a deposit/pledge; clear and vivid, low ambiguity risk.
ἐκκλησία (ekklēsia)	assembly, gathering	the called-out assembly; in the NT, God’s covenant people	church	”Head over all things to the church, which is his body” (1:22-23) — introduces “The Church as the Body of Christ” doctrine.	церковь [REUSE — Romans TM, High]. See σῶμα below for the body-metaphor-specific risk this introduces beyond the baseline’s institutional/building risk.
σῶμα (sōma)	body	a physical body; corporately, a unified organism	body	”His body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (1:23) — the church as Christ’s body is Ephesians’ central ecclesiology, developed through chs. 2-5.	тело. Risk: High (NEW). Beyond the baseline’s institutional-church risk (церковь), “тело Христово” carries a second, distinct collision in Russian: the same phrase, “Тело Христово,” is the standard liturgical name for the consecrated Eucharistic elements received in Communion in both Orthodox and Catholic usage. Ephesians’ ecclesial metaphor (the church corporately as Christ’s body) risks being heard as, or blended with, the sacramental referent (the Eucharistic body received at the altar). Both are legitimate biblical-theological categories, but they must be kept distinct in teaching text: Ephesians 1:23/4:12/5:30 is about corporate identity and unity, not primarily about the Lord’s Supper. Human theologian review recommended.
πλήρωμα (plērōma)	fullness, that which fills	completeness, totality	fullness	”The fullness of him who fills all in all” (1:23); recurs 3:19, 4:13.	полнота. Risk: Medium (NEW). Abstract and somewhat opaque in ordinary Russian; requires unpacking in teaching text rather than assuming intuitive clarity.
δύναμις / ἐνέργεια (dynamis / energeia)	power / working, operation	capability, might / active working, operative force	power / working	”The immeasurable greatness of his power [δύναμις] according to the working [ἐνέργεια] of his great might [κράτος/ἰσχύς]” (1:19).	сила / действие. Risk: CRITICAL (NEW — flagged beyond baseline). The Greek word ἐνέργεια occurs repeatedly in Ephesians (1:19; 3:7; 3:20) — far more prominently than in Romans. The baseline package already warns, under “power_of_god,” that Russian энергия carries a specialized technical meaning in Orthodox Palamite theology (the distinction between God’s unknowable essence and his knowable, uncreated “energies,” a term often used interchangeably with grace and power in Orthodox devotional writing). Because Ephesians repeatedly pairs δύναμις with the cognate of “energy” itself, there is a strong temptation — greater here than anywhere in Romans — to render ἐνέργεια as энергия and thereby import the entire Palamite essence/energies debate into a plain statement about God’s power at work in believers. This must never be done. Render ἐνέργεια as действие (“action, working”) or “действующая сила,” never энергия. Human theologian review required for every occurrence (1:19; 3:7; 3:20; 4:16).

Chapter 2 (Еф. 2:11-22) — Beyond the Core Passage: One New Humanity

(Еф. 2:1-10 received full verse-by-verse treatment in Part 1 above. The remainder of the chapter, 2:11-22, introduces the letter’s central Jew-Gentile unity terminology.)

Terms	Variants	Contextual theological meaning	Russian rendering & risk
περιτομή / ἀκροβυστία (peritomē/akrobystia) circumcision / uncircumcision	covenant badge / the state of lacking it circumcision, uncircumcision	Names the pre-Christ ethnic-covenantal division between Jew and Gentile (2:11).	обрезание / необрезание (established Bible terms). Risk: Low. Requires OT covenant-background explanation for readers with limited continuous OT exposure, but the terms themselves are standard.
ἀπαλλοτριόω (apallotrioō) to alienate, estrange	to be made a stranger, cut off alienated, estranged	”Alienated from the commonwealth of Israel” (2:12) — describes Gentiles’ pre-Christ condition.	отчуждённый. Risk: Low-Medium. Clear and standard.
διαθήκη (diathēkē) covenant	binding relational promise covenant	”Strangers to the covenants of promise” (2:12).	завет [REUSE — Romans TM, Medium].
ἔχθρα (echthra) hostility, enmity	active mutual opposition hostility, enmity	Names both the Jew-Gentile division (2:14, 16) and, implicitly, humanity’s enmity with God resolved at the cross.	вражда. Risk: Medium (NEW). Given the historical weight of state and popular antisemitism in Russian and Soviet history (already flagged as High/Critical in the baseline’s “Unity of Jews and Gentiles” doctrine entry), this term’s use in Ephesians 2 requires the same careful, unambiguous handling the baseline mandates for Romans 9-11 — human theologian review.
τὸ μεσότοιχον τοῦ φραγμοῦ (to mesotoichon tou phragmou) the middle-wall of the fence/partition	a literal architectural barrier used metaphorically the dividing wall (of hostility)	“Broken down the dividing wall of hostility” (2:14) — the central image of “Unity of Jews and Gentiles in One New Humanity.” Likely alludes to the actual temple barrier separating the Court of the Gentiles.	разделяющая стена / преграда (established Synodal phrasing: “разрушивший… преграду”). Risk: High (NEW). Linguistically straightforward, but doctrinally this is the single most important image for this curriculum’s Jew-Gentile unity strand and inherits the full weight of the baseline’s antisemitism-history caution. Human theologian review required.
καταργέω (katargeō) to render inactive, abolish	to nullify, bring to nothing, make of no effect abolish, nullify, bring to an end	”Abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances” (2:15) — describes what Christ’s death accomplished regarding the ceremonial law’s dividing function.	упразднить/уничтожить. Risk: Medium (NEW). Care is needed not to imply the moral law is abolished (a distinct theological question raised again in Romans terms); the object here is specifically the law’s function as an ethnic dividing wall.
κτίζω / καινὸς ἄνθρωπος (ktizō / kainos anthrōpos) to create / new man	a fresh, creative act / a newly-made humanity create / new man, new humanity	”That he might create in himself one new man in place of the two” (2:15) — the corporate counterpart to 2:10’s individual re-creation, and the same phrase reused for the individual “new self” in 4:24.	создать одного нового человека. Risk: High (NEW). “One New Humanity” doctrine hinges on this exact phrase being understood corporately — a genuinely new third entity, neither Jew-as-was nor Gentile-as-was, not merely a Gentile inclusion into unchanged Judaism nor a dissolution of Jewish identity into generic humanity. Because the identical Greek phrase recurs individually in 4:24 (“put on the new man/self”), teaching text must clarify which sense (corporate or individual) is active at each occurrence without letting one silently absorb the other.
ἀποκαταλλάσσω (apokatallassō) to reconcile fully	to restore to a right relationship, removing hostility entirely reconcile	”To reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross” (2:16).	примирить. Risk: Medium-High (NEW). Connects directly to the baseline’s “peace_with_god” doctrine entry (Medium risk in Romans); here the reconciliation is explicitly both vertical (with God) and horizontal (Jew and Gentile with each other) simultaneously — this double reconciliation must not be reduced to only one dimension.
σταυρός (stauros) cross, stake	the physical instrument of crucifixion cross	”Through the cross” (2:16).	крест. Risk: Low. Fully established, central Christian symbol shared with Orthodox visual and devotional culture; asset rather than hazard.
πρόσαγωγή (prosagōgē) access, means of approach	the right/means of entering a sovereign’s presence access	”Through him we… have access in one Spirit to the Father” (2:18).	доступ. Risk: Low. Standard; connects conceptually to παρρησία (boldness, ch.3).
συμπολίτης (sympolitēs) fellow-citizen	one who shares citizenship with another fellow citizens	”Fellow citizens with the saints” (2:19).	сограждане. Risk: Low-Medium. Standard; helps concretize corporate belonging.
οἰκεῖοι τοῦ θεοῦ (oikeioi tou theou) members of God’s household	belonging to God’s house/family members of the household of God	”Members of the household of God” (2:19) — reinforces the “household” family-imagery that recurs into ch.5-6’s household codes.	свои Богу / домашние Божии. Risk: Medium (NEW). Standard Synodal phrasing; low ambiguity but should connect for readers to the same family/inheritance/adoption cluster already flagged High in the baseline.
θεμέλιος / ἀκρογωνιαῖος λίθος (themelios / akrogōniaios lithos) foundation / capstone-cornerstone	the base of a building / the key structural stone foundation / cornerstone	”Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone” (2:20).	основание / краеугольный камень. Risk: Low. Both are well-established, standard Christian architectural metaphors shared across Russian Christian traditions.
ναός (naos) temple, sanctuary (specifically the inner shrine)	the dwelling place of deity temple, sanctuary	”A holy temple in the Lord” (2:21); “you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God” (2:22).	храм. Risk: High (NEW). In ordinary Russian usage, храм is the everyday word for an Orthodox church building. Calling the corporate church (or, by extension in 1 Кор. 6:19, the individual believer) a “храм” risks readers hearing a claim about a physical building — ironically undercutting Paul’s very point, which is that God’s dwelling is now the people, not a building. This directly compounds the baseline’s existing церковь-as-building/institution caution and should be flagged for human theologian review.
κατοικητήριον (katoikētērion) dwelling place, habitation	a place where one settles/resides dwelling place, habitation	”A dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (2:22).	жилище. Risk: Medium (NEW). Reinforces ναός; clarify this is the Spirit’s indwelling of the corporate people, not a building.

Chapter 3 (Еф. 3:1-21) — The Mystery, Stewardship, and Prayer for Fullness

Terms	Variants	Contextual theological meaning	Russian rendering & risk
μυστήριον (mystērion) hidden thing now revealed	see ch.1 entry mystery	Ch.3’s central term: “the mystery of Christ… that the Gentiles are fellow heirs” (3:4-6).	тайна [REUSE from ch.1 — Critical]. Apply the same Chrismation/Sacrament caution in full; this chapter is the doctrinal center of “The Mystery of Christ Revealed” and requires human theologian review throughout.
οἰκονομία (oikonomia) administration, stewardship	see ch.1 entry stewardship, dispensation	”The stewardship of this grace” (3:2, 9) given to Paul specifically to disclose the mystery.	домостроительство [REUSE from ch.1 — Medium].
ἀποκαλύπτω / ἀποκάλυψις (apokalyptō/apokalypsis) to uncover, unveil	disclosure of what was hidden reveal, revelation	”Made known to me by revelation” (3:3); “as it has now been revealed” (3:5).	открыть / откровение. Risk: Low-Medium (NEW). Standard; откровение is the established title of the book of Revelation (Откровение), a mild positive association, not a hazard.
συγκληρονόμος / σύσσωμος / συμμέτοχος (synklēronomos/syssōmos/symmetochos) fellow-heir / fellow-body-member / fellow-partaker	three parallel “co-” compounds naming shared status fellow heirs, members of the same body, partakers together	”The Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise” (3:6) — the tightest single-verse summary in Ephesians of “Unity of Jews and Gentiles.”	сонаследники / сотелесники / сопричастники. Risk: High (NEW). These three Russian compounds are less common in ordinary usage than their English equivalents and may need brief glossing on first use, but their theological force (full, equal, undivided sharing) must not be diluted into a vaguer “also included” sense. Ties directly to усыновление/наследие already flagged High in the baseline.
διάκονος (diakonos) servant, attendant, minister	one who serves/attends to a task on another’s behalf minister, servant, deacon	”Of which I became a minister” (3:7) — Paul’s self-description regarding the gospel.	служитель. Risk: Medium-High (NEW). Avoid диакон as the primary rendering: in both Orthodox and many Protestant traditions диакон/deacon names a specific ordained clerical office/rank, which would wrongly suggest Paul is claiming a formal institutional title rather than the general sense of “one who serves the gospel.” Use служитель and reserve диакон only for contexts explicitly discussing the ordained office (as, e.g., in Пастырские послания/Pastoral Epistles contexts, not here).
πολυποίκιλος σοφία (polypoikilos sophia) many-colored, variegated wisdom	wisdom displayed in rich, diverse forms manifold wisdom, wisdom in its rich variety	”So that… the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known” (3:10).	многообразная премудрость. Risk: High (NEW). See σοφία note below; the elevated, almost personified language of divine Wisdom throughout ch.3 (echoed again in “wisdom” language of 1:8, 1:17) intersects with a distinctively Russian theological controversy.
σοφία (sophia) wisdom	skill, insight, understanding; in wisdom literature, God’s own attribute, sometimes quasi-personified (cf. Proverbs 8) wisdom	Recurs 1:8, 1:17, 3:10 as an attribute of God displayed through the church.	премудрость/мудрость. Risk: High (NEW). This is a distinctively Russian-specific risk not present in the baseline (which was built from Romans, where σοφία is far less prominent): late 19th/early 20th-century Russian religious philosophy (Соловьёв, Флоренский, Булгаков) developed Софиология (“Sophiology”), which speculatively treats divine Wisdom/Премудрость (Sophia) as a quasi-hypostatic reality bridging God and creation — a movement controversial and, in some formulations, formally censured within Russian Orthodoxy itself. Readers with exposure to this tradition (directly or through its broad cultural echo in Russian religious thought and iconography — note the numerous “Premudrost Bozhiya” [Hagia Sophia] dedications) may hear “премудрость Божия” as invoking this speculative, quasi-personal figure rather than Paul’s more restrained sense of God’s wise plan displayed through the church. Flag for human theologian review; teaching text should clarify Paul’s sense (God’s wise redemptive plan/strategy) without engaging Sophiology directly unless the audience specifically requires it.
ἐξουσία (exousia) [+ ἀρχή] authority; rule, first place	delegated or inherent right/power to act; in the plural, ranks of spiritual beings rulers, authorities, powers	”The rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (3:10; also 1:21, 6:12).	начала и власти. Risk: Medium-High (NEW). Personal, organized spiritual-authority language, feeding directly into “Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God” (ch.6); must be kept distinct from folk-superstitious categories (see кosmokratōr, ch.6).
παρρησία (parrēsia) freedom of speech, boldness	confident, unrestrained access/speech boldness, confidence	”In whom we have boldness and access” (3:12).	дерзновение. Risk: Low-Medium (NEW, positive asset). дерзновение is itself an established Orthodox devotional term for the confident boldness with which a believer may approach God in prayer — a genuine point of shared positive vocabulary, not primarily a hazard.
ἐνδυναμόω / κραταιόω (endynamoō/krataioō) to empower, strengthen	to be made strong, empowered from within strengthened, empowered	”That he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit” (3:16).	укрепиться силою. Risk: Medium (NEW). Note the recurrence of δύναμις/ἐνέργεια-family vocabulary; apply the same энергия caution as in ch.1 if “energeia” terminology recurs (see 3:20 below).
πλάτος, μῆκος, ὕψος, βάθος (platos, mēkos, hypsos, bathos) breadth, length, height, depth	the four spatial dimensions, used poetically breadth and length and height and depth	Describing the immeasurable scope of Christ’s love (3:18).	широта, долгота, высота, глубина. Risk: Low. Poetic; standard vocabulary.
δύναμις / ἐνέργεια (dynamis/energeia) power / working	see ch.1 entry power / working	”According to the power at work [ἐνεργουμένην] within us” (3:20).	сила, действующая [в нас]. Risk: Critical [REUSE caution from ch.1]. Never энергия — apply the full caution stated under ch.1.

Chapter 4 (Еф. 4:1-32) — Unity, Gifts, and the New Self

Terms	Variants	Contextual theological meaning	Russian rendering & risk
κλῆσις (klēsis) calling	see Romans TM entry calling	”Walk worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (4:1).	призвание [REUSE — Romans TM, High].
ταπεινοφροσύνη (tapeinophrosynē) lowliness of mind	humility, self-forgetfulness in relation to others humility, lowliness	Listed first among the relational virtues undergirding unity (4:2).	смирение. Risk: Medium (NEW — asset with nuance). Смирение is one of the most culturally resonant and highly valued virtue-terms in Russian Orthodox spirituality — central to monastic and eldership (старчество) tradition, and to broader Russian literary-moral imagination (Dostoevsky). This is largely an asset (deep resonance, immediate intuitive weight) but carries a risk of over-spiritualizing into an ascetic, individual-withdrawal virtue rather than Paul’s practical, communal, relationship-preserving virtue (“bearing with one another,” 4:2).
πραΰτης (prautēs) gentleness, mildness	strength held in restraint, not weakness gentleness, meekness	Paired with humility (4:2).	кротость. Risk: Low. Standard.
μακροθυμία (makrothymia) long-temperedness	patient forbearance over time, especially toward provocation patience, longsuffering	”With patience, bearing with one another in love” (4:2).	долготерпение. Risk: Low. Standard.
ἑνότης (henotēs) unity, oneness	the state of being undivided unity	”Eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit” (4:3); “until we attain… unity of the faith” (4:13) — the letter’s central relational-doctrinal keyword, tying directly to the “Unity of Jews and Gentiles” and “Church as Body of Christ” strands.	единство. Risk: Medium-High (NEW). Post-Soviet Russian religious discourse, especially within the Russian Orthodox Church’s official stance, is often explicitly wary of “экуменизм” (ecumenism) as institutionally suspect or theologically compromising. There is a real risk that “единство” in a Protestant-authored curriculum will be heard through this lens — as an argument for interconfessional/ecumenical church merger — rather than Paul’s actual point: the organic, Spirit-given unity of all true believers (Jew and Gentile alike) in one body, which is a given reality to be maintained, not a negotiated institutional goal to be achieved across denominational lines. Flag for native speaker review; frame pastorally, not as an ecumenism argument.
ἓν σῶμα, ἓν πνεῦμα, εἷς κύριος, μία πίστις, ἓν βάπτισμα (Eph. 4:4-6 sevenfold “one” list) —	a doctrinal creed-like list of unifying realities one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father	The doctrinal foundation for maintained unity (4:4-6).	See σῶμα/πνεῦμα/κύριος/πίστις [REUSE from ch.1/Romans TM]; βάπτισμα below (NEW).
βάπτισμα (baptisma) baptism, immersion/washing rite	the Christian initiatory rite baptism	”One baptism” (4:5).	крещение. Risk: High (NEW). Baptism is a major, live sacramental fault line between Orthodox theology (which typically holds to baptismal regeneration, usually administered to infants, as objectively conferring new birth) and much Protestant/Evangelical theology (which more often holds believer’s baptism as a symbolic/confessional act following, not causing, regeneration by faith). Ephesians 4:5’s “one baptism” is stated as a unifying fact without resolving this East-West and intra-Protestant debate; the curriculum must state its own position explicitly rather than assume “one baptism” settles or avoids the question, and this should route to human theologian review whenever baptism doctrine is taught, paralleling the baseline’s treatment of justification/sanctification.
δωρεά / χάρις (dōrea/charis) gift / grace	a free gift gift, grace	”Grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift” (4:7) — introduces the spiritual-gifts discussion.	дар / благодать [благодать REUSE — Critical]. дар (gift) here as in 2:8; risk Medium, standard.
εὐαγγελιστής (euangelistēs) one who proclaims good news	an itinerant gospel-proclaimer, an office alongside apostles/prophets/pastors/teachers evangelist	One of the five ministry gifts (4:11) — “Gifts for Building Up the Church.”	евангелист. Risk: High (NEW). In Russian religious and cultural usage, “евангелист” overwhelmingly refers to the traditional authors of the four canonical Gospels (Евангелисты Матфей, Марк, Лука и Иоанн), a fixed, closed, historical set of four — richly present in Orthodox iconography (the four evangelist symbols) and liturgical art. Readers are likely to hear “евангелист” primarily as this historical-canonical category, not as Paul’s distinct sense here: an ongoing NT-era (and, in much Protestant ecclesiology, ongoing-today) ministry gift/office of gospel-proclamation. This ambiguity requires explicit clarification in teaching text and should route to human theologian or native speaker review.
ποιμήν (poimēn) shepherd	one who tends and protects a flock; metaphorically, a pastoral leader shepherd, pastor	One of the five ministry gifts (4:11), traditionally paired as “pastors and teachers.”	пастырь / пастор. Risk: High (NEW). This is a genuine either-way translation-choice risk. Пастырь is the traditional, dignified term historically applied to Orthodox priests (“добрый пастырь” — the “good shepherd,” used of Christ and, by extension, of ordained clergy) and carries strong institutional-Orthodox coloring. Пастор, by contrast, is the modern loanword specifically associated with Protestant/Evangelical congregational leadership and is sometimes viewed with the same “foreign import” suspicion the baseline notes for миссионерство. Recommend пастор as the primary rendering for this specific NT ministry-gift office (to avoid implying Orthodox priestly ordination is in view), while noting the term’s more general shepherding sense (as applied to Christ, e.g. John 10) may use пастырь. Flag for native speaker or human theologian review whenever church leadership offices are discussed.
διδάσκαλος (didaskalos) teacher	one who instructs teacher	Paired with “pastors” in the fivefold list (4:11).	учитель. Risk: Low. Standard.
καταρτισμός (katartismos) equipping, complete outfitting	bringing to full readiness/completeness equipping	”For the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry” (4:12).	для совершенствования / приготовления. Risk: Medium (NEW). Standard vocabulary; ensure it reads as active equipping for service, not passive moral perfection (see τέλειος below).
οἰκοδομή (oikodomē) building, building up	the process or product of construction; metaphorically, spiritual edification building up, edification	”Building up the body of Christ” (4:12, 16).	назидание / созидание [тела Христова]. Risk: Medium (NEW). Standard theological vocabulary; low risk if paired clearly with σῶμα’s caution above.
τέλειος (teleios) complete, mature, having reached its end/goal	full maturity, completeness of development — not sinless moral perfection mature, perfect, complete	”Until we attain to… mature manhood” (4:13).	совершенный — but flag with a qualifying gloss. Risk: Medium (NEW). In ordinary and even much devotional Russian usage, “совершенный” defaults to “perfect” in the absolute moral-perfection sense; this can create a false expectation of sinless perfection as the goal of Christian growth. Recommend glossing as “зрелый” (“mature”) in this specific verse to avoid the absolute-perfection reading, reserving “совершенный” for contexts (if any) that intend the stronger sense.
παλαιὸς ἄνθρωπος / καινὸς (νέος) ἄνθρωπος (palaios anthrōpos / kainos anthrōpos) old man / new man	the former, unregenerate self / the newly created regenerate self old self, old man / new self, new man	”Put off your old self… and put on the new self” (4:22-24) — the individual counterpart to 2:15’s corporate “new man,” and the doctrinal core of “Walking in Newness of Life.”	ветхий человек / новый человек (established Synodal phrasing, echoing Рим. 6:6). Risk: High (NEW). Must be explicitly linked in teaching text to Рим. 6:4’s established phrase “обновление жизни” (“newness of life”) so learners recognize this as the same doctrinal reality developed further, not a new, unrelated concept; and must be distinguished from 2:15’s corporate “one new man” (Jew-Gentile unity) so the individual-moral and corporate-ecclesial senses of the identical Greek phrase are not silently merged.
ἀνακαινόω (anakainoō) to renew, make new again	ongoing renewal, refreshing renewed	”Be renewed in the spirit of your minds” (4:23).	обновляться. Risk: Medium (NEW). Reuses Рим. 6:4’s обновление root; consistent terminology across Romans and Ephesians curricula reinforces the doctrinal link for learners studying both.
ψεῦδος (pseudos) falsehood, lie	untruth, deception falsehood, lying	”Put away falsehood” (4:25), the first specific “old self” behavior named.	ложь. Risk: Low. Standard.
λυπέω τὸ Πνεῦμα (lypeō to Pneuma) to grieve the Spirit	to cause sorrow/distress to a person grieve the Holy Spirit	”Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God” (4:30).	не оскорбляйте Святого Духа Божия (established Synodal). Risk: Medium (NEW). Reinforces the Holy Spirit’s full personhood — a real, relational Person capable of being grieved, not an impersonal force or “energy” — directly relevant to the baseline’s Holy Spirit entry (Critical risk in Romans against impersonal-spirit readings).
πικρία, θυμός, ὀργή, κραυγή, βλασφημία, κακία (vice list, 4:31) bitterness, hot anger, settled wrath, shouting, slander, malice	— bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, malice	A vice list to be “put away,” contrasted with kindness and forgiveness (4:32).	горечь, гнев, ярость, крик, злоречие/хула, злоба — standard vocabulary. Risk: Low individually; note that ὀργή here refers to sinful human anger, distinct from God’s righteous wrath in 2:3 (see caution above).
χαρίζομαι (charizomai) to give freely, to forgive/be gracious	forgiving graciously, granting freely — shares the χάρις (grace) root, lost in Russian translation forgive, be gracious, grant	”Forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (4:32).	прощать. Risk: Medium (NEW). Note for teaching purposes: the Greek wordplay linking human forgiveness to the very word for “grace” (χάρις/χαρίζομαι) has no equivalent in Russian, since прощать shares no root with благодать; the theological link (our forgiving flows from having received grace) must be stated explicitly in exposition rather than relying on the wordplay, which is invisible in translation.

Chapter 5 (Еф. 5:1-33) — Imitating God, Walking as Light, and Christ-Centered Marriage

Terms	Variants	Contextual theological meaning	Russian rendering & risk
μιμητής (mimētēs) imitator	one who copies/follows the pattern of another imitator	”Be imitators of God, as beloved children” (5:1).	подражатель. Risk: Low. Standard.
πορνεία, ἀκαθαρσία, πλεονεξία (porneia, akatharsia, pleonexia) sexual immorality, impurity, greed	— sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness	Vice list (5:3) incompatible with the “saints.”	блуд/распутство, нечистота, любостяжание. Risk: Low-Medium. Standard vocabulary.
εἰδωλολάτρης (eidōlolatrēs) idol-server	one devoted to idols; extended by Paul to covetousness itself (“the covetous man, who is an idolater,” 5:5) idolater	”No… covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ” (5:5).	идолослужитель. Risk: Low-Medium (NEW). Standard term; teaching text should note Paul’s extension of “idolatry” to covetousness itself (a functional/modern application, e.g. materialism), which is not obvious from the word alone.
τέκνα φωτός / τέκνα σκότους (tekna phōtos/skotous) children of light / children of darkness	a dualistic moral-spiritual identity contrast children of light / darkness	”For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (5:8) — reuses the περιπατέω “walk” motif for “Walking in Newness of Life.”	чада света / дети тьмы. Risk: Low-Medium (NEW). No competing native dualistic cosmology risk (unlike, e.g., Zoroastrian-influenced contexts); straightforward moral-spiritual metaphor.
πληρόω [ἐν Πνεύματι] (plēroō en Pneumati) to be filled	to be completely filled/controlled by be filled with the Spirit	”Do not get drunk with wine… but be filled with the Spirit” (5:18).	исполняйтесь Духом (established Synodal). Risk: Medium (NEW). Standard; ensure the contrast with drunkenness (loss of self-control vs. Spirit-given self-control expressed in worship, 5:19-20) is retained, not read as endorsing ecstatic loss of control.
ὑποτάσσω (hypotassō) to arrange under, to subordinate	voluntary or structural submission/ordering, ranging from military rank-ordering to relational submission submit, be subject to	”Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (5:21); “Wives, submit to your husbands” (5:22) — the central term of “Household Codes and Christ-Centered Relationships.”	повиноваться / подчиняться / покоряться (established Synodal choice for 5:22: повинуйтесь). Risk: High (NEW). Culturally sensitive gender-relations term requiring careful framing: (1) 5:21 explicitly frames mutual submission among all believers as the governing principle before the specific wife/husband instruction follows, and this ordering must not be lost; (2) the parallel instruction to husbands (5:25, “love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her”) is a far more demanding, self-sacrificial standard than mere household headship, and must be given equal or greater weight in teaching text, not treated as a lesser addendum. Post-Soviet Russian culture retains strong patriarchal household norms in many communities; the risk is a one-sided reading that stresses wifely submission while under-teaching the husband’s self-sacrificial love standard. Human theologian review required.
κεφαλή (kephalē) head	the physical head; metaphorically, source, preeminence, or authority, depending on context head	”The husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church” (5:23).	глава. Risk: High (NEW). Shares the same sensitivity as ὑποτάσσω above; must be interpreted through the passage’s own controlling analogy (Christ’s headship expressed as self-giving love and nourishing care, 5:25-29), not through generic cultural authority-headship assumptions. Human theologian review required alongside ὑποτάσσω.
σωτήρ (sōtēr) savior, deliverer	one who rescues/preserves savior	”Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior” (5:23).	Спаситель. Risk: Medium (NEW). Standard, closely tied to the already-Critical спасение family; no new risk beyond what the baseline already documents for salvation vocabulary.
μυστήριον (mystērion) mystery	see ch.1/3 entries mystery	”This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church” (5:32) — applies the letter’s central “mystery” term to the marriage analogy itself.	тайна [REUSE — Critical]. Apply the same Chrismation-collision caution; note additionally that Orthodox tradition designates marriage itself as one of the seven sacramental Таинства (“Mysteries”) — making this particular occurrence an especially acute point of potential conflation between Paul’s revelatory sense (marriage illustrates the Christ-church mystery) and a sacramental claim about marriage itself as a Mystery/Tainstvo in the technical Orthodox sense. Human theologian review required.

Chapter 6 (Еф. 6:1-24) — Household Codes Concluded, Spiritual Warfare, and Closing

Terms	Variants	Contextual theological meaning	Russian rendering & risk
ὑπακούω (hypakouō) to listen under, obey	to comply with, obey obey	”Children, obey your parents” (6:1) — distinguished from ὑποτάσσω’s more general “submission” register.	повиноваться. Risk: Medium (NEW). Standard; note the distinction in force from ὑποτάσσω is largely stylistic in English but should not be over-pressed in Russian, where both may naturally render with повиноваться/подчиняться depending on context.
τιμάω (timaō) to honor, value	to hold in esteem, treat with honor honor	”Honor your father and mother” (6:2), citing the fifth commandment.	почитать. Risk: Low. Standard, established from the Decalogue’s Synodal rendering.
ἐπαγγελία (epangelia) promise	a formal pledge/announcement promise	”The first commandment with a promise” (6:2).	обетование. Risk: Low-Medium (NEW). Standard biblical-register term; ties conceptually to the baseline’s covenant/завет cluster.
παροργίζω (parorgizō) to provoke to anger	to incite anger in another provoke to anger	”Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger” (6:4).	раздражать / приводить в гнев. Risk: Low-Medium. Standard.
παιδεία καὶ νουθεσία κυρίου (paideia kai nouthesia kyriou) discipline and admonition of the Lord	formative training and verbal correction, understood as the Lord’s own the discipline and instruction of the Lord	”Bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (6:4).	в учении и наставлении Господнем (established Synodal). Risk: Low-Medium. Standard.
δοῦλος (doulos) slave, bondservant	a person in servitude, whether by birth, capture, debt, or (metaphorically) devotion to a master slave, bondservant, servant	Used in two distinct senses across the NT and this letter: (a) the literal socioeconomic institution addressed directly in 6:5-9 (“Bondservants, obey your earthly masters…”), and (b) the common Pauline self-designation “servant/slave of Christ” (cf. Рим. 1:1, though not itemized as a separate baseline TM entry).	раб. Risk: High (NEW, sense-dependent). Two distinct risk profiles apply: (1) In its metaphorical, devotional sense (“раб Христов,” “раб Божий”), this is in fact a well-established and positively received Orthodox devotional self-designation (used liturgically, e.g. in the naming formula “раб Божий [имя]”), and is a genuine cultural asset here, not primarily a hazard. (2) In its literal, socioeconomic sense in 6:5-9, addressing an actual ancient household-slavery institution, the word раб carries heavy, painful historical resonance in Russian collective memory — крепостное право (serfdom, abolished 1861) and, in the 20th century, forced labor under the Soviet ГУЛАГ system. Teaching text handling Ephesians 6:5-9 must address this directly: the passage neither endorses the institution of slavery as such nor speaks to Russia’s own serfdom/Gulag history, but instructs how believers already within that ancient social structure were to conduct themselves in Christ. This distinction must be made explicit; human theologian review required for 6:5-9 specifically.
προσωπολημψία (prosōpolēmpsia) receiving/regarding the face	favoritism, partiality based on external status partiality, favoritism	”There is no partiality with him [the master in heaven]” (6:9) — closes the household code with a note of divine impartiality regarding social rank.	лицеприятие. Risk: Low-Medium. Standard theological term.
πάλη (palē) wrestling match	close hand-to-hand combat (a wrestling term, not open battlefield warfare) struggle, wrestling	”Our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against…” (6:12) — introduces “Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God.”	борьба. Risk: Medium (NEW). The specific “close-combat/wrestling” nuance (as opposed to distant battlefield engagement) may be lost in a generic борьба rendering; teaching text can note the intimacy/closeness of the struggle described.
πανοπλία (panoplia) full armor, complete set of arms	the entire equipment of a heavily armed soldier the whole armor, full armor	”Put on the whole armor of God” (6:11) — the letter’s climactic spiritual-warfare image.	всеоружие [Божие] (established Synodal). Risk: Medium-High (NEW). Military-armor imagery carries strong resonance in Russian cultural memory given the weight of 20th-century war experience (particularly the “Great Patriotic War,” WWII), which can function as either a vivid, resonant asset (making the metaphor feel weighty and real) or a risk of conflating spiritual warfare with actual nationalistic militarism or endorsement of literal political/military violence. Teaching text should keep the metaphor clearly spiritual and defensive (the armor is entirely defensive equipment except the sword/word of God) and avoid language that could be co-opted for political-nationalist rhetoric.
κοσμοκράτωρ (kosmokratōr) world-ruler, cosmic ruler	a title for spiritual powers exercising authority over the present fallen order rulers of this world/age, cosmic powers	”The cosmic powers over this present darkness” (6:12) — establishes the letter’s Sspiritual Warfare cosmology’s most vivid single title.	мироправители [тьмы века сего] (established Synodal phrase). Risk: High (NEW). This organized, personal, hierarchical spiritual-evil cosmology must be clearly distinguished from live post-Soviet folk-occult categories still culturally present in Russia — порча (a curse/hex), сглаз (the evil eye), and the same экстрасенсы/television-psychic culture already flagged in the baseline under “spiritual gifts.” Ephesians’ spiritual warfare is corporate, gospel-centered, and prayer-and-truth-based (6:13-18), not a matter of folk-magical counter-measures; this distinction should be stated explicitly, paralleling the baseline’s caution against экстрасенсорные способности. Human theologian review recommended.
θώραξ, ζώνη, θυρεός, περικεφαλαία, μάχαιρα (armor components) breastplate, belt, shield, helmet, sword	pieces of a Roman soldier’s standard equipment, each mapped allegorically breastplate of righteousness, belt of truth, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, sword of the Spirit	6:14-17: “the belt of truth… the breastplate of righteousness… the shield of faith… the helmet of salvation… the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”	пояс истины, броня праведности, щит веры, шлем спасения, меч духовный, то есть слово Божие (established Synodal phrasing throughout). Risk: Medium (NEW, composite). Each individual component reuses already-established vocabulary (праведность, вера, спасение — all baseline-Critical/High terms) mapped onto military equipment; ensure this vivid metaphor does not accidentally suggest these virtues are self-generated tools of combat rather than gifts received by grace (consistency with the core passage’s grace/works distinction should be maintained even within this martial image).
μεθοδεία (methodeia) scheme, crafty method	organized, deliberate strategy of deception schemes, wiles, methods	”That you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil” (6:11).	козни [диавольские]. Risk: Low-Medium. Standard, established phrase.
ἀγρυπνέω (agrypneō) to be sleepless, keep watch	to remain alert, watchful be watchful, keep alert	”Praying at all times… and keeping alert” (6:18).	бодрствовать. Risk: Low. Standard.
πρεσβεύω (presbeuō)	to act as an elder/ambassador	to serve as an official representative of a sovereign power	ambassador

Summary of the Highest-Priority New Risk Introduced by Ephesians

Beyond every term already governed by the baseline Romans package, this analysis identifies the following as the highest-priority new Critical/High-risk terms this curriculum introduces, none of which were present in the Romans-based baseline:

μυστήριον / тайна (Critical) — direct collision with Таинство (Sacrament/Mystery) — Eph 1:9; 3:3-9; 5:32; 6:19.
προορίζω / предопределил (Critical) — explicit predestination language absent from the baseline’s term set — Eph 1:5, 11.
ἐνέργεια / действие (never энергия) (Critical) — direct collision with Palamite uncreated-energies theology, far more prominent here than in Romans — Eph 1:19; 3:7; 3:20; 4:16.
σφραγίζω / запечатление (Critical) — direct collision with the Chrismation rite’s own liturgical language (“seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit”) — Eph 1:13; 4:30.
σῶμα (ecclesial) / тело (High) — collision with the Eucharistic “Тело Христово” — Eph 1:23; 4:12; 4:16; 5:30.
ναός / храм (High) — collision with храм as ordinary word for a physical Orthodox church building — Eph 2:21.
ἔργα / дела (Critical) — sharpest single point of Reformation/Orthodox-synergism tension in the letter — Eph 2:9-10.
βάπτισμα / крещение (High) — live sacramental-theology fault line — Eph 4:5.
ὑποτάσσω / κεφαλή — повиноваться / глава (High) — culturally sensitive household-code terms — Eph 5:21-33.
δοῦλος / раб (High, sense-dependent) — serfdom/Gulag historical resonance in its literal sense — Eph 6:5-9.

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